ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Steve Wilkerson is inside the Orioles clubhouse and still in their plans for the future. It's the lineup and game action that are placed in doubt. Wilkerson is continuing his recovery from a hamstring injury despite the Orioles recalling him from Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday. He hasn't played since Aug. 22 with the Tides. "It's coming along well," he said this afternoon at Tropicana Field. "I was talking to the trainers here this morning and the last couple days...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Adam Jones and Chris Davis are out of the Orioles lineup for tonight's series opener against the Rays. Joey Rickard is in right field and batting second against left-hander Blake Snell. We'll find out later why Jones is absent. Trey Mancini is at first base and Tim Beckham is the designated hitter. Breyvic Valera is starting at shortstop. John Andreoli is in left field and Austin Wynns is catching. Dylan Bundy's starts against the Rays have brought mixed results. He...

It's been 425 days since Joe Ross last pitched in a major league game. Something didn't look right with the right-hander on July 9, 2017 when he lasted only 3 1/3 innings against the Braves and saw his velocity drop. Turns out he had a torn ligament in his elbow that required Tommy John surgery, and we all know how long it takes to return from that. Tonight, Ross will take the mound at Nationals Park again, just shy of 14 months later. He'll be facing a tough Cubs lineup, not to mention an...

The Orioles have arrived in St. Petersburg, Fla. for their third stop on a three-city road trip. Tonight they begin a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays to wrap up a trip where they went 0-3 at Kansas City and 1-2 at Seattle. The Orioles (41-99) have lost five of six and 13 of their last 17 games. They are 17-55 away from Oriole Park and have lost nine of the last 10 on the road. Tampa Bay (75-64) is in third place in the American League East and holds the seventh-best record in the...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles have expanded their active roster today and created more versatility by selecting Corban Joseph's contract from Double-A Bowie. Joseph has joined the Orioles for their weekend series against the Rays at Tropicana Field. He's been assigned uniform No. 64. The younger brother of catcher Caleb Joseph, Corban was 1-for-9 in four games with the Orioles in June before they designated him for assignment and outrighted him. He made the Eastern League's All-Star...

The Nationals have 21 games left in a difficult season filled with injuries, poor play and the departure of several popular players. This has left many in NatsTown pondering on social media about why they should continue to watch games down the stretch. The obvious answer is that baseball is awesome and once the final pitch is thrown, we must anxiously wait like a dog for its owner to return home for pitchers and catchers to report next February. And with all due respect to my Caps brethren...

No pitcher in baseball has surrendered more home runs this season than Dylan Bundy. In 146 innings, Bundy has allowed 35 longballs, seven more than the next closest starting pitcher. That's 2.16 homers per nine innings, making Bundy the only starter in baseball with more than two. It's probably hard to remember way back to April, but I'll try my best to refresh your memory. At the end of baseball's first month, Bundy was sporting a 2.97 ERA and seemed to be on track to being the Orioles'...

We have seen recent games when Orioles switch-hitting center fielder Cedric Mullins didn't start against a left-handed pitcher. I certainly can understand the club's desire to both rest his cranky hip and/or use that time to get a look at John Andreoli. But I also hope the organization hasn't yet made up it's mind that Mullins will have difficulty continuing to be a switch-hitter. While Mullins hit better in his career on the farm batting left-handed, he made nice strides this year from the...

With left-handers starting for the Cubs the rest of the weekend, Victor Robles is most likely going to get some significant playing time and get his first major league start of the season. We got a taste of the dynamic rookie late during Thursday night's game, though, when he took over in center field as part of a double switch and found himself right in the center of action. Robles pinch-hit in the bottom of the seventh with a runner on first and nobody out. He grounded to third but managed...

Right-hander Stephen Strasburg was able to come within one out of finishing six innings in a no-decision Thursday night against the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs won the game with two runs in the 10th frame, 6-4. Strasburg allowed two runs in the third inning on three consecutive hits. Strasburg fired 111 pitches for the Nationals in 5 2/3 innings of work, allowing only three runs, two of them earned. The Cubs managed to string together six hits against him. Strasburg struck out six and walked three...