The Orioles will open a 10-game homestand on Friday, August 14, at 7:05 p.m. against the Oakland Athletics. The homestand will feature many special events including an autograph signing of the popular Orioles pet calendar at the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS), the 2015 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and the 2015 Orioles Hall of Fame Class luncheon and ceremony. Additionally, several exclusive giveaways are scheduled, including a J.J. Hardy orange replica jersey, a Chris Tillman...

The Athletics will send a new starter to the mound for Friday's series opener against the Orioles at Camden Yards. Sonny Gray was scratched from today's start against the Blue Jays due to back spasms, but he could be plugged into the rotation this weekend. In the meantime, Jesse Chavez has been bumped up from Friday to today. Chavez was supposed to oppose Ubaldo Jimenez, but he's needed today at Rogers Centre. Gray could take Chavez's place against the Orioles if his back improves. Another...

Drew Storen isn't pitching with the same dominance he displayed over the season's first four months. The easy assumption is either his confidence was shot or simply his focus was altered after the Nationals bumped him out of the closer role in favor of Jonathan Papelbon two weeks ago. In 38 appearances pitching the ninth inning or later before Papelbon was acquired, Storen allowed just seven runs (1.73 ERA). The 28-year-old right-hander has now surrendered eight in his last three games while...

Since the trade deadline, the Washington Nationals are 4-11 and sinking fast in their National League East race against the Mets. An August/September division race is something new for the Washington Nationals. In 2012 and 2014, they were in the lead for most of the season and began to pull away at this time of year, and in 2013 the Nationals were so far out of it, a late surge made no difference. Now the Washington Nationals find themselves in a fight and they are currently behind on the...

In pitching the fifth no-hitter in Seattle Mariners history, Hisashi Iwakuma pitched the seventh against the Orioles in O's team history. Whether it was rock bottom as some fans were saying on the comments last night really doesn't matter. How the team reacts moving forward is the most important thing. Maybe the Orioles will not be good enough to make the playoffs this year. Some readers and fans have been saying that for weeks or longer in some cases and almost seem to take pleasure in...

The Orioles are off today, but they weren't exactly on yesterday while being no-hit by Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma. We said it wasn't going to get weird. If you're going to end a nine-game West Coast trip with a loss, you may as well make it a no-hitter. And the Orioles didn't come close to threatening Iwakuma, who only needed to get within a few feet of the strike zone to have batters chasing. I saw it coming by the fifth inning. The Orioles weren't making solid contact. No one came close...

The reeling Nationals offense wasted a brilliant performance from Jordan Zimmermann, falling to the Dodgers 3-0. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw retired the first 16 Nationals, taking a perfect game into the sixth before Michael A. Taylor ripped a one-out double over Joc Pederson's head in center. But Kershaw calmly coaxed two groundouts from Zimmermann and Yunel Escobar to strand Taylor. Anthony Rendon smoked a leadoff single in the seventh and Kershaw responded by fanning Bryce Harper, Ryan...

The Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs are on a nine-game winning streak after Wednesday's 9-5 win over Lehigh Valley. The Chiefs were 6-for-13 (.462) with runners in scoring position. Emmanuel Burriss, Jason Martinson and Dan Butler each had two RBIs and a double. Shortstop Trea Turner went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and is now batting .304. Turner also had his 12th stolen base. Burriss is hitting .289. Caleb Ramsey went 2-for-3 and scored two runs. He is batting .286. Paolo Espino (5-5) got the win...

Throughout the summer, there are days when I can't wait to sit down at the keyboard to share my thoughts on the Orioles and days in which I wish I had a bit more time to wait until the story turned positive. There's nothing more fun than blogging about your favorite baseball team when they're hitting extra-inning game-winning grand slams on the road, like I did this time last week. It's a bit more difficult after they've been no-hit and have just concluded an important road trip with just...

A leadoff walk to Joc Pederson in the third turned into the Dodgers' first run. Jose Peraza followed with a broken bat floater that Ian Desmond barehanded on one hop and fired to first for the out. But Pederson advanced to second, where he would score from on Carl Crawford's two-out single. Jordan Zimmermann has allowed one run on two hits, with one walk and four strikeouts, through four innings. Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw is perfect through four innings with four strikeouts. Update:...