The Blue Jays lead the majors with a .313 average and .876 OPS vs. left-handed pitching. If the Orioles were going to remove Wei-Yin Chen from the rotation for one start, this weekend seemed like the opportune time. Chen owns a career 3.25 ERA in 20 starts on six days' rest or more. His ERA is 3.93 in 49 starts on four days' rest and 3.70 in 30 starts on five days'. As I wrote earlier, Chen will pitch three or four innings Saturday at Single-A Frederick and start for the Orioles on June 26...

From the taxi squad to the active roster to batting fifth in the Orioles lineup. Chris Parmelee will make his Orioles debut tonight against the Philadelphia Phillies, batting in that prime position and playing in right field. "Real excited," Parmelee said in the clubhouse this afternoon. "It's a good feeling and I'm happy to be here. It's a great group of guys in this clubhouse with a winning tradition here and I'm real excited to help them add some wins on the board. "It's going to be...

Wei-Yin Chen throws eight scoreless innings last night and is optioned today to Single-A Frederick. It appears to make no sense on the surface. Dig a little deeper. Chen complained of overall body fatigue on June 10, and the Orioles don't want him to break down. Chen and Miguel Gonzalez have been shortened up in previous seasons. The Orioles are pretty good at it. Manager Buck Showalter said he didn't like the things Chen was describing on the 10th. He also said the left-hander understands...

As predicted, the Orioles have optioned a pitcher to make room for Chris Parmelee, who is batting fifth and playing right field in tonight's matchup against the Phillies. It's just not the pitcher we expected. Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen has been optioned to Single-A Frederick. Chen is 3-4 with a 2.89 ERA over 13 starts this season. In his start yesterday, Chen went eight innings, scattering four hits and allowing no runs, while striking out nine. Parmelee has batted .312/.381/.444 with 13...

Bryce Harper returns to right field a night after going 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts as the designated hitter. Harper has calmed his strikeouts down considerably since the first month of the season. He has just six in 55 plate appearances in June and yesterday was his first game with multiple whiffs since May 27. With Yunel Escobar serving as the DH tonight, Anthony Rendon moves over to third base with Danny Espinosa at second. Rendon's timing seems to be improving 49 plate...

The Orioles today announced that they have agreed to terms with their second selection in the first round of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft, shortstop Ryan Mountcastle of Hagerty (FL) High School. Mountcastle was selected with the 36th overall pick in the first round of the 2015 Draft. Mountcastle, 18, is a 6-foot-3, 180 pound, right-handed hitting shortstop. He was a 2015 Perfect Game First Team All-American and a Florida All-Region First Team. He was also named a 2014 Perfect Game...

The Orioles haven't announced their roster move today, but Chris Parmelee is starting in right field and batting fifth. Twenty-six players are listed on the lineup card. Adam Jones is on the bench tonight. We'll find out the reason later. Travis Snider is in left field, and David Lough is in center. For the Orioles Manny Machado 3B Travis Snider LF Jimmy Paredes DH Chris Davis 1B Chris Parmelee RF J.J. Hardy SS Ryan Flaherty 2B Caleb Joseph C David Lough CF Chris Tillman RHP For the Phillies...

Second baseman Omar Infante of the Kansas City Royals is hitting .204 and leading American League second basemen in the All-Star voting. If the voting holds and Infante makes the starting lineup for the game in Cincinnati next month, it won't be the first time a player has been the subject of national ridicule for making the All-Star team without impressive statistics. Check out 1988 and Athletics catcher Terry Steinbach, who the fans voted into the starting lineup even though he was hitting...

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17 · Grand Opening Celebration of the New Team Store and Nationals Motorcycle Unveil: The Nationals will be celebrating the Grand Opening of the new Team Store with special events on Wednesday before the game, including a special sweepstakes with Nationals memorabilia. In addition, the team will be unveiling a custom Nationals motorcycle presented by GEICO on Wednesday. Located inside the team store, the motorcycle will be raffled off in September. All proceeds will...

The Nationals bullpen has been struggling. The most recent example of how the bullpen has cost the Nats a win was the Thursday game in Milwaukee, where the bullpen gave up too many hits to ruin a 5-1 lead. Last year, the Nationals bullpen was very good, but they had Craig Stammen (out for the rest of this year with an injury), and Tyler Clippard and Jerry Blevins (both traded in the offseason). Now the Nats bullpen sports a collective 3.61 ERA, which ranks 10th in the National League and 20th...