The Orioles are taking batting practice outdoors beneath a darkening sky. Rain is in the forecast. What else is new? Tonight marks the 1,300th game of Nick Markakis' major league career and the 1,200th game of J.J Hardy's career. Markakis ranks 11th on the Orioles' all-time list, 28 behind Brian Roberts. Nate McLouth only made it to 201 games before leaving the Orioles as a free agent over the winter and signing a two-year, $10.75 million contract with the Nationals. He's in the visiting...

Adam Jones said his invitation to participate in the All-Star Home Run Derby came a few days ago and once he cleared it with manager Buck Showalter, he wanted to take part. "I'm just having some fun, man," Jones said this afternoon. "It's not anything important. I'm just having some fun. That's all it is." Any concerns about it hurting his swing? "No. It might help," he said. "I don't know the format. I'm going to go there and have fun and swing out my (butt) as usual." He did...

BALTIMORE - Here's one way to get Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon and Danny Espinosa all in the lineup on the same day: Play in an American League park. Nationals manager Matt Williams has the luxury of the designated hitter today, and he'll use it by having Zimmerman DH and moving Rendon over to third base. That allows Espinosa to make his first start since June 27. He'll play second. Jose Lobaton had been scheduled to start behind the plate and catch Doug Fister last night,...

With the Orioles allowed to use a designated hitter tonight, their lineup will include Steve Pearce for the series opener against the Nationals at Camden Yards. Pearce will start in left field and Nelson Cruz will serve as DH. Jonathan Schoop is at second base and Caleb Joseph is behind the plate. For the Orioles Nick Markakis RF Steve Pearce LF Adam Jones CF Nelson Cruz DH Chris Davis 1B J.J. Hardy SS Manny Machado 3B Caleb Joseph C Jonathan Schoop 2B Bud Norris RHP For the...

After years of not playing well in interleague games, the Orioles are 5-3 against the National League this season and have a chance to post a winning interleague record for the third year in a row. That would be an accomplishment for a team that has just two winning seasons in the first 11 years of interleague play. But the Orioles went 11-7 in 2012 and 11-9 last year, posting their fourth winning record in six years against the NL. They finished over .500 in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013. The...

When Triple-A Norfolk beat Durham 7-4 last night, Tides right-hander Tyler Wilson made his second start with the team and picked up his first Triple-A win. Wilson gave up four runs over seven innings. He is 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA in two starts with the Tides after going 10-5 with a 3.72 ERA for Double-A Bowie. The win was the 11th for Wilson between Bowie and Norfolk, most among Orioles minor leaguers. His 98 strikeouts rank second on the O's farm. He also became the third different Tides...

There was some chatter in the press box during last night's lengthy 2-hour, 30-minute rain delay about whether the Nationals and Orioles would consider a day-night, two-city doubleheader today, if last night's game was to get postponed. Well, last night's game was postponed. And according to Nats manager Matt Williams, that doubleheader split between Nats Park and Camden Yards was not considered. A similar doubleheader schedule was put into place a handful of years ago when the Yankees and...

Every year, fans from Baltimore and Washington invade each other's ballparks to watch the Orioles and Nationals face off in the Battle of the Beltways. Before Tuesday's crazy storm, Kevin Stanfield asked fans if there is a rivalry between the two teams. Inevitably, the results were mixed, but it seems that if there is a rivalry, it's possibly the friendliest one in baseball.

When Tuesday night's game between the Nationals and Baltimore Orioles kicked off the evening with a delayed start, there was still a chance for baseball to be played. Or so we thought. The delay started early on in the 6 o'clock hour before a rush of approaching inclement weather forced fans and ballpark staff to head for cover under the Nats Park concourse. Once the storm swept through the Navy Yard and the ominous winds took flight, it sounded as if that very storm had come along to carry...

The Orioles have had a successful past nine days, winning seven of eight games and moving themselves into first place in the American League East, 2 1/2 games clear of the Toronto Blue Jays. As with any wining period, there have been a number of elements working well for the Birds and one of them has been the extremely impressive performances from the bottom third of the lineup. Since the start of the Texas series last week, the Orioles' bottom three have hit to a .309 average (29-for-94) and...