SALISBURY, Md. - Mitch Horacek prefers to live in the present, believing that philosophy is a pitcher's best friend. Ignore the call the umpire didn't give you on the batter now standing at first base, even though he might have been the third out of the inning. Forget about the slugger waiting in the on-deck circle in a one-run game. Just focus on the here and now, says the Single-A Delmarva left-hander, and you'll be fine. Not that it's so easy, mind you. "The hardest part is trying to...

How much can one man change how a team performs? Depends how you look at it. The facts are these: the Nationals are 33-19 when Ryan Zimmerman is in the starting lineup this season. Without him, they're 25-30. Since Zimmerman landed on the disabled list with a right hamstring strain a week and a half ago, the Nats are 3-6. In those nine games, they've scored 27 runs and haven't hit a homer. Yes, the Nats miss Zimmerman. Yes, he's a big part of their lineup, both in terms of production...

When Don Buford came to Baltimore in a trade from the Chicago White Sox before the 1968 season, he wasn't sure where he was going to play. So he asked coach Earl Weaver to lobby manager Hank Bauer to let him play in the outfield. "The Orioles had Davey Johnson at second and Mark Belanger at shortstop and the outfield had Paul Blair, Curt Blefary and Frank Robinson, so I didn't know where I was going to play," Buford says. "I asked Earl if he'd tell Hank Bauer that I could play the...

So I would think the Orioles and their fans could get used to this starting pitching. The Orioles rotation is on a roll with no end in sight. Wei-Yin Chen was the latest with a strong start as he gave up one run and five hits over 7 1/3 innings last night. On a night the O's scored just two runs, Chen's outing helped put them in the win column. Chen was facing the same team in back-to-back starts. In the two outings against Seattle, he pitched 15 1/3 innings, giving up 10 hits and one run....

The non-waiver deadline has passed, but I can't seem to let it go. I'm not sure why, since I mostly find it annoying. This could explain my relationship issues. But seriously... The Orioles failed to trade for a hitter Thursday despite making a final push shortly before 4 p.m. Executive vice president Dan Duquette was trying to work a couple of deals, and he came close to acquiring Indians middle infielder Asdrubal Cabrera, according to sources. The Indians decided to take Nationals...

New second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera went 0-for-4 in his Nationals debut, but was able to hit three balls hard and made an impressive sliding play to prevent a base hit and record the out on defense in the third inning against Jimmy Rollins. Cabrera was not able to record a hit despite three line outs. "That's baseball, man," Cabrera said. "I got to keep doing what I'm doing. Tomorrow is another day." His debut was the first time he had started at second base since 2009 and he admitted...

Even before he was introduced into the game tonight, Andrew Miller got a big reception from Orioles fans in the eighth inning as he was about to throw his first pitch for the team. He made his O's debut and it was a success, as he protected the club's 2-1 lead with two groundouts around a walk to Robinson Cano. "Real exciting reception," Miller said. "I was a little amped up at first. But the goal is to hand the ball off to the next guy with the lead. Bridge the gap between an excellent...

There have been games this season when the Nationals, like any team, really, just didn't square many balls up offensively, and had trouble scoring runs. Tonight wasn't one of those nights. Yes, the Nats only pushed across one run against Roberto Hernandez and Jonathan Papelbon tonight, but the minimal offensive production wasn't due to a lack of solid contact. The Nats ripped the ball all over the yard tonight, just got very little to show for it. Asdrubal Cabrera went 0-for-4 in his Nats...

In case you missed it in my last entry, the Orioles tied the franchise record tonight with their seventh consecutive one-run game. You have to go all the way back to June 21-29, 1956. The Orioles have won five of those games during the current stretch, including tonight's 2-1 victory over the Mariners at Camden Yards. Wei-Yin Chen is riding a career-high five-game winning streak. His 12 victories this season tie his career-high. Chen has gone eight and 7 1/3 innings in his last two...

Get a solid pitching performance and win a close game. It's a formula the Orioles are using a lot these days. They used it again tonight to beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1 in front of 39,487 in the opener of the weekend series behind Wei-Yin Chen. This was the Orioles' club-record tying seventh straight one-run game and they are 5-2 during that stretch. The Orioles improved to 61-47 for the season to match their season-high at 14 games over .500. They are now 20-11 against the American...