Chris Tillman threw in the Orioles bullpen today and expects to make Friday night's start in Kansas City. Tillman had soreness in his groin that put the start in jeopardy. Triple-A Norfolk's Steve Johnson will undergo an MRI on his right shoulder in Baltimore after leaving last night's start after two innings with more discomfort. Johnson had been on the minor league disabled list with shoulder tendinitis. "We came close to taking him and decided we wanted to let him have one more outing...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter revealed yesterday that Chris Tillman has been dealing with a minor groin injury. This morning, Tillman said he feels the issue has improved and he fully expects to make his next start on Friday at Kansas City. "I'm much better now. Got a bullpen today so we'll see how it goes but I'm pretty sure it's going to be just fine. No problems the last few days," Tillman said. Has this been an issue for him in his last few starts? "Little bit. Not to the point...

Not much to dissect with today's Orioles lineup. Nick Markakis continues to lead off. Steve Clevenger is behind the plate versus a right-hander, Tigers ace Justin Verlander. Jonathan Schoop is at second base and David Lough is in left field. For the Orioles Nick Markakis RF Manny Machado 3B Adam Jones CF Chris Davis 1B Nelson Cruz DH J.J. Hardy SS Steve Clevenger C Jonathan Schoop 2B David Lough LF Kevin Gausman RHP For the Tigers Rajai Davis LF Ian Kinsler 2B Miguel Cabrera 1B Victor Martinez...

The Orioles today announced that they have recalled right-hander Kevin Gausman from Triple-A Norfolk. Gausman, 23, has gone 0-1 with a 2.08 ERA (26.0IP, 6ER) in six starts for the Tides this season. He is scheduled to start this afternoon's game against Detroit.

Whitey Herzog is a Hall of Famer because of his managing career with the St. Louis Cardinals, but the former major leaguer known as "The White Rat" had a Baltimore connection to his career. Herzog, who managed the Cardinals to two National League pennants and the 1982 World Series title, was a left-handed-hitting outfielder who couldn't hit a curveball. Herzog played eight big league seasons, including 212 games for the Orioles in 1961 and 1962. Herzog hit .280 with 12 home runs during his...

Earlier this week, Nationals Buzz guest blogger Marty Niland pointed out something I agree with. He wrote, "The Nats need to make hay against the teams they are supposed to beat until injured stars (Adam) LaRoche, Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman can return to the lineup and bring them back to full strength." One of the biggest problems facing the Nationals in 2014 is lack of consistency their overall performance due to health-related issues. This, of course, is a plague that haunts any...

Of all the Orioles hungry for success, none may be more driven to see Baltimore return to the playoffs and perform well on the big stage than Nick Markakis, a nine-year veteran of the club who has never played in a postseason game. As most Orioles fans are aware, it was a cruel twist of fate that struck Markakis down just a few weeks prior to the 2012 playoff run, which was the first time the O's had reached the postseason since 1997. That fateful day came on Sept. 8 at Camden Yards, as...

PHOENIX - As Doug Fister's Nationals debut approached last week, manager Matt Williams cautioned that fans shouldn't expect too much in the big right-hander's first start of the season. After all, not only was it the first time Fister was taking the mound in a regular season game this season, but he was coming off six weeks on the disabled list with a strained right lat. Add in that Fister was likely going to be a little fired up for his first start in a Nationals uniform, and we all knew...

When the top of the ninth began last night, Tommy Hunter had a chance, with a 1-2-3 inning, to avoid facing Torii Hunter, Miguel Cabrera or Victor Martinez. But he gave up another leadoff hit and later walked Hunter, and that brought up Cabrera with runners on first and second. I really thought this could have been that very rare instance where a team pitches around a hitter even without a base open. Instead Cabrera was pitched to and produced a game-winning three-run homer. For the immediate...

Steve Clevenger registered three-hit games on Saturday and Monday. Caleb Joseph collected his first major league hit last night, threw out two runners attempting to steal and cut down another runner trying to advance to third base on a ball in the dirt. If not for the umpires reversing an out call in the ninth inning, he would have finished with three caught stealings and probably been elected mayor. Maybe the Orioles' catching situation is in good hands after all. I've heard that the Orioles...