ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - It's another gorgeous day here as the Orioles and Rays conclude their three-game series. Too bad the roof doesn't open. Ubaldo Jimenez would likely settle for pitching underground as long as it's May. He's coming off a start where he tossed 7 1/3 scoreless innings in Minnesota to lower his career ERA this month to 3.76 in 35 outings. Jimenez held the Twins to three hits, walked one and struck out 10 to earn his first victory with the Orioles. He was 0-4 with a 6.59...

The Nationals have left 266 runners on base. This is the second-most runners left on by any team in the National League and the team ahead of the Nationals, the Diamondbacks, has had three extra games to leave runners on. Saying a team has left a lot of runners on base sounds alarming, but it only tells one part of the story. If a team gets a two-out double and that runner is then driven in by a base hit ahead of the third out then a runner is left on base. The same outcome holds if the primary...

Right-hander Stephen Strasburg has had trouble this season getting off to quick starts in the first inning. Before Wednesday's game against the Dodgers, he had allowed nine runs, six earned, in seven previous opening innings. Same thing happened again in his eighth start. Four consecutive hits and two runs and the Dodgers led 2-0. But then that is when something unusual happened. All season it was the Nationals that had to find a way to come back. Down 2-0, this time they didn't wait until...

SAN FRANCISCO - The Nationals made a pre-emptive roster move yesterday in order to clear a spot for Doug Fister, who will start tomorrow night against the Athletics in his Nats debut. I'll admit that said roster move caught me a little by surprise. The Nats decided to option Tyler Moore to Triple-A Syracuse, leaving three catchers on the active roster for the time being but also leaving the team without a true backup first baseman. The logic here has a lot to do with Wilson Ramos coming...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Can the Orioles make it out of Tropicana Field tonight without more intrigue regarding an All-Star player's health? Can they avoid the letters MRI, which are a lot worse than LOB, though they don't show up in the box score? Look for Matt Wieters to serve as the designated hitter tonight against Tampa Bay left-hander David Price, which puts Delmon Young on the bench. Nelson Cruz isn't going to sit, and he's due for a lot more starts in left field if Wieters remains...

The Orioles can thank the longball for Wednesday night's win in St. Petersburg, Fla. All four runs were scored via the home run. Adam Jones hit a pair of solo shots and Jonathan Schoop delivered the two-run go-ahead blast in the top of the seventh that secured the O's victory. Wednesday was Baltimore's third game with three or more home runs (April 8 versus the Yankees and April 24 against the Blue Jays). Not surprisingly, the O's are 3-0 in games in which they go deep three times or...

A few observations after the latest Orioles win which featured the latest escape by Tommy Hunter as he picked up his 10th save in 11 chances: * The most analyzed and over-analyzed Oriole I can ever remember, Adam Jones, got his homer swing back last night. He crushed two balls to center field and not one person complained he swung at the first pitch. At least not to me. Jones was due to hit some homers with just one on the year before the game. Many theories were thrown out about Jones here...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Adam Jones isn't going to change his aggressive approach at the plate. And he's certainly not going to spit on pitches teed up for him. Jones got two balls to hit tonight in his first two at-bats from Rays starter Cesar Ramos, and he swung for the fences. Two pitches, two home runs. "They were right down the middle, weren't they?" he said. "That's the rule of thumb. I put some good swings on some pitches I should have drove." Jones had one home run before tonight...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter walked up to MASN's Gary Thorne last night to start his post-game interview and mumbled, "Textbook." We got the joke. The Orioles didn't take the easy path to their 4-3 victory over the Rays, allowing a run in the ninth and putting runners on the corners with one out. Closer Tommy Hunter walked the tightrope again, but he didn't fall, recording his 10th save in 11 tries by inducing two line drives that found gloves - the last his...

The longball returned to the Orioles offense tonight. Tied for 12th in the American League in homers at game time, the O's blasted three tonight as they beat Tampa Bay 4-3 at Tropicana Field. It got interesting in the last of the ninth. Tampa Bay's Ryan Hanigan singled with one out to bring Tampa within 4-3 and put runners at first and third. But Tommy Hunter got out of the jam, getting a soft line drive to second and then a liner back to the mound that he gloved to end the game. It's...