ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles have purchased the contract of catcher Caleb Joseph from Triple-A Norfolk and optioned infielder Jemile Weeks. Joseph, 28, will make his major league debut tonight against the Rays at Tropicana Field. He's starting behind the plate, batting ninth and wearing No. 36. Joseph, who arrived in Tampa around 1:30 p.m., is batting .261/.284/.402 in 22 games for the Tides. He hit .299/.346/.494 with 22 home runs and 97 RBIs for Double-A Bowie in 2013 and was named...

The Orioles today announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Caleb Joseph from Triple-A Norfolk and optioned infielder Jemile Weeks to the Tides. Joseph, 28, has batted .261/.284/.402 in 22 games for the Tides this season. He hit .299/.346/.494 with 22 home runs and 97 RBI for Double-A Bowie in 2013 on his way to being named Topps Minor League Player of the Year for the Eastern League, as well as an EL All-Star for both the mid-season and season-ending squads. Joseph, the...

First innings have not been kind to Stephen Strasburg this season. Prior to Wednesday's game in seven starts this season, Strasburg had allowed nine runs, six of them earned, with an opponent batting average of .394 in the first inning. The Dodgers added to that trend with two runs on four hits to take a 2-0 lead early in the final game of the series. Carl Crawford, Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez and Yasiel Puig all had singles in the first. Gonzalez and Puig contributed the RBIs. It was...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Orioles catcher Matt Wieters is likely to stay on the active roster following today's visit with Dr. James Andrews in Pensacola, Fla. Wieters doesn't have a torn ligament in his right elbow and there's no talk of surgery, according to an industry source. The club may continue using him as the designated hitter, as it did last night, until he's able to catch. Wieters had an MRI on his elbow Monday and manager Buck Showalter sounded optimistic that the two-time...

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. - As the Orioles wait to find out whether they may include catcher Matt Wieters in tonight's lineup, they will attempt to continue their recent run of success against the Rays. The Orioles are 3-0 against Tampa Bay this season and have outscored the Rays 15-4. They've won three in a row for the first time since building a five-game winning streak against Tampa Bay from Aug. 4-Sept. 13, 2012. The Orioles have won nine of their last 15 road games, averaging 5.4 runs per...

So where have all the homers gone? The Orioles have hit 23 homers over their first 30 games. That ties for 12th in the American League and just five teams in the majors have hit fewer. After 30 games last season, the Orioles had hit 34 homers. Last year at this point, the O's had eight multi-homer games and now they have just four. This from the team that led the majors in 2013 with 212 homers, which was 24 more than Seattle, the next-closest team. The Orioles had four players hit 20 or...

March 31. May 7. Finally. Nationals manager Matt Williams announced that Wilson Ramos returns to the lineup today against the Dodgers, batting fifth and catching for Stephen Strasburg. Just like he did on opening day March 31. Ramos suffered a left hamate fracture in his hand in that first game against the Mets, had surgery and now has rehabbed to the point that he's ready to return to the lineup. Ramos said his hand feels strong and he has done enough running to be ready to return. "Feels...

It's rare that Monday night baseball turns into legitimate Tuesday morning baseball, but that's what happened earlier this week between the Nationals and Dodgers. Once the rain that held up the early evening game had passed, what appeared to be a few hundred people (if that) huddled behind their respective team's dugouts at Nationals Park to root, root, root for their own team well into the wee hours of the morning. One of Washington's most reliable players, right-handed starting Jordan...

There are scouts and talent evaluators both inside and outside the Nationals organization who feel that Blake Treinen would make for a terrific late-inning reliever at the big league level. He has the velocity for it, throwing a fastball that has been clocked at 100 mph in the past, possesses a hard sinker that gets plenty of ground balls, and also mixes in a slider that is an effective pitch for him. But the 25-year-old Treinen showed yesterday that if the Nationals would like to continue...

It could be the toughness of the American League East, or it could just be the curse of the Orioles' starting pitcher. However, whatever the reason, as has been the case over the last few seasons, the Orioles have relied heavily on their bullpen arms during the first five weeks of the 2014 season. Through 30 games, Orioles starters have pitched a combined total of 171 2/3 innings - the second-lowest amount in the majors. (The lowest is Detroit, which has played two fewer games.) This...