The Orioles offense can't seem to get on a roll at the moment, and the Orioles can't seem to get on a roll, either. It has now been almost a month since the Orioles had a three-game win streak. Last night's loss at Cleveland stopped that from happening for the first time since Aug. 6-9 - and that was 23 games ago. The Orioles were shut out at New York on Saturday, but then scored 14 runs over the next two games. They were shut out last night until Nate McLouth's homer in the ninth. The...

Is there a more unsettled and fluid rotation among contenders than the one belonging to the Orioles? Seriously, I'm asking here. And I'm not taking injuries into account. Miguel Gonzalez is healthy, but he's being pushed back to Thursday night against the White Sox at Camden Yards. Manager Buck Showalter has always handled him with care, to the point where he's on a wacky schedule. Gonzalez started on Aug. 20, pitched twice in relief and made his next start on Aug. 30 in New York,...

PHILADELPHIA - We're now in game 138 on the Nationals schedule this season. This could qualify as the sloppiest game we've seen all year. Through six innings, we saw four errors, four wild pitches, a balk, a hit-batter and 11 walks surrendered. The Nats held a 7-2 lead. Then they led 7-5. Gio Gonzalez allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings, only one of which was earned. Errors by Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper in the bottom of the sixth helped three Phillies runs score, and Ryan Mattheus needed...

ABERDEEN, Md. - After throwing 57 pitches over four innings tonight at short-season Single-A Aberdeen, Orioles pitcher Jason Hammel pronounced himself ready to return to the big leagues. "I'd say I'm ready," Hammel said after his outing. "I don't exactly know what the plan is for the next couple of days. But I've done my work and they've taken good care of me. I feel healthy and ready to go when they want me." Hammel had a very sharp first two innings tonight, getting six quick outs...

Chris Tillman has held the Indians to one run over five innings tonight. What he can't do so far is enjoy a lead. Indians starter Ubaldo Jimenez is shutting out the Orioles over six innings. He left the bases loaded in the sixth, allowing a single to Manny Machado and walking Chris Davis and Matt Wieters. Michael Morse, who singled in his first at-bat tonight, bounced to the mound to end the threat. He's 3-for-7 in two games with the Orioles. Morse was a career .350 hitter with the bases...

PHILADELPHIA - If Wilson Ramos is worn out from having started 12 straight games, he sure isn't showing it. Ramos smoked a three-run homer to deep right-center field in the second inning, giving the Nationals a 3-0 lead over the Phillies. It was a bomb from Ramos, who took a 1-0 fastball from Phillies righty Ethan Martin and drove it over the scoreboard in right-center, one of the deepest parts of the park. It's the 10th homer of the season for Ramos, who is now up to 37 RBIs on the...

ABERDEEN, Md. - Making a rehab start tonight for the short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds, O's right-hander Jason Hammel has pitched two 1-2-3 innings against the Lowell Spinners, a Red Sox farm club. Hammel has gotten four groundouts and two flyouts on just 17 pitches, throwing 10 for strikes with his fastball sitting mostly at 93 mph. Hammel is expected to go about five innings and around 65 pitches in this game. Wearing a No. 49 home Aberdeen jersey, Hammel got off to a strong start...

PHILADELPHIA - Of the five guys the Nationals called up from Triple-A Syracuse today, four have been here before. Outfielders Jeff Kobernus, Corey Brown and Eury Perez, and left-hander Xavier Cedeno have seen a major league clubhouse in the past, donned a Nationals jersey and stepped foot on a big league field. Up until today, Zach Walters had not. After getting his first big league call-up, Walters strolled into the visiting clubhouse this afternoon with bags slung over each shoulder, sweat...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter is shaking up his rotation. Or maybe it's more of a tweak. During his pregame session with the media in Cleveland, part of which aired on "O's Xtra" on MASN2, Showalter announced that left-hander Zach Britton would start Wednesday's series finale against the Indians at Progressive Field. Britton's insertion in the rotation pushes back the other starters. Miguel Gonzalez will start the first game against the White Sox on Thursday at Camden Yards, followed...

PHILADELPHIA - Last night, Davey Johnson expressed some frustration that he hadn't been informed about Bryce Harper's hip injury, a problem that left Harper limping and clearly a little gimpy after some swings last night. Johnson still hadn't been fully brought up to speed on Harper's status by the time he met with reporters around 5 p.m. today. "I mean, to this day, even now, they have not told me anything is wrong with him," Johnson said. "So with that in mind, I know he was getting...