Matt Wieters is catching again today for the Orioles in an afternoon game following a night game. Nick Markakis is leading off and Steve Pearce is starting in left field. For the Orioles Nick Markakis RF Manny Machado 3B Adam Jones CF Chris Davis 1B Matt Wieters C J.J. Hardy SS Steve Pearce LF Brian Roberts 2B Miguel Gonzalez RHP For the Padres Will Venable RF Chris Denorfia LF Chase Headley 3B Yonder Alonso 1B Jedd Gyorko 2B Alexi Amarista CF Ronny Cedeno SS Rene Rivera C Eric Stults LHP

Miguel Gonzalez recorded eight consecutive quality starts for the Orioles before hitting a bump in the road. It's more like a 10-foot pothole. Gonzalez has allowed 15 runs (10 earned) and 17 hits in his last two starts covering 8 1/3 innings. He's facing the Padres today for the first time in his career. Before his last two starts, Gonzalez had never allowed as many as 15 runs in even a three-start span in his career. San Diego left-hander Eric Stults is making his first start against the...

Right-hander A.J. Cole has made good progress in his return to the organization. Cole was sent to the Oakland A's two seasons ago. He struggled at high Single-A for the A's, but then flourished with their low Single-A team. Before this season, Cole was traded back to the Nationals in the Michael Morse three-team triangle trade with Seattle and Oakland. 2013 has been a big step up for Cole. He looked good with high Single-A Potomac early in the season. In 18 starts, Cole went 6-3 with a...

Is this what the game has come to? Are we really at the point in today's game that when a player looks at a home run for a second or two before running around the bases, he gets drilled the next time he comes to the plate? Or the following week? Or two months down the road? Don't confuse my intentions by writing this. I'm not whining about Bryce Harper getting drilled in the thigh by a first-pitch Julio Teheran fastball last night. I'm not specifically standing up for Harper and I'm not...

In the seventh inning Sunday with the Orioles down by one run, Adam Jones struck out on a down-and-away pitch by San Diego's Yoervis Medina. But, as if to prove that pitch won't always get him out, Jones delivered an RBI single in the first inning last night off Seattle's Edinson Volquez on another down-and-away pitch. In fact, this one looked to be a few inches off the outside corner and probably would have been called ball four. Jones had a big game in San Diego, going 4-for-4 for his...

Adam LaRoche's offensive numbers are better than a league average hitter, and only the second-worst among Nats regulars, but he ranks 22nd in the league among qualified first basemen in OPS. The problem isn't that the Nationals are locked into one more year of LaRoche. They faced the same issue in the 2012 offseason when they went after Prince Fielder. It is that there isn't a Fielder on the free agent market this offseason. The best available free-agent first baseman is Mike Napoli, who...

It's been going on all season, pretty much. Maybe not a lot during the first month, but full-swing since sometime in May. If you're on Twitter or you listen to sports talk radio, you know it. You might even be guilty yourself. "It," of course, is complaining. We're no stranger to complaining here in Baltimore. Prior to last year, we endured a solid decade of nothing but (we had 14 total years of losing, sure, but it took time for the pattern to settle in). This was not without reason....

I'm asked and I answer. I'm asked again and I answer again. And so it goes. I created the "Because You Asked" series, with all of its cheesy sequels, to provide one-stop shopping for fans who keep bringing the same questions to my doorstep. This way, I can answer everyone simultaneously. Let's get started. Have you got any updates on Dylan Bundy? This one puzzles me. Bundy underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. There's nothing to update beyond what he ate for breakfast and...

Adam Jones went 4-for-4 with a homer in his hometown, and Bud Norris improved to 2-0 with the team as the Orioles beat San Diego 4-1 in the opening game of an important eight-game road trip. Norris pitched out several jams, going six innings and allowing five hits and one run, with two walks and five strikeouts. He has an ERA of 2.25 in two O's starts. San Diego went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position against Norris. They got a leadoff triple in the first but could not score, put two...

A reporter asked Davey Johnson after tonight's 2-1 Nationals loss, a loss that dropped the Nats to 54-59 on the season and left them averaging a paltry 3.68 runs per game, what can be done about the lack of offense. Johnson let out a deep sigh. "I'm asking you," Johnson responded. "Either they're pitching that good, or we just ... I don't know. I don't have an answer." The Nats left the bases loaded in the seventh when Adam LaRoche grounded out to first to end the threat, and then...