Two of Ian Desmond's last three swings have resulted in home runs. Last night, Desmond led the Nationals to a 6-2 win with an 11th-inning grand slam. Tonight, Desmond launched a 1-1 changeup from Roy Oswalt into the left field seats in the second inning to give the Nats a 1-0 lead over the Rockies. Desmond now has 11 homers on the season, third-most among major league shortstops and second-most on the Nats behind Bryce Harper, who has 12. Desmond also leads all active shortstops in...

Manager Davey Johnson had injury updates for catcher Wilson Ramos and right-handed pitcher Ryan Mattheus. Ramos has been on the disabled list since May 16 with a hamstring injury. He had a setback last week running the bases but Johnson said the catcher is making better progress this week. "I keep reading the reports every day that he is catching bullpens, taking batting practice, he is running the bases," Johnson said. "We are just being very cautious because he was injured a second time...

Barring any setbacks with his injured left knee, Bryce Harper should be back playing rehab games sometime in the near future. Nationals manager Davey Johnson said today that Harper, who is dealing with bursitis in his knee, did some running in the outfield at Nats Park today and will do some hitting in the cages. As long as Harper's knee doesn't swell up tomorrow, Johnson believes that the Nationals outfielder could head out on a rehab assignment soon. "I talked to Bryce, he looked...

Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen completed three innings today in a simulated game in Sarasota and remains on schedule to return to Baltimore next week. Chen threw 42 pitches, 27 for strikes. He threw all of his pitches, as he did in his second bullpen session on Monday. "He looks good," said Scott McGregor, the Orioles' pitching rehab coordinator. "It was a good test for him today. He threw all of them and looked pretty comfortable." Chen will throw another bullpen session on Saturday...

The Nationals will go with the same lineup in today's series opener against the Rockies that they ran out last night against the Phillies. With Roger Bernadina still dealing with some type of issue with his left eye, Steve Lombardozzi will play left field again tonight. Bernadina was scratched from last night's game due to the eye, which Bernadina said was bothering him when he woke up yesterday morning. Johnson had hoped to have Bernadina in the lineup today because he's hitting .353 with...

Double-A Harrisburg right-hander Taylor Jordan won his sixth straight Eastern League game Wednesday in a 3-1 win at Bowie. Going eight innings, Jordan demonstrated again he has the stuff to get batters out. But critical to his maturation at this level is also the mental side of the game and Jordan is having success keeping himself focused and on target. Harrisburg pitching coach Paul Menhart referred to Jordan's biggest attributes as "his ability to slow the game down." This is a very...

Former big league pitcher Bryan Harvey said reports that his son Hunter is on the verge of signing with the Orioles are accurate. "It is getting real close," Bryan Harvey said in a phone conversation. The Orioles drafted Hunter Harvey with the 22nd pick in round one on June 6. Could this deal get finalized today? "I hope so," Bryan Harvey said. "That comes as great news. Soon he can go play baseball." Harvey would not say exactly what is left to complete to get the deal to an...

Though the Orioles are off today, they managed to swing a minor league trade involving Triple-A Norfolk catcher Chris Robinson. Robinson has been dealt to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later. He was batting .241/.268/.278 with four doubles and five RBIs in 29 games. He hadn't played since June 9. Robinson will report to the Padres' Triple-A affiliate in Tucson. Update: The trade is for cash considerations. No PTBNL. The Orioles signed Robinson as a minor league free agent...

The Orioles have agreed to terms on a signing bonus for their second draft pick, high school outfielder Josh Hart, and are getting close to signing their top pick, pitcher Hunter Harvey, a Major League Baseball source said. Hart agreed to a signing bonus of $1.45 million, just under the slot value of $1,508,600 for that pick. Meanwhile, a source said the O's have made a contract offer to Harvey and the sides are considered very close to a deal at this point. Hart was taken out of Parkview...

The Baltimore Orioles have been on quite a run this week, taking two of three from the Detroit Tigers and before that, taking three of four from the rival Boston Red Sox. In the offseason, a lot of experts doubted that the Orioles could repeat what they did in 2012 this season. So far, they have proven the naysayers wrong. As of this morning, 73 games into the 2013 season, the Orioles are 11 games over .500 and their record stands at 42-31. Baltimore trails Boston in the American League East...