Hope everyone had a very happy July 4. We had a beautiful day yesterday, and after sweating through my polo in the press box, I was able to get in some barbequing and quality outdoor time with friends after leaving Nationals Park. Hopefully, you all got to do the same. The way I see it, Wilson Ramos is owed some happy moments. Ramos had to suffer through being kidnapped in the winter of 2011. He tore his ACL and meniscus last year, causing him to miss all but the season's first month....

The plan at the start of the season was for Kurt Suzuki and Wilson Ramos to split the catching duties while Ramos recovered from the devastating knee injury that brought an abrupt end to his 2012 campaign. Ramos was 25 games into his second full season with Washington after the Nationals acquired the highly regarded backstop from the Minnesota Twins in a deadline deal in July 2010 when he went down with the injury. Coming off a .267/.334/.445 season in his first full year in the majors in...

Chris Davis is in the midst of an historic offensive season that is likely to rank among the greatest in team history. However, the season's not complete. So as we head toward the All-Star Game, I chose to look at what Davis has done thus far and compare his numbers to those of all of the Orioles' previous All-Star first baseman prior to the break. As you might guess, Davis' first-half totals stack up favorably with his O's competition through the years. He has had the best first-half...

The Orioles are listing Miguel Gonzalez, Chris Tillman and Jason Hammel as their three starters for the Yankees series that starts tonight in the Bronx. Zach Britton allowed only two runs over seven innings yesterday in Chicago. Wei-Yin Chen tossed seven scoreless innings yesterday and retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced in his second and last injury-rehab start with Double-A Bowie. Scott Feldman made his Orioles debut Wednesday night after being acquired from the Cubs and held the...

Double-A Harrisburg Senators outfielder Brian Goodwin has been named to the Eastern League All-Star team. He will play for the Western Division on July 10 in New Britain, Conn. It also comes at a time when Goodwin is starting to get into a nice rhythm at the plate. He has cut down on his strikeouts, with only five in his last 38 at-bats. He has had 10 hits in his last eight games, including a home run July 3, his seventh round-tripper of the season. Harrisburg manager Matt Lecroy said Goodwin...

They are the Orioles one-two punch in running the organization, and making the key baseball decisions. Executive vice president Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter. They are both strong personalities that have their own opinions about the game and how to produce a winner. They have come together to make the Orioles a winner again. When I spoke to ESPN's Buster Olney recently he talked about the O's one-two punch at the top. He feels Duquette has earned redemption in Baltimore after...

That was a tough way to lose a game. Adam Dunn hit a homer to left field off Tommy Hunter on a 3-2 breaking ball in the last of the ninth as the White Sox won 3-2 over the Orioles. The O's had lefty Brian Matusz up in the bullpen, but Dunn hit his 23rd homer to give the White Sox the walk-off win. Trailing 2-0, the Orioles tied it up in the top of the eighth off reliever Nate Jones. Brian Roberts drew a leadoff walk and went to third on a Nate McLouth double. With one out, first baseman...

Few players are as well-liked in the Nationals clubhouse as catcher Wilson Ramos, whose teammates see a warrior in their catcher. Nothing has dulled Ramos' enthusiasm to play, excel and contribute - not his publicized kidnapping incident in his native Venezuela two offseasons ago, not the freak knee injury and subsequent surgery that cost him most of 2012, and not the two trips to the disabled list this season with hamstring problems. So the fact that Ramos returned from the DL on Thursday...

When Wilson Ramos strode to the plate with two on and two outs in the bottom of the sixth with the score tied 5-5, Nationals manager Davey Johnson turned to his bench coach, Randy Knorr. "He's had a good day," Johnson told Knorr. "He might as well just hit one out here." Ask, and you shall receive. In his first game off the disabled list after missing 44 games with a strained left hamstring, Ramos crushed a three-run, go-ahead homer off Brewers righty Brandon Kintzler, a long shot over...

It finally happened. The ground beneath our feet didn't freeze over. Dogs and cats aren't best friends. But Orioles center fielder Adam Jones did, indeed, draw a walk in the first inning. Jones' two-out free pass off White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana was his first since May 18. That's 43 games and 184 plate appearances - the longest stretch in baseball. He left Eric Hinske in the dust. The Orioles lost to the Rays that day, 10-6, at Camden Yards despite Jones going 2-for-4 with a home...