The Orioles swung a minor league deal this afternoon to improve their infield depth, acquiring Josh Horton from the Oakland Athletics for a player to be named later or cash. Horton, 27, is hitting .224/.246/.373 this season in 16 games at Triple-A Sacramento. He's a career .274/.349/.369 hitter in seven minor league seasons. The A's chose Horton in the second round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of North Carolina. Horton has played 386 games at shortstop, 67 at...

The Nationals will happily put a cap on their rocky 10-game West Coast road trip today when they face the Giants in the finale of this three-game set. Manager Davey Johnson has tweaked his lineup again, moving Ian Desmond into the cleanup spot and bumping Adam LaRoche down to the No. 5 hole in the order against Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner. Tyler Moore will play left field and hit sixth today. Bumgarner is coming off the worst start of his career; he allowed nine runs his last...

One lucky Orioles fan will win a $1,000 shopping spree this summer at the Majestic Orioles Team Store at Oriole Park at Camden Yards as part of the Stock Up On Swag Sweepstakes, currently underway. The team store features an extensive selection of Orioles-related souvenirs, from clothing for the entire family to memorabilia and novelty items. Fans are encouraged to visit the Orioles Pinterest page at pinterest.com/oriolesbaseball to view numerous featured items available at the store. Entries...

In his first six starts this season, Orioles right-hander Jason Hammel pitched to an ERA of 3.79 and American League batters hit just .244 off him. In his last three starts, his ERA is 10.43 and opponents are batting .409. Hammel gave up seven runs in just 4 2/3 innings Friday against Tampa Bay. Over the past three starts, he has gone 14 2/3 innings, allowing 27 hits and 17 earned runs. What is going on with the O's opening night starter right now? For one thing, Hammel insists his struggles...

The Nationals have been looking to fortify their left-handed depth in the bullpen, and the hope in spring training was that veteran Bill Bray would fill that role. Bray did not make the 25-man roster out of spring training, as he was left behind at extended spring training to work on a mechanical issue. In early May, Bray was called up to Double-A Harrisburg. He appeared in four games and did not allow a run over 4 1/3 innings. He gave up just two hits, struck out six and walked one. His last...

Now that it's over, thanks to Nate McLouth and his walk-off 10th-inning heroics, I feel comfortable stating the less-than-obvious: Thank goodness for that six-game losing streak. Perhaps that sounds odd at best, a little stupid at worst. It should. But dig a little deeper with me and I think you'll see what I mean. It was just a week ago in this space that I declared the O's a good team and talked about how strange it was to adjust to the idea that they're no longer a band of losers. So,...

There is no possible way to make it sound good that the Nationals' offense has scored only 3.41 runs a game and OPS'd a measly .654. In most offensive categories, they are better than only the Marlins. The Nats have faced a lot of good pitchers and good teams early in the season, and that has something to do with the poor offense, but that doesn't make it this dreadful. In April, the issue was that the Nationals got no offense from the third and first base positions as they put up an OPS...

I was thinking about writing another "Taking the good with the bad" blog post this morning, but I realized there wasn't enough good to match up with all the bad we saw last night in the Nationals' 4-2 loss to the Giants. On the same night that the Braves tied their game in the bottom of the ninth inning and then won it with a walk-off in the 10th, the Nats saw their 2-1 lead disappear in the ninth and then were sent home in the 10th when Pablo Sandoval demolished a Yunesky Maya changeup...

Almost from the day the Orioles drafted him last June, right-hander Kevin Gausman has been on a fast track to the major leagues. Last Aug. 12, I was at Aberdeen's Ripken Stadium for Gausman's second pro outing for the Orioles. He was so impressive that day for the short-season Single-A IronBirds that the organization quickly changed its initial plan for him to only pitch at Aberdeen last summer and he would make his next start for Single-A Frederick and then ended the 2012 season pitching...

Over the course of this young season, the Orioles have recorded 303 strikeouts. While that number is not near league-leading, it has allowed fans the chance to give support to the Baltimore chapter of the RBI League 303 times. Whenever the O's record a strikeout, you have the power to rally round Baltimore's RBI League. Every time the Birds record a K, you can tweet with the @Orioles' Twitter handle and the hashtag #whiff. With each tweet, you'll record a vote for the Baltimore RBI...