The first National League All-Star balloting figures have been released by Major League Baseball, and Bryce Harper is the Nationals' lone representative on the leaderboard to this point. Harper ranks third in the overall voting among NL players, and second among outfielders. The 20-year-old, who is currently on the disabled list with bursitis in his left knee, trails only Giants catcher Buster Posey and Braves outfielder Justin Upton in the overall voting. Harper has garnered 1,182,532 votes...

Wei-Yin Chen, on the disabled list since straining his right oblique during a May 12 start in Minnesota, was scheduled to do some light throwing today in Sarasota. Apparently, the session went pretty well, judging by a tweet that Chen sent a few minutes ago. Using Google translate, it read as follows: "Today began to pass the ball, and the progress of all the best" I'm taking it as a positive step for Chen. There's no timetable for Chen's return to the active roster. The Orioles need...

Baltimore sports fans - at least many of them - seem to crave respect for their sports teams. They don't like it when national networks cover teams like the Yankees and Red Sox more. So when the first American League All-Star balloting was announced yesterday it seemed to me that the Orioles were given a whole lot of respect. That can't be just O's fans that cast all those votes. Orioles players are first or second at five positions. Chris Davis and Adam Jones would be starters if the...

Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs second baseman Anthony Rendon had a tough game Monday, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts at Pawtucket in an 11-inning 6-5 victory. Rendon committed an error on a throw, his second error in as many games. He was involved in turning two double plays between shortstop Will Rhymes and first baseman Chris Marrero. Rendon is now batting .182 (2-for-11) in three games for Syracuse, but has an overall average of .307 in 36 games between Double-A and Triple-A. He has now...

The Orioles' Chris Davis and Detroit's Miguel Cabrera are the two most dangerous hitters in the American League, but each took a different route to the top of the AL statistics. In 2003, at 20, Cabrera, who is now 30, was hitting four home runs in the postseason as the Marlins beat the Yankees in the World Series. Davis, 27, took a longer route to the bigs. Davis was a fifth-round draft pick for the Rangers in 2005. He hit home runs on his way up the minor league ladder including 23 in 2008...

Chris Davis leads Major League Baseball with 20 home runs, and he's on pace to hit 57 this season. Across the diamond, Manny Machado leads the league in doubles with 25. Over at BaltimoreSportsReport.com, in our little corner of the internet, we have been debating the biggest surprise on the O's roster this season. Is it Davis or Machado? On Monday, Davis was named the American League Player of the Week for the second time this season after hitting .481/.500/.963 with four home runs and six...

The exuberant confidence that gripped Washington in March was a false dawn. It was not backed up by the play of the Nationals in Viera, Fla., and now two months later, the giddy talk about the postseason does not deserve ink. Happy talk does not win games. The precious commodities absolutely essential to winning - determination and focus -were not there in the spring and they have been missing for much of the first two months of the season. The hell-bent-for-the-World-Series Nationals have a...

The Orioles' quiet off-day made plenty of noise yesterday. Wei-Yin Chen will start doing some light throwing today in Sarasota, according to interpreter Tim Lin. The first round of American League All-Star voting was announced, and Chris Davis ranked first among first basemen and Adam Jones ranked second among outfielders. Davis was named AL Player of the Week for the second time this season, but Miguel Cabrera beat him out for monthly honors. Dylan Bundy was cleared to begin a throwing...

When the Nationals show up to work this afternoon, they'll find themselves in a deeper hole in the division than when they left Atlanta on Sunday night. The Braves' win over the Pirates last night means the Nationals are now a full seven games back of Atlanta in the National League East. The deficit continues to grow and it's again found the deepest it's been all season. The Nats will try and make up some ground this week as they welcome two below-.500 teams to D.C. - the Mets and Twins....

This just in: Chris Davis is not slowing down. He was named the American League Player of the Month for April when he batted .348 with a slugging percentage of .728 and OPS of 1.171. He topped those numbers in May going .364/.768/1.210. Miguel Cabrera won the May monthly award after his amazing month, so Davis settled for winning the latest AL Player of the Week award yesterday, his second this season. In 56 games ,he is batting .357 with 20 homers, 52 RBIs and a 1.194 OPS. He is on a pace...