Providing the rain now pelting Camden Yards lets up - and there's always a window, as we know - here is the Orioles lineup for tonight's opener of a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals. Nate McLouth LF Manny Machado 3B Nick Markakis RF Adam Jones CF Chris Davis 1B Matt Wieters C J.J. Hardy SS Ryan Flaherty 2B Nolan Reimold DH RHP Wei-Yin Chen Also, Miguel Gonzalez reports that the blister on his right thumb that forced him out of Friday's game after only six innings has...

The tarp is on the field at Nationals Park and the raindrops are coming down sideways at a pretty rapid rate. I have absolutely no inside information on whether tonight's game will be played. Reporters just scan the forecast on Weather.com like the rest of you. But I can tell you that the forecast doesn't look great. That's about the extent of my meteorology knowledge for the time being. I'll obviously keep everyone posted with the latest updates once I hear anything. If tonight's game...

Like the 2012 Orioles, the 2013 Kansas City Royals are looking to bring winning baseball back to their city while ending a long playoff drought. The Royals' last playoff appearance was in 1985, when they won the World Series, and their last winning season was in 2003. They went 72-90 last season. But even after a tough 2-1 loss to the White Sox on Monday, the Royals bring a 17-11 record to Camden Yards tonight to begin a three-game series. Right now, the Royals are closer to first place than...

In-park voting for the 2013 Major League Baseball All-Star Game begins tonight at Oriole Park, and the Orioles have launched a ballpark "Vote Orange Rewards Program" to encourage fans to vote to make sure the team is well-represented at the Midsummer Classic. Fans who complete as few as 50 paper ballots and submit them by the sixth inning will be eligible to win an autographed photo at each home game and have their name displayed on the center field video board as the "Voter of the Game."...

At the risk of continuing the conversation about Bryce Harper's ejection for yet another day and annoying the heck out of those who want to move on, here's a view of the incident that I hadn't yet seen. This view shows Harper as he "slammed" his bat and helmet to the ground. I put "slammed" in quotes because that's the term that third base umpire John Hirschbeck used when explaining his decision to eject Harper after the game. "I was actually just being nice," Hirschbeck told a...

Potomac Nationals right-hander

Seven wins on an 11-game west coast road trip are enough to turn even the Orioles' fiercest doubter into a believer in 2013. For the first time this season, I stopped comparing this year's team to its surprising playoff roster from a year ago and instead just enjoyed watching the O's starters pitch a 3.76 ERA, the bullpen to a 3.60 mark and cheered as the offense totaled 5.27 runs per game against the A's, Mariners and Angels. It took just over a month for me to stop making that comparison...

There was too much Sterling Marte and A.J. Burnett in Pittsburgh, too little Bryce Harper. Yet the Nationals still looked like the better team when all was said and done. The Pirates are capable of beating anyone. They won their series against the Nationals in 2012 and recently swept the Atlanta Braves. Pittsburgh has an obvious weakness in their bullpen, however. They lead the league in bases on balls and a good team will exploit that. On Saturday night, the Nats' veteran hitters took the...

Here is a story from extended spring training that may not resonate much with the average fan, but when O's manager Buck Showalter was told about it, I heard he was quite pleased. The story was relayed by new Aberdeen IronBirds manager Matt Merullo Saturday at Ripken Stadium during a fan Q and A session on Fan Day in Aberdeen. Merullo, who is currently running the O's extended spring training program in Florida, was asked about the games being played in Sarasota at extended spring. He told...

The Orioles are back in action and back home tonight after completing their 11-game road trip and taking off yesterday. The Royals are visiting after playing back-to-back extra-inning games against the White Sox. CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler came up with an interesting note on this series. On Sunday, the Orioles won their 107th consecutive regular season game when leading after the seventh inning. Also on Sunday, the Royals won a game for the fourth time, tops in the majors, when trailing...