BOSTON - Nolan Reimold is back in the lineup tonight, batting ninth and serving as the designated hitter. Chris Dickerson, wearing his spring training No. 60, is listed among the reserves and is sitting at his locker. Dickerson found out about his promotion to the majors last night as he stepped into the batter's box to lead off the first inning for Triple-A Norfolk. Tides manager Ron Johnson kept calling to him. Dickerson kept saying, "What?" and assumed that Johnson just wanted to give...

He didn't make an appearance in last night's 8-7 Nationals win, but Adam Dunn is in the White Sox lineup for tonight's contest. Dunn will hit cleanup for Chicago and will play left field. It'll be interesting to see what type of response Dunn gets from the Nats Park crowd in his first plate appearance tonight. This will be Dunn's first game played at Nats Park since 2010. He wore a Nats jersey from 2009-2010 and slugged 78 home runs during his tenure in D.C. Dunn spoke yesterday about...

BOSTON - The Orioles traded reliever Luis Ayala to the Atlanta Braves today for minor league left-hander Chris Jones, who will be assigned to Double-A Bowie. The deal allows the Orioles to keep Rule 5 pick T.J. McFarland in their bullpen and also gives manager Buck Showalter a fourth bench player with outfielder Chris Dickerson having his contracted selected from Triple-A Norfolk. Ayala was 6-5 with a 2.81 ERA in 68 games for the Orioles over the past two seasons. He allowed 44 percent of...

The Orioles today announced that they have traded RHP Luis Ayala to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for minor league LHP Chris Jones, who has been assigned to Double-A Bowie. Jones, 24, is 24-20 with a 3.58 ERA over seven minor league seasons with the Cleveland Indians and Braves. He posted a 3.90 ERA in 45 appearances in relief for Double-A Mississippi in 2012. Ayala was 6-5 with a 2.81 ERA in 68 games for the Orioles over the past two seasons.

Back in August of 2010, I reported the Orioles signing of a player from Baltimore who had gone undrafted earlier that year in June. He was a rarity in that the Orioles felt they got a player with top 10 round talent that wasn't drafted by anyone. You don't see that very often. Here is the behind the scenes story I wrote that August on how the Orioles knew about Glynn Davis well ahead of just about any other organization in baseball and how they acquired this young man who was a 2009 grad of...

Michael Morse crushed another home run for the Mariners last night, giving the former Nationals slugger six bombs and nine RBIs through the season's first nine games. Nationals fans might cringe seeing those totals. Morse, after all, is a guy the Nats traded away this offseason, choosing to go with Denard Span in center, Bryce Harper in left and Adam LaRoche at first base rather than keeping things status quo by leaving Harper in center, Morse in left and LaRoche at first. General manager...

First a home run by Jayson Werth. Then, another huge RBI base hit in the next at-bat. Three big RBIs that helped to decide an 8-7 win over the White Sox. The veteran right-fielder believes a move to the second spot in lineup allows him a bit more freedom to take some calculated chances at the plate. "I think I have been more aggressive this year," Werth said. "But usually I am aggressive when I feel good at the plate. When I am not as aggressive, I don't feel as good. It just...

When Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche came into the clubhouse after tonight's 8-7 win over the White Sox, he had a visitor waiting for him by his locker. It was his 11-year-old son, Drake, who had a message for his father. "It's about time," Drake said, patting his dad on the back. Drake then turned and walked away. "I think he was getting fed up with the 0-fers," the elder LaRoche joked to reporters later. After starting the season 0-for-15, LaRoche busted out in a big way...

The 14 homers the Nationals have hit in the first seven games of the season help mask some troublesome signs early from the bullpen. In Tuesday's 8-7 win over the White Sox, the bullpen allowed two huge home runs that could have lost the game. Up 6-2 in the seventh, Tyler Clippard surrendered a three-run shot to Paul Konerko to make it 6-5. In the ninth, Rafael Soriano gave up a two-run homer to Alex Rios, and an 8-5 lead was dwindled to 8-7. Fortunately for the Nationals, they were able to...

BOSTON - The Orioles were off yesterday, but they stayed busy. Besides the private screening of the film "42," they made preparations for a roster move involving outfielder Chris Dickerson. As I wrote last night, outfielder Nolan Reimold's hamstring is fine and the move isn't expected to involve him. Dickerson isn't on the 40-man roster, but infielder Wilson Betemit can be transferred to the 60-day disabled list. Stay tuned. Dickerson just sent this tweet a few minutes ago: "Rise and...