SARASOTA, Fla. - Former Orioles reliever Koji Uehara is in the house. Uehara made the trip to Ed Smith Stadium for tonight's game, joining 10 other pitchers on the Boston Red Sox's travel roster. Uehara smiled broadly when he spotted two Baltimore reporters walking toward him as he sat on the top step of the visiting dugout. He called for his interpreter to join him for a short interview. "I think we have a really good mix of guys and I'm having a lot of fun," said Uehara, who signed a...

VIERA, Fla. - The Nationals might have had six projected opening day starters in their lineup this afternoon against the Marlins, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the line score from today's 5-1 loss. Davey Johnson's bunch, which included Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche for the first time this spring, managed just three hits, only one of which came in the first seven innings. "Kind of a lackluster day. Dog day," Johnson said. "Put my big guys in there, slows us down." The top four...

VIERA, Fla. - It's 5-1 Marlins as we go to the ninth inning here at Space Coast Stadium. After Craig Stammen relieved Dan Haren and pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts, Tanner Roark gave up four runs in his 1 1/3 innings of work, putting Miami up big. The Nationals loaded the bases with none out in the eighth, but brought across just one run on a Carlos Rivero sacrifice fly. Drew Storen is on to work the ninth for the Nats. I questioned in an earlier entry whether Dan Haren...

The Orioles today announced that Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. will visit Ed Smith Stadium on March 7 for the Orioles game against the Toronto Blue Jays, where he will throw out the ceremonial first pitch and sign copies of his new children's book, Wild Pitch, on the lower concourse from 2-4 p.m. The visit is part of a national book tour for Wild Pitch, the third installment in the New York Times best-selling "Cal Ripken Jr.'s All-Stars" series. Tickets for the Orioles-Blue Jays game are...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Nolan Reimold is batting first again tonight, as the Orioles host the Boston Red Sox in a split-squad game. Brian Roberts is batting second, and Nick Markakis is starting in right field after serving as the designated hitter in two games. Nate McLouth drops to eighth against Red Sox left-hander Franklin Morales. For the Orioles: Nolan Reimold DH Brian Roberts 2B Nick Markakis RF Adam Jones CF Matt Wieters C Chris Davis 1B J.J. Hardy SS Nate McLouth LF Wilson Betemit...

VIERA, Fla. - Even though Dan Haren has pitched in 10 big league seasons, it's entirely possible he was a little nervous in his first inning of spring. Today was Haren's first time pitching in a Nationals uniform, and his first time on a mound in a game situation in about five months. I wouldn't blame the guy if he had some nerves early on. Haren was shaky in his first inning of work this afternoon, giving up a triple off the center field wall to Christian Yelich on his second pitch of the...

SARASOTA, Fla. - While still recovering from the news that Stone Temple Pilots has fired Scott Weiland. Again... Danny Valencia is making another start at first base today in Tampa, his second one in four spring training games. He was supposed to play third base yesterday in Bradenton before the cancellation due to rain. As I wrote a few days ago, Valencia has never played first base in the majors. He appeared in 18 games with rookie-league Elizabethton in 2006, two with Single-A Beloit in...

The Orioles today announced the addition of David Rovine as Vice President of Orioles-Sarasota to oversee the club's Sarasota business affairs and community development. In his new role, Rovine will represent the Orioles in the Sarasota County community, furthering the club's presence through OriolesREACH and its many community programs and establishing and cultivating club partnerships with business, civic, charitable and non-profit organizations throughout the Greater Sarasota County and...

VIERA, Fla. - Javier Vasquez has pulled out of the World Baseball Classic and decided not to pitch in the major leagues this season, according to El Nuevo Día, a Puerto Rican newspaper. The Nationals had scouted Vasquez in Puerto Rico this offseason prior to the veteran right-hander suffering a meniscus injury. General manager Mike Rizzo went down to watch Vasquez in person, and had been considering Vasquez as an option to give the Nationals increased starting pitching depth within the...

VIERA, Fla. - The Marlins have arrived at Space Coast Stadium, and after all the roster turnover that team underwent this offseason, Davey Johnson doesn't really know exactly what he's looking at. "I'm still trying to learn their names," Johnson said. "And I'm not even sure what position the names are going in." The Marlins will have Donovan Solano starting at second base today -he's the brother of Jhonatan Solano, a catcher in the Nationals' system. Other than that, there are very...