The Orioles have struggled to hit this year against the Tampa Bay pitching staff and that trend continued tonight. The Orioles were blanked 2-0 by Tampa Bay as Matt Moore and a trio of relievers teamed up to keep the Orioles off the scoreboard. The Orioles were shutout for the eighth time this year. It was a rather frustrating night for the Orioles' offense as they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 men on base. Mark Reynolds was called out on strikes with the...

Gio Gonzalez was cruising right along through the first five innings of tonight's game against the Marlins. He'd given up just two hits, faced only one over the minimum and had registered five strikeouts. Gonzalez had a 1-0 lead going into the sixth, and seemingly in the blink of an eye, trailed 3-1. The Marlins notched five singles in a six-batter span in the sixth inning, bringing in three runs to take the lead. It all started with a single to deep right by Marlins starter Josh Johnson,...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Tommy Hunter outlasted Tampa Bay left-hander Matt Moore tonight, but he allowed two homers and received no run support. In some ways, it's been a typical night for Hunter. Solo shots by B.J. Upton leading off the fourth inning and Desmond Jennings leading off the sixth have given the Rays a 2-0 lead at Tropicana Field. Hunter has surrendered 26 homers this season, most in the majors. Carlos Pena thought he tagged Hunter with No. 27 in the sixth, but Adam Jones made a...

Twice now, John Lannan has been brought up from Triple-A to start one half of a Nationals doubleheader. Twice now, Lannan has gotten off to a slow start but earned a win. The lefty allowed five baserunners in the first two innings of the Nats 7-4 win over the Marlins, then shut Miami down for the next four frames. He got into a bit more trouble in the seventh, allowing two walks and a double. He allowed five walks overall, but still did enough to move to 2-0 on the season. "I thought he ran...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Robert Andino is starting at third base against a left-hander tonight, and he could return to the hot corner under similar circumstances in future games. Wilson Betemit is batting .146 against left-handers, compared to .307 against right-handers. That's one reason. Omar Quintanila is swinging a pretty hot bat these days and manager Buck Showalter would like to keep him at second base. That's another reason. It looks like the Orioles could platoon at third...

Poor Brad Hand. Not only did the Marlins starter allow a whopping seven runs over 3 2/3 innings before being pulled from the first game of today's doubleheader, he also teed up reporters in the press box, who fired off jokes playing on his last name. Things got out of Hand in the third inning. The Marlins Handed the Nationals a few runs today. Ozzie Guillen told his starter to Hand him the ball. I know, I know. Awful stuff. The Nationals broke things open against Hand and the Marlins by...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles haven't announced any roster moves today. Nate McLouth isn't here, and I'm told the club won't find out today whether he exercised the opt-out clause in his contract. Lew Ford is starting in left field. Robert Andino has returned to the lineup. He's starting at third base against Rays left-hander Matt Moore. The Orioles did make one deal yesterday that flew under the radar. They sent Triple-A reliever Pat Neshek to the Athletics. I don't have any...

The Nationals and Athletics had been discussing a trade centering around Kurt Suzuki in the days leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline, but they couldn't get it all finalized before 4 p.m. struck on Tuesday afternoon. Once the trade was finally settled on by both teams and Suzuki cleared waivers, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo got his guy, a guy who he has thought highly of for some time. "Kurt gives us a veteran presence in the clubhouse," Rizzo said. "He's a terrific guy....

The Orioles are 3-3 over the last six games against Oakland and New York. Should they win the series against Tampa Bay this weekend, they would finish 5-4 in a nine-game stretch against those three teams and that would be a decent showing during a tough stretch. The Orioles' offense now gets a good weekend test against a Tampa Bay pitching staff that ranks second in the American League in ERA at 3.49. The Orioles' offense has been better lately. Since scoring a total of three runs in three...

Single-A Delmarva infielder Nicky Delmonico, the Orioles' sixth-round pick in 2011 and one of the organization's better hitting prospects, may be able to continue to play this year but is likely to need knee surgery at some point soon, possibly right after the season. Delmonico first injured his knee on June 26 and re-injured it Wednesday night. He didn't play yesterday and may test the knee today to see if he can play with some discomfort for the rest of this season. When he got hurt in...