Nationals prospect Anthony Rendon has been moved from short-season Single-A Auburn back to high Single-A Potomac. Rendon completed his rehab assignment at Auburn by playing 21 innings in the field and nine as the designated hitter in the past four days. Included in that span was a hit by pitch on, of all places, his surgically repaired ankle. But in an example that he is physically ready to handle the rigors of playing evey day, he played the next day and has had no complications. Auburn...

On July 9, the Orioles will host Wei-Yin Chen T-Shirt Thursday. The first 10,000 fans 15 and over attending the Orioles' game against the Kansas City Royals will receive a T-shirt featuring Orioles on the front and Chen's name on the back, both written in Mandarin Chinese. Chen, a native of Taiwan, is in his first season with the Orioles after spending four seasons with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan Central League. Among qualifying rookie pitchers, Chen ranks among the leaders in: games...

I've liked a lot of movies in my life; as an Italian-American, "The Godfather Trilogy" and "Rocky" are both up there. I'd also throw in "Back to the Future," as well as a few others. However, by far my favorite movie of all time will always be "Field of Dreams." That movie uses baseball to tell a story about a father and son righting old wrongs. It also ties together the past and present in an unparalleled manner. This coming weekend, the O's will pay homage to one of the most...

For the four games against the Marlins, Adam LaRoche was 7-for-15 with three home runs and seven RBIs, an amazing offensive display. It has always been said of LaRoche that he is a strong second-half player, but no one could have understood just what others were talking about until this past month. He is hitting .457 for the last two weeks with seven home runs, .337 for the past four. Most fans were content with the first-half numbers that LaRoche put up. He was the mainstay of the Washington...

In his third at-bat yesterday, Bryce Harper struck out swinging at an off-speed pitch for the second time on the day. Clearly frustrated with himself, Harper slammed the barrel of his bat on home plate, breaking the piece of lumber down the middle and causing Marlins catcher John Buck to flinch. When Harper came to the plate for his next at-bat, he quickly apologized to Buck before stepping into the box. "He told me he was really sorry, it was terrible,"

On July 27, the Orioles were beginning what looked like a very grueling stretch of the schedule with three home games against the red-hot A's followed by six on the road against the Yankees and Rays. When the Orioles rallied twice to come from behind against the A's in the opener of that series, it was another impressive night for the Orioles. But it ended very badly with Oakland scoring six in the ninth off Jim Johnson to post a 14-9 win. Not only did Johnson bounce back from that game,...

TAMPA, Fla. - I've lost track of my road record this season, but I'm pretty sure that I've captured one of the wild card berths. I may lead my division. Tack on four more wins while I catch this 7:05 a.m. flight back to Baltimore and try to remember where I parked my car at the BWI train station. Garage 1, I believe. Or maybe it was 2. I've got a 50-50 shot at being right. The Orioles are living right these days. They scored five runs in three games at Tropicana Field, and they went...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles are 1-0 in games when dogs are allowed inside Tropicana Field, DJ Kitty bobbleheads are given out and The Wiggles perform a concert in center field. No need to bother Elias with that one. It's a day that Taylor Teagarden won't soon forget. His two-out RBI double off Rays reliever Joel Peralta broke a scoreless tie in the 10th. "Definitely don't want to swing at something that's out of the zone right there, because I had seen all his pitches at that...

With Stephen Strasburg throwing a strong six innings and Drew Storen notching the save, today's game could have easily been one which was played in the final month of the 2011 season. "That was a little bit reminiscent of last year," Davey Johnson said with a smile as he sat down to talk with reporters. The main difference, of course, is that the 2012 Nationals sit atop their division and are looking at what could be the first playoff appearance since the team moved to the nation's...

Look out Major League Baseball. Stephen Strasburg could be starting to figure this thing out. On July 25, the Nationals right-hander, relying on his lethal fastball, fired 11 strikeouts, allowing one run in a seven-inning win over the Mets in New York. On July 31, going with a similar game plan, the Phillies jumped on Strasburg, notching eight hits and scoring six runs in handing him the four-inning loss, his shortest stint of the season. On Sunday, Strasburg returned to his "old" form...