Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, Nick Markakis, Jim Johnson, Pedro Strop, Jason Hammel, Wei Yin Chen - all have been essential to the Orioles' success this year, but as of right now, to this blogger, the most important Oriole is one William Nathaniel Showalter. Honestly, has there been one person that is more responsible for the Orioles' year? Showalter has been the rock, the steady-handed captain of this improbable team. He is calm, cool and clearly in charge. When you look at the team the...

This week, the focus on Stephen Strasburg's innings limit has kicked into a higher gear, and as far as the national media is concerned, Mike Rizzo is the Grinch who stole Strasmas. Most of the stories this week have painted the citizens of Natstown as ignorant little Whos too caught up with the winning to be as enraged as they should be. Let us not hover too long on that tale, but shift instead to a different tale of morality. Instead of casting Rizzo as the mean old Mr. Grinch we will have...

The Nationals come back home from a lengthy 10-game road trip happy to see their families and excited to return to their home clubhouse. No team will ever say it would prefer to play its games on the road. That just won't happen. But the Nats sure play like a team that doesn't mind hitting the road for a while. They're a remarkable 41-23 on the road this season, which already gives them more road victories than the franchise has had in a full season since 1994. They've outscored their...

In an interview with Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette on Wednesday at Camden Yards, Duquette made it clear he is not a fan of young pitchers throwing cut fastballs. The Orioles have forbid their top pitching prospect, Dylan Bundy, from throwing his cutter this year and based on Duquette's comments yesterday, that policy may not be changing anytime soon. "The philosophy of the organization is to encourage pitchers to develop a good delivery, command of...

Triple-A Norfolk manager Ron Johnson called Brian Matusz into his office on Monday and made official the left-hander's move to the bullpen. And so began the next phase of Matusz's professional life. Whether it's a passing phase has yet to be determined. The decision was born after numerous conversations involving Johnson, Orioles manager Buck Showalter, executive vice president Dan Duquette, director of pitching development Rick Peterson and Norfolk pitching coach Mike Griffin. "Buck...

The Orioles went from being no-hit tonight to taking a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning. What the heck happened? J.J. Hardy got the first hit off Boston starter Aaron Cook with a single into left field, and the Orioles sent 10 batters to the plate. "J.J. got a pretty good swing on a ball. That's about it," said manager Buck Showalter. "It's one of those things where you've got a pretty good idea of what he's going to do coming in. And he was able to do it because he had that sinker...

The Orioles have taken the lead in the wild card race with tonight's 5-3 victory over the Red Sox, and they're in sole possession of second place in the American League East. The Orioles are 4-0-1 in their last five series against the Yankees, Rays, Mariners, Royals and Red Sox. Miguel Gonzalez registered his third consecutive quality start and has allowed three runs in his last 21 innings. "I thought I threw the ball well," he said after permitting two runs and six hits in six innings....

WOODBRIDGE, Va. -- Potomac Nationals left-hander Robbie Ray had his shortest outing of the season Wednesday in a 9-1 loss to Wilmington. Ray managed to get only two of the first eight batters out as the Blue Rocks scored seven runs in the first inning. Ironically, before the game manager Brian Rupp said one rocky inning had been the southpaw's undoing recently. Unfortunately, that inning was the first frame on Wednesday afternoon at Pfitzner Stadium. "He has been pretty good," Rupp said....

One mark of a good team is to have a big innning when your opponent makes a critical mistake. Tonight, a key error by Boston opened the door for the Orioles and they kicked it in by scoring five times in bottom of the sixth in a 5-3 win over Boston. The win gives the Orioles a record of 64-53 and they are 11 games over .500 for the first time since June 18 when they were 39-28. The Orioles have now won five of the last six series against Boston and are 8-3 this year against the Red Sox. They...

Red Sox starter Aaron Cook has allowed one baserunner through four innings tonight, and it came on a leadoff walk to Nick Markakis in the bottom of the fourth. That's it. Cook and Miguel Gonzalez were working on dueling shutouts before Jacoby Ellsbury's ground-rule double scored Scott Podsednik in the fifth. Nick Punto, who followed Podsednik's single with one of his own, scored on Carl Crawford' sacrifice fly to give Boston a 2-0 lead. Ellsbury has a 38-game hitting streak against the...