Omar Quintanilla will follow up two appearances with the Orioles as a defensive replacement at second base with his first start tonight at shortstop. J.J. Hardy gets a rare breather, and it comes after he collected two hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs yesterday afternoon. Ryan Flaherty stays at second base, and Endy Chavez replaces Chris Davis in left field. Davis is starting at first base. For the Orioles: Nick Markakis RF Endy Chavez LF Jim Thome DH Adam Jones CF Matt...

After spending all of the last two seasons at Single-A Delmarva, Ty Kelly was considered a decent player but was not listed among the Orioles' top minor league prospects. But his play this year should be getting him some attention. He recently moved up to Double-A Bowie from Single-A Frederick, and is 9-for-23 with four RBIs in his first six Baysox games. But Kelly, a 13th-round pick out of Cal-Davis in 2009, put up some really impressive numbers at Frederick. In 76 Keys games, he batted...

FLUSHING, N.Y. - The Nationals have made it official, placing Ian Desmond on the 15-day disabled list with what they're calling a left oblique strain and recalling outfielder Corey Brown from Triple-A Syracuse. Desmond's DL stint is retroactive to July 22, the day after his last game played. Chien-Ming Wang will make a rehab start for Double-A Harrisburg tonight, which will be his third outing since landing on the DL with a hip strain. Meanwhile, the Braves made the first big pre-trade...

The Washington Nationals today recalled outfielder Corey Brown from Syracuse of the Triple-A International League and placed shortstop Ian Desmond on the 15-Day Disabled List (retroactive to July 22) with a left oblique strain. Nationals Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Brown batted .300 with 19 doubles, seven triples, 21 home runs and 58 RBI in 95 games this season with Syracuse. The 26-year-old ranks among International...

With speculation the Atlanta Braves have acquired pitcher Ryan Dempster, the pressure intensifies for right-hander Chien-Ming Wang to figure out what is wrong with his approach. A step in that direction could occur tonight as the right-hander gets another shot to prove he is good enough to get outs for the Nationals when he starts for the Double-A Harrisburg Senators. This will be his second start for the Senators this season. He lost that earlier outing, going four innings, allowing seven...

You may choose to focus on one set of Tommy Hunter statistics and ignore the others, depending on whether you view the glass as half full or half empty. Half full: Hunter is 9-2 with a 2.82 ERA in 19 career appearances in July - the most wins and lowest ERA for any month. He has a 1.10 WHIP (lowest) and opponents are batting .225 (lowest) against him. In his only start for the Orioles this month, he held the Twins to one run and didn't walk a batter in 7 1/3 innings, which began the...

It is certainly noteworthy that the two left-handed starters who fought for the last spot in the Washington rotation in March were the ones who stood up to the Braves four months later when the games really counted. Lohn Lannan lost out when the Nats came north in the spring, and he probably deserved better. But after this weekend, no one will ever again question whether he has enough heart to pitch in the majors. Assuming that the Lannan who pitched to a 4.89 ERA at Triple-A Syracuse was on...

So far this season, the Nationals have seen their opening day catcher, shortstop, third baseman, left fielder, center fielder and right fielder land on the disabled list. Their closer missed over half the season. Their top pinch hitter is still on the DL. Multiple relievers have missed time. Their projected fifth starter has suffered two separate injuries. Three backup catchers have been placed on the disabled list, all within two weeks of getting brought up to the big leagues. "I know a lot...

After 14 consecutive losing seasons, there's bound to be angst on the part of any fan base. Bearing that in mind, I think there's something that a lot of fans are struggling with right now: The Orioles are in contention. Back when the season started and things were going so well, my public stance on Birds Watcher was that it was early and we had to see how things played out. Privately, while I kept that advice in the back of my mind, I also felt that this time might be just a bit different....

With the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaching, there's a new wrinkle in the discussion: How much of the future should a team give up for a chance to become a wild card team that could play just one postseason game? Usually, there are dozens of players moving in trades at this time of year, but with compensation rules and so many more buyers than sellers, it's hard to determine how adding two wild card teams, one in each league, will affect transactions at the deadline. A year ago...