The Rockies are not an incredibly talented or fundamentally sound baseball team. That's why they entered today 19 games under .500. The Nationals didn't see that Rockies team yesterday. They saw a squad which got a very strong performance from its starter and put up five runs in a game started by the Nats' ace. Today, at least for an inning, the Rockies played like they're the second-worst team in baseball. They threw the ball around in the bottom of the sixth, essentially giving the...

For a few weeks now, Ian Desmond has been battling a sore left oblique. It hasn't been enough to cause him to miss any game action, but it has bugged him. And so, instead of risking further aggravating the oblique by coming off the bench during the All-Star Game, Desmond has decided to skip the Midsummer Classic. He'll instead get some time to rest over the break. This decision was made after conferring with Nationals team doctors, management and the manager of the National League All-Star...

BOWIE, Md. - Fans coming here to Prince George's Stadium tonight will not see Manny Machado play, as he has left to play in the Futures Game Sunday in Kansas City. But they will see two players that have been in the major leagues and who have hopes of joining the Orioles when play resumes after the All-Star break. Nick Markakis and Taylor Teagarden are both in Bowie's lineup. Markakis will bat second and play in right field and Teagarden is batting third as the DH. Markakis has been out...

Today is Photo Day at Nationals Park, which allows a group of fans to line the warning track all the way around the field and shake hands and pose for pictures with Nats players. What a perfect day for both players and fans to be standing outside for a lengthy period of time. Temperatures of 103 degrees with a heat index of close to 110 degrees? Just lovely. Bryce Harper and Ryan Mattheus came prepared to help the fans keep cool, as they brought a bag of freeze pops and tossed them out to...

The Orioles today announced that they have recalled infielder Steve Tolleson from Triple-A Norfolk. This is Tolleson's third stint with the O's this season (also May 9-June 12 and June 14-27). He has batted .220 (11-50) with two home runs and six RBI in 17 games for the Orioles. Tolleson has batted .291/.382/.379 with one home run and 13 RBI in 32 games with the Tides this season.

You can add left-hander Wandy Rodriguez to the list of pitchers who are on the Orioles' radar. The Orioles have contacted the Astros about Rodriguez, according to an industry source. No word on the level of interest or which players have been discussed, but executive vice president Dan Duquette is considering Rodriguez as a possibility for his ever-changing rotation. Rodriguez is owed about $5 million for the rest of 2012 and is signed through next season, when he'll make $13 million. The...

Yeah, it's a little bit warm in the nation's capital today. I don't envy Gio Gonzalez or Jeff Francis, the two starters who will be trying to fight through this heat at Nationals Park. It's bad enough trying to unstick myself from my chair in the press box, much less get a grip on a curveball. Here's the Nationals lineup today against Francis, who held the Nats in check in Denver last week: 2B Danny Espinosa CF Bryce Harper 3B Ryan Zimmerman RF Michael Morse 1B Adam LaRoche SS Ian...

It's not difficult to pinpoint the most memorable of the six seasons Larry Sheets spent in an Orioles uniform. Just peruse his career stats and his stellar 1987 season - when he batted .316, hit 31 homers and drove in 94 runs - stick out as a high-water mark for a guy drafted 18 picks ahead of Cal Ripken Jr. by the O's in 1978. "It was magical," Sheets, now 52, said recently after participating in the Orioles Alumni Autograph Series. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to duplicate it after...

Those pesky Rockies. They have the second-worst winning percentage in baseball and have a winning record against just three teams this season. Those three teams: the 32-52 Astros, the 39-44 Brewers and the 48-33 Nationals, who own the best record in the National League. Colorado has now won three of the five games it's played with the Nats this season. Surprisingly, two of those three wins have come against Stephen Strasburg, who has registered losses in three straight starts. Strasburg...

When the All-Star Futures Game, featuring some of baseball's best prospects, is played tomorrow, there will be seven players on the U.S. roster that were teenagers when the calender turned to July. Three of those seven are ranked as top ten prospects and two of that trio are from the Orioles. Pitcher Dylan Bundy, the 19-year-old O's 2011 first-round pick and shortstop Manny Machado, the O's 2010 top pick who turned 20 yesterday, will represent the Orioles in that game tomorrow in Kansas...