It took me more than an hour to get home from Camden Yards. Russell Street to 295 was reduced to one lane again. I got on 695 and the two left lanes were closed. I've tried 95 from the ballpark and it's always down to one lane. I'm running out of routes. The Orioles should be so lucky. They've been outscored 27-6 in their last three games. And as I noted earlier, they've scored three runs or fewer in 11 of their last 12 games and have totaled 23 runs since June 15. The Orioles are...

Right fielder Nick Markakis won't accompany the Orioles on their West Coast trip to Seattle and Anahaim that begins Monday and leads into the All-Star break. The Orioles will send Markakis to short-season Single-A Aberdeen on July 2-3 and Double-A Bowie on July 4-6, but not for an injury-rehab assignment. They want Markakis to continue receiving treatment from the medical staffs at those two affiliates and to work with Terry Crowley and Mike Bordick. Manager Buck Showalter doesn't want...

Even facing a team that had lost five games in a row while scoring just 11 runs wasn't enough to lead the Orioles to a victory. Instead, the Cleveland Indians hit a pair of three-run homers to end that losing streak in a 7-2 win at Camden Yards to start a four-game series. Johnny Damon delivered a three-run shot off Wei-Yin Chen in the second and Asdrubel Cabrera hit his three-run shot off Luis Ayala in the seventh as Cleveland improved to 38-37 and avoided falling under .500 for the first...

Johnny Damon loves facing the Orioles and he loves hitting at Camden Yards. The demonstration continued tonight with his three-run homer off Wei-Yin Chen in the second inning that gave Cleveland a 3-0 lead. Damon has 33 career homers against the Orioles, including 22 in this ballpark. Eighty of his 128 RBIs have been accumulated in Baltimore. Chen has thrown 51 pitches in three innings. Chen lasted only five innings in his last start against the Nationals, allowing two earned runs (three...

Buck Showalter admitted today that at least one reason he selected Dana Eveland to start Saturday here against Cleveland is because he is left-handed. The Orioles will start three lefties in this series including Wei-Yin Chen, who is on the mound tonight. Cleveland has a record of 5-16 this year against left-handed starters and 32-21 against right-handers. Against southpaws, the Tribe bats .216 as a team with a slugging percentage of .326. Those numbers are .264 and .407 against right-handed...

After leaving last night's game after just one at-bat, Nick Johnson has been placed on the 15-day disabled list today by the Orioles with a right wrist sprain. Johnson is batting .207/.324/.391 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in 38 games. He has had multiple surgeries on that wrist before, and will have an MRI tomorrow to make sure the injury is just a sprain at this point. "Need to try and get it right and hopefully there is nothing too structurally wrong with it," Johnson said. "It...

The Orioles took batting practice in shorts and T-shirts today because of the heat. The temperature is supposed to climb to 106 degrees tomorrow in Baltimore and 104 on Saturday. Shirts vs. skins? Here's your latest update on the Orioles' futility with runners in scoring position: The Orioles are 2-for-47 in their last nine games and 5-for-58 in their last 11 games. For the year, they rank 12th in the American League with a .242 average with RISP. The Orioles are 12-13 in series openers...

The Nationals trailed 7-0 after two innings. We're now tied 9-9 in the bottom of the fifth. The way I see it, we can take three main things out of what we've seen over these last three games: Coors Field is a fun place for hitters to spend their time, the Nationals' offense has potential to do some big things the rest of this season and the Rockies are a terrible ballclub. The Nats have gotten two monster innings this afternoon, getting five runs in the third inning and four runs in the...

For the first time since May 28 in Toronto, Xavier Avery will be back in the Orioles lineup tonight. He'll bat second and play left field. "It's always a surprise (to get called up) because you never know what can happen. It's a big surprise," Avery said of returning to the Orioles. He was with the Orioles from May 13-28, batting .217 in 15 games. He hit .313 his first eight games but went just 3-for-28 over his last seven before being optioned back to the Tides. "I didn't get a...

Right-hander Ryan Perry gets his second professional start tonight as Double-A Harrisburg plays host to Altoona. Perry went three innings in his first start and was very solid. If Perry can have some "easy" innings tonight, as Senators pitching coach Paul Menhart termed them, he will likely be extended to four innings. Harrisburg right fielder Destin Hood returns to the lineup after getting a day off this week. Hood hit the ball well in his first game back, but the Nationals want to monitor...