Jason Hammel continues to make us all wonder how he had a career ERA of 4.99 and record of 34-45 before this season. He had seven wins all of last year, his career high is 10 and he's now an eight-game winner after his outing last night. It was not only another impressive performance by Hammel in the win over the Nats. But he did it with little run support in a game where one or two key mistakes could have meant a loss. He also set a great tone for the Orioles' nine-game homestand by...

The Orioles won their 40th game last night, moving them 10 games above .500 and 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the American League East. Last year, the Orioles didn't win their 40th until July 23. In 2010, they didn't win their 40th until Aug. 11. The Orioles hadn't collected their 40th win in June since 2008. With his two singles last night, Brian Roberts moved past Al Bumbry for seventh place on the Orioles' all-time multi-hits list with 388. Mark Reynolds is hitting .297 with...

Jordan Zimmermann entered tonight getting just 3.2 runs of offensive support when he's been in the ballgame this season. That total was the sixth-lowest in the National League. It got lower tonight. The Nationals were able to give Zimmermann just one run to work with here in Baltimore, largely due to the dominant effort put up by Orioles starter Jason Hammel. They couldn't get much going against the righty, who worked in the mid-90s with his fastball, showed a hard slider and a tough...

Nationals right-hander Cole Kimball, recovering from major rotator cuff surgery in his right shoulder, made another successful rehab appearance, this time at low Single-A Hagerstown. Kimball started for the Suns, going one inning, allowing one hit and no runs and striking out two batters. The Suns started him because there were weather concerns in Hagerstown, and they wanted to make sure Kimball got his work in. No details on his velocity were immediately available, but Kimball threw a...

Two trends remained the same Friday at Camden Yards, and both didn't help the Nationals' cause. Orioles right-hander Jason Hammel was close to dominant in twirling eight innings against the Nationals for a Friday night win, and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman continued to struggle at the plate. Zimmerman went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and two groundouts. He has now gone 3-for-27 (.111) in his last seven games. Dating back to June 10, Zimmerman is 5-for-44 (.114). But whether it was Hammel or...

Jason Hammel isn't wasting a lot of time and energy thinking about his chances of making the All-Star team. Not with the Orioles 1 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East. Not with a much bigger carrot dangling in front of him. "I honestly couldn't care less about that," he said. "I think we have something bigger going on here with the team. We're playing good ball right now. If that were to happen, that's awesome. There are other guys who are worthy, too, on this...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter filled out his All-Star ballot today. He also has a good relationship with Rangers manager Ron Washington, who will be in charge of the American League team. Maybe it will work in Jason Hammel's favor. Hammel continues to pitch like an All-Star. He hasn't allowed an earned run in his last 19 innings, and he improved to 8-2 with a 2.61 ERA tonight - the sixth-lowest ERA in the league. Should he be an All-Star? "I think he should be a strong...

The Nationals were able to get to Jason Hammel a bit on May 19, plating four runs off the Orioles' righty over 5 1/3 innings. Hammel still took the win that day, even though it was one of the few games this season when he wasn't really on his game. Hammel was on his game tonight, that's for sure. The Nats managed just one run and five hits against Hammel over eight innings tonight in a 2-1 loss to the Orioles. They struck out 10 times and forced Hammel to throw just 96 pitches over his...

Boy, Ryan Zimmerman is in a bad way right now. The third baseman has gone 0-for-2 so far tonight, grounding out to short in the first and striking out looking in the fourth. His average now sits at a lowly .224, the lowest it's been since May 9. Zimmerman has struck out in four of his last six at-bats, three of them looking. He went down on three Jason Hammel pitches in the fourth inning tonight, with strike three coming on a ball right down the middle. He doesn't have an extra-base hit...

Mark Reynolds was in a 1-for-15 slump, with no hits in his last 11 at-bats, before stepping to the plate for the first time tonight. One swing, and he felt right at home. Reynolds hit his sixth home run of the season to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. He admired it for a few seconds before heading to first base. A typical no-doubter to left field. Reynolds rarely hits a cheap one. The Orioles have four hits in three innings off Nationals starter Jordan...