A few words about tonight's starting pitchers: Jason Hammel, who is 7-2 with a 2.87 ERA makes his 14th start of the year for the Orioles. He is coming off of pitching the 33rd one-hitter in O's history when he beat Atlanta 5-0 with eight strikeouts last Saturday. In 20 games (15 starts) since he was moved to the Colorado bullpen last Aug. 24, Hammel is 7-3 with a 2.63 ERA and 94 strikeouts over 106 innings. Opponents are batting .210 against him in that span. In six career starts against...

Davey Johnson sat down in the visitor's dugout at Camden Yards and cracked a big smile. "This looks familiar," Johnson said. "Little different angle from here." The Nationals' skipper seemed legitimately happy to be back in Baltimore, shaking hands with Jim Palmer and Rick Dempsey and soaking in the atmosphere at the park he once managed in. Johnson will also be happy to know that the Nats have signed Stanford left-hander Brett Mooneyham, their third-round pick in this year's...

Manager Davey Johnson said he voted for shortstop Ian Desmond as a National League All-Star on his ballot for the Midsummer Classic in Kansas City this July. With all the outstanding shortstops to choose from, does Johnson really think Desmond is deserving? "I do," Johnson said. "He made my ballot, so that should tell you something." His batting average isn't eye-popping, but he has shown good power numbers. His error total is about on pace with last year's 11. His fielding average is...

After much deliberation and multiple consultations with specialists, Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold decided to undergo surgery Monday morning at Johns Hopkins to remove a disk that's pressing on a nerve on his cervical spine and fuse the vertebrae. "The best thing to do as far as my career is definitely to get the surgery and get the pressure off the nerve that's being pushed on," Reimold said. "I contemplated back and forth a little bit, but it was pretty much a consensus among all...

On Saturday, June 23, from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. the Orioles will partner with The Y of Central Maryland, Baltimore Area Travel Softball (BATS), and the Coppin State University women's softball team to conduct their inaugural youth softball clinic at the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Family Center Y on the Ripken Youth Development field, located on the same site where Memorial Stadium once stood. The participants will consist of 100 girls from BATS and the Y of Central Maryland. BATS is a new...

Though the club hasn't made an announcement, outfielder Nolan Reimold has decided to undergo surgery to alleviate the pressure on a nerve caused by a herniated disk in his cervical spine. Manager Buck Showalter spoke with Reimold for about an hour yesterday. The club is letting Reimold determine how he wants to address the topic with the media. "We're leaving it in his hands," Showalter said. Showalter didn't confirm that surgery is imminent, but that's the plan. He also wouldn't...

The Nationals will take on Orioles righty Jason Hammel tonight from Camden Yards. That is, if the weather allows it. Here's the Nats lineup: LF Steve Lombardozzi CF Bryce Harper 3B Ryan Zimmerman 1B Adam LaRoche DH Michael Morse SS Ian Desmond 2B Danny Espinosa RF Roger Bernadina C Jesus Flores P Jordan Zimmermann

Orioles manager Buck Showalter has regained the use of his designated hitter. However, he's keeping Chris Davis in right field for tonight's series opener against the Nationals at Camden Yards. Nick Johnson, who had two hits Wednesday night against the Mets, is serving as the designated hitter. For the Orioles: Brian Roberts 2B J.J. Hardy SS Chris Davis RF Adam Jones CF Matt Wieters C Wilson Betemit 3B Mark Reynolds 1B Nick Johnson DH Steve Pearce LF Jason Hammel RHP I gave you...

Making his second rehab appearance for Triple-A Syracuse last night, Henry Rodriguez walked two batters but worked a scoreless ninth inning in the Chiefs' win over Pawtucket. This comes after Rodriguez delivered a scoreless frame for Syracuse on Tuesday, but tossed a pitch to the backstop. The control issues will need to get worked out at some point before Rodriguez works meaningful, high-leverage innings for the Nationals again. The righty landed on the DL on June 7 with a strained right...

The Orioles are listing Jason Hammel, Wei-Yin Chen and Jake Arrieta as the starters for the three-game series against the Nationals that begins tonight at Camden Yards - just in case there were any doubts about the alignment. According to Elias, if Hammel and Chen win this weekend, they would become the first Orioles duo to record eight wins each by June 23 since 1997: Jimmy Key (11), Scott Erickson (10) and Mike Mussina (eight). You remember what happened in '97. The Orioles are 9-3 at...