After years of being sellers at the non-waiver trade deadline, the Orioles are poised to move in the other direction. It's time to see how the other half lives. Executive vice president Dan Duquette spoke earlier today of the pitching depth in the organization that allowed the Orioles to bypass purchasing Jamie Moyer's contract, but he's not committed to staying in-house. And he's not simply looking to bring in minor leaguers in exchange for veterans, not with the Orioles 1 1/2 games...

Manager Buck Showalter is convinced that 49-year-old Jamie Moyer will be pitching for a major league team in the near future. It just won't be the Orioles. Moyer requested and was granted his release today. He had an opt-out clause in his contract after three starts with Triple-A Norfolk, and the Orioles weren't ready to make room for him in their rotation. Timing was one factor. The Orioles don't need a fifth starter until Saturday because they're off on Monday. However, they also...

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter had another "State of the Orioles" address today with season ticket holders here at Camden Yards. There were no big pronouncements or news to come out of it, but here are a few questions and the answers they gave. The pair was asked if the Orioles will make any changes by the trade deadline. "People ask all the time if we'll try to add to the team, and the answer to that is 'yes,' but I think we have a lot of the...

Davey Johnson admitted last night that he's given some thought to moving Ryan Zimmerman down in the order given his struggles this season. But Johnson said he planned to keep the .222-hitting Zimmerman in the three-spot in the lineup for now. That familiar three-hole is where Zimmerman remains today. The Nationals are going with their right-handed-heavy lineup today against Orioles lefty Wei-Yin Chen, who is 7-2 with a 3.36 ERA on the season. Tyler Moore will play left, Xavier Nady will...

This one probably looks familiar to you. 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 Wei-Yin Chen LHP Moyer Released: Veteran left-hander Jamie Moyer has requested and been granted his release from the organization this afternoon, exercising the opt-out clause in his contract. The Orioles don't need a fifth starter until next Saturday, so there was no need to purchase...

The Orioles' roster crunch of pitchers at the higher levels of their minor leagues has led to right-hander Sean Gleason basically being loaned to Cancun of the Mexican League for the rest of this season. Gleason was removed from the Double-A Bowie roster last night when outfielder Jai Miller was officially added to the Baysox. He was 2-1 with a 5.97 ERA in 17 games, including four starts, for the Baysox. In 37 2/3 innings, Gleason gave up 50 hits with 12 walks and 30 strikeouts. As a player...

A year ago today, Jim Riggleman decided he'd had enough. The then-Nationals manager wanted to have his contract option for the 2012 season picked up. He was tired of working under one-year contracts and having to worry about his future. He wanted some sort of long-term security, even if another year was as long as that security would get at the time. His team had won 11 of its last 12 games. He and his players had fought their way above .500. They had just earned a walkoff win over the...

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...