The Nationals will be making a roster move before today's series finale against the Yankees. Reliever Ryan Mattheus is listed on the lineup card among the available relievers for today's game. Mattheus will need to be activated off the disabled list, which he's been on due to plantar fasciitis since late May. Brad Lidge, who has allowed five runs over the last two days, is not listed among the available relievers for today. He was seen meeting with general manager Mike Rizzo this...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter is giving Brian Roberts the day off today unless the second baseman is needed later in the game. Nothing to worry about. Roberts is fine. It's just a scheduled rest. Matt Wieters also is on the bench today. Robert Andino returns to second base. Chris Davis remains in right field. For the Orioles: Robert Andino 2B J.J. Hardy SS Chris Davis RF Adam Jones CF Wilson Betemit 3B Mark Reynolds 1B Ronny Paulino C Steve Pearce LF Wei-Yin Chen LHP

The Aberdeen IronBirds will open their New York-Penn League season tonight playing at Hudson Valley and the IronBirds will host the same team in their home opener Wednesday night at Ripken Stadium. Aberdeen's manager is Gary Allenson, the Orioles' Triple-A skipper the last five seasons at Norfolk. His pitching coach is former Oriole Alan Mills and the batting coach is former Double-A Bowie manager Brad Komminsk. Right-hander Sebastian Vader, the Orioles' 18th-round pick in 2010, will be...

I'd like to start by wishing a Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially my dad, who currently gets his baseball fix by working as an usher at Nats Park. When it was clear my career as a baseball player wasn't going to take off, (strangely enough, there isn't much of a need for scrawny infielders with an average glove and no power), he made sure to tell me not to give up on my dream of working in sports. Thanks, Pops. It's not easy playing a 1:30 p.m. game the day after a...

Yesterday, I praised manager Buck Showalter's handling of the bullpen, which continues to own the lowest ERA in the majors. Today, I'm offering the blog equivalent of a fist-bump for the adjustments he made to the rotation. Showalter pushed back Brian Matusz's start from Wednesday to Friday, giving the left-hander a few more days to recover after a bunted ball smacked him in the nose. Matusz felt good enough to take his scheduled turn, but Showalter had a plan. Besides making sure that...

So Jason Hammel had been there before, in terms of flirting with a no-hitter. In fact, it happened on the first Sunday of the year against Minnesota in his first career Orioles start. But that day he gave up a Justin Morneau double to start the eighth to lose the no-hit bid and last night it was a Jason Heyward single with two outs in the seventh. It seemed he had been pitching Heyward away on just about every pitch of that at-bat and the Braves outfielder finally got one he could handle to...

He didn't get a no-hitter tonight but Jason Hammel pitched the Orioles' first one-hitter since September 28, 2006 when Daniel Cabrera did that at New York. He pitched the O's to a 5-0 win at Atlanta to even the weekend series at one win each. Hammel took a no-hitter into the seventh and walked Dan Uggla with two outs to snap a stretch of retiring 17 batters in a row. Then Jason Heyward singled to left to end the no-hit bid and put runners on the corners. Hammel got out of that jam by...

Jason Hammel allowed four earned runs in four of his last six starts before tonight. He also won four of his last six starts, though not each time he permitted four runs. It just worked out that way. Hammel is on top of his game tonight, permitting one baserunner in his first five innings - on a walk to Dan Uggla. He's retired 12 in a row heading into the sixth. Hammel has thrown 57 pitches, 33 for strikes, and fanned four Braves. His right knee isn't keeping him out of the rotation or...

Left-hander Zach Britton has allowed three runs and five hits in two innings against Triple-A Toledo. Britton posted a 0.75 ERA in two rehab starts at Double-A Bowie, but he's gone 1-1 with a 5.91 ERA in his first two starts at Norfolk covering 10 2/3 innings. He's allowed seven runs and 14 hits, walked four and struck out four. In his most recent outing, he gave up three runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings in Buffalo after the Orioles removed him from the 60-day disabled list and...

Bryce Harper declined to talk to reporters after his 0-for-7, five-strikeout performance. It was a rough day for the rookie, almost certainly the roughest of his brief major league career. It was also a rough day for reliever Brad Lidge, who has been stuck with two really poor stat lines so far in this series. Last night, Lidge allowed three runs over one-third of an inning after giving up one hit and two walks (one of which was intentional). He was on the mound when the game got away from...