Brian Roberts is a great Oriole. This much is beyond dispute. Great on the field, obviously, but as importantly, he's been a great presence on the team. Excepting the one obvious blemish on his record (and we don't need to go deep into that, right?) he's basically been a model player. Good in the community, by all accounts good in the clubhouse and seemingly just a good guy. Can't ask for much more than that. The great lament of his career is that he spent his prime on some of the worst...

Brian Matusz's comeback from last year's 1-9 season and 10.69 ERA picked up more steam last night when the left-hander gave up just two hits and one run with one walk and nine strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings in a 4-1 win over Boston. Some fans probably doubted Matusz when he began this year 0-3 with an ERA of 7.98 over his first three outings. But since then, over his past six starts, he is 4-1 with an ERA of 3.57. Believe it or not, since those poor first three starts, Matusz leads Orioles...

PHILADELPHIA - Cole Hamels will take the hill for the Phillies in the series finale against the Nationals later tonight. I'm pretty sure if Hamels hits anyone this time, he'll remember to say the pitch just got away from him. Just a hunch. We all know about Bryce Harper's immense skill and the intensity with which he plays the game. Those are aspects the phenom brings to the table which can't be ignored. But last night, Harper showed us a less-talked-about part of his overall repertoire...

The Orioles and Red Sox conclude their three-game series at Camden Yards with a 12:35 p.m. start, so the lineup will be coming to you a lot earlier than usual in the middle of the week. Jake Arrieta is back on the hill and looking to reacquire his taste for home cooking. He's 1-3 with a 6.44 ERA in five starts at Camden Yards this season, the only win coming on opening day. He's also 0-2 with a 5.51 ERA in three career starts against Boston. The Orioles finally get a day off Thursday before...

PHILADELPHIA - Roy Halladay had gone 11-0 in his last 13 starts against the Nationals/Expos prior to tonight. Jordan Zimmermann entered tonight 0-3 in four career outings against the Phillies. Those scripts got flipped. Davey Johnson likes the line he got from Zimmermann tonight - six innings, seven hits, one run, two walks and two strikeouts - but he doesn't like how much of an effort it took the righty to get there. Zimmermann needed 98 pitches to get through five innings and he finished...

PHILADELPHIA - In Tyler Clippard's career as a reliever, he's worked some intense seventh innings and a bunch of crucial eighth innings, where he's had runners on base and needed to battle out of key jams. But according to Clippard, tonight's 1-2-3 ninth inning was more nerve-rattling than any situation he's been in recently. "A lot more adrenaline, a lot more nervousness," a smiling Clippard said after the game. "But it was a good feeling. I haven't had that for a while, so it was...

You must have felt a measure of added joy for Jordan Zimmermann in the third inning. He finally got a chance to look up at the scoreboard and see four runs on the board for his team. 4-1. Alright, now we are talking. Zimmermann came in averaging just 2.4 runs of support per game when he is in the contest. So four runs had to feel like a big block of cheese for the Wisconsin native. Forget the "Summer of George", this might be the summer of Jordan. Zimmermann went six solid innings,...

PHILADELPHIA - Ryan Zimmerman was scratched from tonight's game against the Phillies because of soreness in his right shoulder - the same shoulder which sent him to the disabled list late in April when it became inflamed. But both Zimmerman and his manager say the soreness is nothing to worry about. During batting practice before tonight's contest, Zimmerman had a conversation with manager Davey Johnson about the shoulder, a conversation which turned a little heated when Johnson told his...

Brian Matusz says he's getting his confidence back. It showed again tonight. "I'm going out there and having a game plan, being able to attack the zone," he said after allowing one run and two hits, walking one and striking out nine over 6 1/3 innings. "Like I've said, I forgot all about last year. I look at that just as a fluke. For me, it's about being able to keep getting better each time out. I haven't forgotten what it feels like to lose, so these wins are special, to go out...

Brian Matusz was the main topic of conversation in manager Buck Showalter's postgame session with the media, and for good reason. Matusz turned in his second quality start in a row, holding Boston to one run and two hits and striking out nine over 6 1/3 innings in a 4-1 victory before 25,171 at Camden Yards. "I've seen Brian really good here. Not just tonight," Showalter said. "I thought he and Matt (Wieters) did a great job of using all his pitches. He had command of two breaking balls,...