Here are comments from Orioles catcher Matt Wieters and pitching coach Rick Adair on Jason Hammel's near no-hitter today at Camden Yards. Wieters on Hammel's outing: "He threw the ball well. He was able to get a lot of ground balls and use all his offspeed. In spring training, you could tell he had good stuff, but you are always constantly working on things. He did a great job of pitching to his strengths and getting a lot of groundballs. I thought we had a chance today with the stuff he...

CHICAGO - The whole dramatic late-inning comeback stuff was great while it lasted. But the Nationals will need to score more runs, and do so early in games, if they're going to compete this season. Adam LaRoche did his best to get the Nats their third straight come-from-behind win with a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth, but Carlos Marmol closed it out for the Cubs, and Washington's shot at a sweep of the first series of the 2012 season was spoiled by a 4-3 loss. Chicago starter Jeff...

It was quite an Orioles debut for right-hander Jason Hammel. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and wound up with a two-hitter over eight as the Orioles beat Minnesota 3-1 to sweep the series. This was a day where Hammel pretty much had all his pitches going for him. Jason Hammel speaks to the media about his impressive Orioles debut "Honestly, pretty close," he said. "Haven't been much better than that. I could still be better with my command. Two-seamer is something I just...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter spent most of his postgame media session talking about Jason Hammel, and with good reason. We kept asking him about the right-hander, who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in the Orioles' 3-1 victory over the Twins. "That was fun," Showalter said. "I thought he had a shot at it. He was carrying that type of stuff. He had all four pitches going. Not that anybody was thinking about it. "I'm not going to give anybody up, but there were a couple of our...

After the starting pitching the Orioles got the first two days of this series, you had to figure it would be hard for Jason Hammel to top what Jake Arrieta and Tommy Hunter had done. But for the first seven innings this afternoon, the 29-year-old right-hander was nearly perfect. He took a no-hitter on two walks into the eighth before back-to-back doubles by Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham ended his bid for O's history. The Orioles won the game, 3-1 over Minnesota, completing a three-game...

CHICAGO - Jordan Zimmermann has been great through five innings of work. Jeff Samardzija has just been a little bit better. Samardzija, making just his sixth career start, has dominated the Nationals hitters today at Wrigley Field, retiring 15 straight since allowing a leadoff double to Ian Desmond to start the game. The Cubs' starter has struck out four and has been mowing the Nats down with ease. Where's Chad Tracy when you need him? The Nats trail the Cubs 1-0 entering the sixth after...

Jason Hammel has allowed two baserunners in seven innings today, walking Josh Willingham in the second and Justin Morneau leading off the fifth. He's faced the minimum number of batters because he's gotten two double plays. The Twins are beating the ball into the ground. Hammel has induced 14 ground balls for 16 outs, counting the double plays. He's also struck out three. That leaves two fly balls - none since the second inning. The Orioles continue to lead, 3-0, as Hammel takes the mound...

The Orioles jumped out to another lead against the Twins this afternoon when J.J. Hardy hit a 2-1 pitch from Anthony Swarzak for a solo homer to left center in the last of the first today. The Orioles still hold that 1-0 lead in the fourth and have outscored the Twins 6-0 in the first three innings of the games this weekend. The Orioles began last year with a starting pitching-led three-game sweep at Tampa Bay and so far in this series have gotten excellent starting pitching. Jake Arrieta,...

CHICAGO - Since he used somewhat of a mixture of his A and B bullpens yesterday, the relievers manager Davey Johnson will lean on today will mostly be the guys who didn't get work in the Nationals' 7-4 win on Saturday. Hello, Brad Lidge. Lefties Sean Burnett and Tom Gorzelanny could also be called on today, especially since Cubs manager Dale Sveum has written in a lineup that includes all four of his available left-handed hitters. Xavier Nady will get his first appearance of 2012 today, as...

J.J. Hardy homered off his former team in the bottom of the first inning to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. Twins right-hander Anthony Swarzak went curveball, fastball, curveball, fastball to Hardy, who detected a pattern and easily cleared the left field fence. Swarzak is starting for Liam Hendricks, who was hospitalized with a bad case of food poisoning. Now who feels sick? The Orioles have five home runs off the Twins in this series, including two from Nick Markakis, who's on pace for 162....