Manager Buck Showalter said he found four teams, including the Red Sox, who have more players on the disabled list than the Orioles. But did anyone exceed the Orioles' 22 player moves in one week? Joel Pineiro is scratched from his start at Triple-A Norfolk and isn't listed among their upcoming starters, and I immediately wonder if he's headed to Camden Yards. Dana Eveland tweets that he flew back to Norfolk and then drove to Baltimore, and I immediately assume that the Orioles changed...

With it being a Monday night and rain falling throughout the afternoon and into the evening, there wasn't a huge crowd on hand at Nationals Park Monday. But in the third inning, when Bryce Harper bounded into the dugout after his first major league home run, those in attendance stayed on their feet, kept clapping and called for the 19-year-old rookie to take a bow. It was all set up to be a great Nationals moment, similar to the one Stephen Strasburg had when he took his curtain call out of...

It was the close of a miserable 2008 campaign. The Nationals were in the midst of losing 14 of their final 17 games en route to dismal 59-102 overall mark. In late September 2008, the San Diego Padres traveled to D.C. for a three-game set against the Nationals. The Padres swept the Nationals - winning 11-6 in 14 innings, 6-1 and 6-2 during a weekend series from Sept. 19-21, 2008. Following that sweep, the Padres went 2-4 the rest if the way. The Nationals went 1-4. San Diego finished...

If anything good came out of tonight's start for Jason Hammel, it was the condition of his right knee. "Knee is good to go," he said. "That's a positive, I guess. No setbacks." Hammel took the brunt of the blame for tonight's 8-5 Orioles loss. "Honestly, we should have won the ballgame," he said. "I let them back into the game twice. A 2-0 lead and then guys come back and get me some runs to get me ahead again, and I gave them right back. Early in the game, very much in command,...

A player's major league debut is supposed to be a thrilling time in his life, a day he'll never forget. Unfortunately, years from now, Sandy Leon will not look back too fondly on his first-ever game in the big leagues. Manager Davey Johnson announced after today's game that Leon suffered a high right ankle sprain when he was run into at the plate by Padres third baseman Chase Headley in the fourth inning, an injury which will land Leon on the DL just a day after he was officially activated...

Before Monday's series opener against the Padres, Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper said his left eye was feeling better three days after he struck himself with his bat off a runway wall in the Cincinnati visitors' clubhouse. The pain had subsided and he didn't have to sleep a certain way to avoid laying on his left side. When asked if the injury was embarrassing, Harper said, "No, I'm not embarrassed." He said the incident would not make him change his future reaction to a bad game...

The Nationals lost another catcher. Bryce Harper hit his first major league homer. Down 5-4, Ian Desmond smacked 2-run double. Chad Tracy and Xavier Nady added insurance solo shots. Nationals led 8-5. Someone please find the off switch for this roller coaster. This is Nationals Park not Kings Dominion. Showing confidence again in his young closer, manager Davey Johnson summoned Henry Rodriguez for the ninth frame. Not feeling confident, Rodriguez walked the bases loaded. With one out,...

Back during the early days of Dempsey's Army, I used to write a preseason series of posts with the loose theme, "How the Orioles Can Win the East." In that series, I would lay out five things that would have to go right for Baltimore and, conversely, five things that would have to go wrong for each of our division rivals. The series was half tongue-in-cheek and I eventually scrapped it because people were taking it too seriously. But the underlying point remains true, at least I think so....

The Orioles' starters haven't completed six innings in the last three games, which is taxing the bullpen, which is giving manager Buck Showalter additional challenges that he'd rather avoid. Jason Hammel was done after five-plus innings tonight, failing to record an out in the sixth in the Orioles' 8-5 loss to the Yankees. "I would have rather not have pitched certain guys, but the game calls for it," Showalter said. "What bodes well for us in the future is we were able to give some...

The Orioles have a 12-7 record against the American League East this year. That includes a mark of 10-2 against every team but New York and a 2-5 record against the Yankees. Mark Teixeira hit a two-run, tie-breaking homer off Luis Ayala in the top of the seventh tonight, as New York beat the Orioles 8-5 in front of 16,492 wet fans at Camden Yards. The Orioles fell to 0-4 at home against New York. The Orioles scored three runs in the fifth to take a 5-3 lead. They tied the game at 3-3 on a...