VIERA, Fla. - By the time yesterday's game against the Yankees was three innings old, Steve Lombardozzi had already gone 2-for-2 with a home run off CC Sabathia and made two dazzling defensive plays at third base. He jogged back into the dugout and was greeted by manager Davey Johnson, who had a question for the 23-year-old infielder. "I said, 'What, are you trying to make this club or something?' " Johnson said. How'd Lombardozzi respond? "Just nodded, then he got another hit,"...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Tommy Hunter threw four innings and 60 pitches yesterday against the Boston Red Sox's Single-A team at Twin Lakes Park, just as the Orioles wanted him to do. "I felt good," he said. "They were swinging the bats a lot yesterday. I made good pitches. I was throwing all four of my pitches for strikes." Hunter still hasn't pitched in a Grapefruit League game because of discomfort in his lower back that no longer requires treatment - just some exercises - but his debut...

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles are playing split-squad games against the Red Sox this afternoon. You'll notice that the majority of regulars are staying back at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. For the Orioles (home): Endy Chavez LF J.J. Hardy SS Nick Markakis DH Adam Jones CF Matt Wieters C Mark Reynolds 3B Nick Johnson 1B Jai Miller RF Robert Andino 2B Wei-Yin Chen LHP Kevin Gregg, Matt Lindstrom and Pedro Strop also are scheduled to pitch today. For the Red Sox: McDonald CF Kroeger...

One issue Nationals starting pitcher Edwin Jackson may want to concentrate on is how easy it was for opposing hitters to steal second base on him last season. According to "The Fielding Bible, Volume III," Jackson struggled holding runners at first base in 2011. It is a problem that has plagued Jackson for the past few seasons. "The Fielding Bible" has formulated the term defensive runs saved, or DRS, to show how valuable a player can be by preventing runs from scoring while he is in the...

TAMPA, Fla. - The Nationals and Yankees needed an extra frame to settle things today, and the pinstripes earned a 4-3 walk-off win when catcher J.R. Murphy drove in former Nat Justin Maxwell with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th. Atahualpa Severino gave up the game-winning run. And the excitement was palpable at George Stenibrenner Field. Kidding. There were a couple handshakes and that was about it. Nats catcher Jesus Flores appeared to get hit by a foul ball in the one place no...

TAMPA, Fla. - You already know what Nationals manager Davey Johnson had to say about Chien-Ming Wang's hamstring injury. Now here are quotes from Wang about how he's holding up. The Nats righty told reporters back in Viera today that he isn't feeling any worse than he did after initially suffering the injury, which is a good thing, considering the day-after swelling that can often accompany a muscle pull. "After the issues, we had an MRI check it," Wang said through an interpreter....

TAMPA, Fla. - All in all, Gio Gonzalez's third spring start wasn't all that bad. The Nationals' lefty went just 3 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and three walks and throwing 69 pitches in that time. But he allowed only a single run (his first given up this spring) and struck out six Yankee hitters, including three in a row at one point. Still, Gonzalez wasn't thrilled with his outing, calling it "a minor setback." There were highs for Gonzalez, like the perfect second and third innings...

FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Twins put the tying run on base against left-hander Troy Patton in the bottom of the ninth, but Oscar Villarreal replaced him with one out and retired Luke Hughes and J.R. Towles on ground balls to secure the Orioles' 3-1 victory. Manager Showalter addressed the following topics: On Chris Tillman: "Tilly's stuff has been good. He's had a problem in the past of not carrying what he's capable of early in a ballgame, but that hasn't happened down here. I've been...

Matt Hobgood, the Orioles 2009 first-round draft pick, has recently been shut down from pitching at minor league training camp in Sarasota, Fla., and will see a team doctor in the next few days. About four or five days ago, Hobgood threw during a live batting practice session, but he continued to have shoulder soreness and now he'll soon see team orthopedist Dr. John Wilckens to determine the next course of action. An Orioles source denied that the club has decided that Hobgood needs surgery...

TAMPA, Fla. - The Nationals announced that they have agreed on two-year extensions with four of their five affiliates - the Syracuse Chiefs of the Triple-A International League, the Harrisburg Senators of the Double-A Eastern League, the Potomac Nationals of the Single-A Carolina League and the Auburn Doubledays of the short-season Single-A New York-Penn League. The deals will keep those four affiliates in the Nationals family through 2014. "We could not be more pleased to make this...