If the Orioles lose today and fail to win another series after taking the first game of the set, the fans' frustration level will just ratchet up again. It would make me want to be a caller, not the host, on my radio show tonight and vent a little. You can call in and do that tonight on Baltimore Baseball Tonight postgame from 10 p.m. to midnight on 105.7 FM the Fan in Baltimore. A couple of more quick notes from the minors: The Orioles squad in the Gulf Coast League is closing in on its...

The Orioles have a day off in Anaheim before beginning a three-game series tomorrow night against the Angels. Maybe a few players will head over to Disneyland, which would be an appropriate place for them, considering that (insert your own joke here). The rotation is an absolute mess again, which is reason No. 1 why this season swirled down the drain. Jeremy Guthrie's bothered by some stiffness in his right shoulder. The club doesn't think it's serious, which means he'll probably have...

Outfielder Trent Mummey of the Single-A Frederick Keys had an MRI on his injured hamstring that has kept him out since June 8 and he has not recovered well enough to return this year with just a few weeks left in the minor league season. The 22-year-old Mummey was the club's fourth-round draft pick last year out of Auburn and will wind up having played just 29 games this season. He hit .291 to start the year in 14 games with Single-A Delmarva with two homers and 12 RBIs. After moving to...

Vladimir Guerrero has collected three doubles in the past two games, the most recent coming today in the first inning. A run scored as Guerrero found another gap in the Athletics' outfield, increasing the Orioles' lead to 2-0 before starter Alfredo Simon had thrown a pitch. Before arriving in Oakland, Guerrero hadn't registered a double since Aug. 4 in Kansas City. He totaled only one since July 30. Guerrero is 9-for-21 with seven RBIs since Aug. 11. Could moving down one spot in the...

The Orioles are facing a right-handed pitcher today, Oakland's Brandon McCarthy, but they're leaning heavily to the right with today's lineup, which includes Robert Andino leading off and Nolan Reimold in left field. For the Orioles: Robert Andino 2B J.J. Hardy SS Nick Markakis RF Adam Jones CF Vladimir Guerrero DH Mark Reynolds 1B Nolan Reimold LF Josh Bell 3B Craig Tatum C Alfredo Simon RHP Felix Pie hasn't played since going 0-for-4 on Saturday. Guerrero is 5-for-15 with a...

I wanted to let you in on a few other quotes and notes about Nicky Delmonico from my interview with him yesterday. He is the Orioles' sixth-round pick from Farragut High in Knoxville, Tenn. that signed just before Monday's deadline, accepting a $1.525 signing bonus from the O's and giving up his scholarship to play college ball and join his brother at Georgia. Giving up that size of a bonus, clearly the Orioles deemed Delmonico as a first-round talent, and he got more money than did 10...

It was announced Tuesday afternoon that the Nationals would honor America's fallen heroes, more specifically the service members involved in the deadly Aug. 6 helicopter crash, with pregame activities. The Nationals honored our servicemen and women in the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy (including the SEALs division), Marines and all military reserves before the game by donning caps bearing the insignias of the various branches in addition to wearing their patriotic uniform for batting...

As a younger player, one of the biggest knocks on Adam Jones was his poor plate discipline. Jones chased a lot of pitches out of the strike zone, which led to a bunch of strikeouts and not many walks. Working on that looked like one of the keys for Jones to get his production more in line with what his tools suggested he could accomplish. In 2009, it looked like some progress was being made, as Jones walked in a career high 6.9 percent of his plate appearances (even though league average was...

After Tuesday night's loss at Oakland, the Orioles play the A's this afternoon and a win would give them their first series win in nearly two months and their first road series win in more than three months. The Orioles' last win in any series was when they took two of three from the Reds at home June 24-26. Since then, they have lost 11 series and tied one. During that stretch, the Orioles have won the first game of the series three times, but they lost every other game in those three...

Josh Bell has driven in two runs for the second straight night, with his RBI single in the fifth reducing Oakland's lead to 4-3. Robert Andino reached second base with one out after Josh Willingham dropped his fly ball for the Athletics' 100th error of the season. Andino raced home when Bell followed with a single into center field. The Orioles keep pecking away at that lead. They sliced it to 4-2 in the fourth on a two-out single by Adam Jones and a Vladimir Guerrero double. Bell has made...