Mark Reynolds joked with teammates this morning that they need to go easy on him because he's "concussed." At least he's able to laugh about it. Reynolds says he's fine and thought he might be in the lineup today, but a reporter broke the news that he's on the bench. "Oh, there's a lineup up? Then I'm probably not playing," he said. "I was going to go beg Buck (Showalter)." Reynolds was hit above the left temple by an Ervin Santana pitch in the third inning last night and left...

Mark Reynolds will spend today's game on the bench after being hit in the head last night by an Ervin Santana pitch. Reynolds says he's fine and could play, but manager Buck Showalter is starting Chris Davis at first base and Josh Bell at third. Reynolds expects to be in the lineup for tomorrow's doubleheader in Boston. Reynolds said he believes that Santana hit him on purpose, but he doesn't think the right-hander was aiming for his head. For the Orioles: Matt Angle CF J.J. Hardy...

Nationals starter Ross Detwiler will get the call Tuesday in Game 1 against the Philadelphia Phillies. Rookie Tommy Milone will be handed the ball for Game 2 that night. The other prized recent call up, Brad Peacock, gets the nod Wednesday night at Philadelphia. Also, Nationals reliever Ryan Mattheus participated in a simulation game Saturday in which he threw 20 to 25 pitches and faced two batters. "It went well, the arm felt great," Mattheus confirmed. Mattheus is recovering from...

Nationals right-handed relief pitcher Collin Balester said he was not bothered by the cold weather or being extended more than one inning during Saturday's 13-inning loss to the Florida Marlins. Donnie Murphy hit a two-run shot in the 13th to break a 1-1 tie and help the Marlins to a 4-1 victory. Balester said pitching that long in relief wasn't the concern and he felt he was doing pretty well. "I have done it before, probably five or six times this year (having been extended for more...

After he pitched the Orioles to a 6-2 win over Los Angeles, Zach Britton talked about his seven-inning outing where he gave up just three hits and one run. Zach Britton speaks with the media after a solid performance in the O's win over the Angels "It's good. I know I'm capable of it," Britton said. "The last couple outings it just came down to fastball command. It was better tonight. Obviously it can still improve, but it allowed me to go deeper in the game. So I feel like I've had...

After tonight's win over the Angels, manager Buck Showalter provided an update on Mark Reynolds who was hit in the batting helmet in the third inning and left the game in the fifth. "They took Mark down to University for a CT scan. Just precautionary and we'll see how he is tomorrow," Showalter said. "Doctor looked at him up the runway, just thought from a precautionary standpoint to evaluate him for about an hour. He wasn't having any symptoms, everything was fine. But just wanted to...

Zach Britton had given up eight runs in 10 innings over his last two starts, but tonight the rookie lefty had an excellent outing against the Los Angeles Angels, pitching the Orioles to a 6-2 win at Camden Yards. Britton took a no-hitter into the fifth and gave up just three hits and one run over seven innings. He improves to 10-10 with an ERA of 4.28 after his 105-pitch outing. Britton walked two and fanned a career-high seven batters. That makes four straight games where the Orioles'...

Zach Britton is trying to make it four straight quality starts for the Orioles' pitching staff tonight against the Angels. Over the last three games Alfredo Simon, Jeremy Guthrie and Tommy Hunter have worked to a combined ERA of 1.71. They have pitched a total of 21 innings giving up 16 hits and four runs with seven walks and 24 strikeouts. So far, Britton has blanked the Angels through three innings on 52 pitches. He threw 17 in the first, 10 in the second and 25 in the third when he...

So much for playing small ball. The Orioles tried it in the third inning last night, scored twice, and decided to go back to mashing tonight. J.J. Hardy's two-run shot in the first inning gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead against Angels starter Ervin Santana, and gave Hardy a career-high 27 home runs. Mark Reynolds hit his 34th homer later in the inning, a three-run shot that increased the lead to 5-0. Reynolds ties Miguel Tejada (2004) for the most home runs by an Oriole in a single season in...

The Orioles have four sacrifice bunts in the entire month of September and Matt Angle has two of them. He also had a bunt single and double in Wednesday's win over Tampa Bay and is 6-for-7 stealing bases for the Orioles. While Angle is hitting just .173, at 9-for-52 in 19 major league games, he has made a positive impact on this team with his speed and defense. "Power has never been a huge part of my game at any level so I've had to try and adapt. Use speed and use it any way I can,...