The Orioles continued their roster shakeup by designating outfielder Felix Pie for assignment and recalling outfielder Matt Angle from Triple-A Norfolk. Pie has played only once since Aug. 13 and he had a rough day in left field during Sunday's game in Anaheim, losing one ball in the sun and failing to track down two others hit to the fence. He's batting .220 in 85 games. Angle is batting .272 with 13 doubles, three triples, four homers, 33 RBIs and 27 stolen bases in 107 games with...

When Danny Espinosa's playing career is over, the rookie second baseman has a bright future as a marketing executive to look forward to. On the heels of today's 5.9 magnitude East Coast earthquake, Espinosa sent out the following tweet, figuring there might be a few workers sent home earlier than anticipated as a result of the temblor: "If you get out of work early today because of the quake, come to the Nats game tonight!!!" The tweet came after Espinosa turned to the social media...

The Double-A Bowie Baysox are trying to become the fourth Orioles farm club to make the playoffs, joining the Gulf Coast and Dominican Summer League teams and the Single-A Frederick Keys. Bowie beat Akron 9-1 last night, snapping a six-game losing streak against that club. The Baysox are now a half-game behind first-place Harrisburg, but two games ahead of Richmond for second place and a playoff spot. Bowie is 70-57 with 14 games to play. The Baysox are 35-28 at home and 35-29 on the...

Right-hander Stephen Strasburg has said the major physical difference in his pitching makeup, besides the obvious new ligament in his right elbow, is his overall strength and conditioning. He has said his body is in the best shape of his life. Following Tommy John surgery late last season, Strasburg had 365 days to get the rest of his body in better shape. He is leaner and stronger than he was in June 2010 when he debuted for the Nationals against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Strasburg is also...

Zach Britton has had a tumultuous rookie year with the Orioles. He expected to begin this season in the minors until an unfortunate injury to Brian Matusz caused Britton to make his debut at the major league level a night later. In that debut, he went six innings of three-hit, one-run ball against the Rays to allow the O's to sweep Tampa Bay in the first series of the season. From there, he went 5-2 over 7 starts with a 2.93 ERA. Pretty good for a rookie. At this point, everyone was talking...

By homering in each of the last two games, Orioles catcher Matt Wieters now has hit a career-high 13 homers on the year. Wieters hit nine in 2009 and 11 last year. Wieters has homers in back-to-back games for the first time all season. Plus, he has now hit three homers over his last seven games after going 21 games without one. Here is another interesting note about Wieters' hitting this year: He is batting much better this season when he bats right-handed, thus facing lefty...

If we can believe Facebook, Jake Fox is replacing Blake Davis on the 25-man roster. Here's what he posted on his page: "I got the call today. I am headed back to be an Oriole in the morning. I have mixed feelings about going back because I was really looking forward to playing for team USA. Going back to the big leagues takes away my eligibility from playing in the world cup and pan am games. I am excited to be back in the big leagues, but disappointed I will miss the opportunity to...

The Orioles announced after tonight's game that they have optioned infielder Blake Davis to Triple-A Norfolk. Davis has batted .254 (15-59) in 25 games for the Orioles this season. A corresponding roster move will be announced at a later time.

The Orioles got five innings out of Zach Britton tonight. Now it's up to the bullpen. Britton allowed one run and six hits, with four walks and four strikeouts. He threw 98 pitches, 57 for strikes. That's a lot of baserunners and pitches over five innings, but he was a master at damage control. We'll find out later whether Britton's pitch count was the deciding factor in manager Buck Showalter removing him from the game, or if there's a health issue. Chris Jakubauskas tossed a perfect...

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg had another positive rehab start in Hagerstown, improving on last Wednesday's five-run outing, with six strikeouts, allowing just two singles and one earned run in three innings of work at Municipal Stadium. Strasburg sat between 95 and 97 mph and topped out at 98 mph during his 60-pitch, 40-strike performance, notching six punchouts of the nine outs, two of those looking. He admitted that he still gets pumped up for every start and...