Single-A Hagerstown Suns outfielder and No. 1 prospect Bryce Harper returned to the lineup Wednesday, after missing three games due to a sore thumb injury. Overall, Harper has sat out seven games and the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game because of the thumb problem. Last week, Nationals Director of Player Development Doug Harris reported that Harper is doing well in his recovery from the setback. "It is not really a thumb thing," Harris said. "It is the fatty tissue in between his index...

The Orioles may be teetering right now. Teetering on the brink. They have fallen seven games under .500 for the first time this year and their recent play makes it look like it could get worse before it gets better. They need to beat Jaime Garcia tonight to avoid a three-game sweep by the Cardinals. Garcia is 6-3 with a 3.06 ERA on the year and has pitched to an ERA of 2.59 in June. Friday night, they begin a 10-game road trip at Atlanta. The Braves have now won eight of 10 games and will...

Five members of the Double-A Harrisburg Senators have been named to the Western Division All-Star team for the Eastern League All-Star Game coming up in two weeks. Outfielder Archie Gilbert and Bill Rhinehart, infielder Tyler Moore and right-handers Brad Peacock and Erik Arnesen were honored with invitations to play in the July 13 Delta Dental Eastern League All-Star contest, hosted by the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Peacock had another tremendous outing Wednesday, picking up the victory in 5...

Ho-hum. Jordan Zimmermann threw another outstanding game last night. It's unfortunate that a defensive miscue set up the only run of the game allowed and his teammates couldn't muster an attack against the Angels in a 1-0 defeat, to drop the Washington Nationals one game below .500 exactly half-way through the 2011 baseball season. Tell me, right now, that at the beginning of the season if someone promised you the Nats would be 40-41 at the mid-point of the season you wouldn't have taken...

Sometimes talking about the 2011 Orioles gets tiresome, especially when they're losing. So instead of rehashing another failure, let's go back in time. It was on June 30, 2009 that the Orioles completed the greatest comeback in franchise history, and it was one of the most fun games I can remember watching. After falling behind 10-1 to the Boston Red Sox, the Orioles scored five runs each in the seventh and eighth innings to come all the way back and defeat the hated divisional rivals...

I'm staring at my laptop screen right now and wondering if I should just slam it shut and go back to bed. The Orioles are making me want to pull the covers over my head. Maybe I'll bring a blanket to the press box. They went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position last night and are 9-for-61 in their last seven games. They couldn't score after loading the bases with no outs. They stranded eight more runners. The rotation has turned in one quality start in the last 12 games. I'm not a...

One more note on the starters: They're 3-8 with a 5.99 ERA and have failed to complete seven innings in the last 16 games since Jake Arrieta did it on June 10. Chris Jakubauskas fell to 2-1 with a 5.68 ERA after allowing five runs and seven hits in five innings. He noted that the Cardinals were "a little bit more aggressive." They also were four runs better. Chris Jakubauskas meets with the media about picking up his first loss as an O's starter "I noticed it in the first inning," he...

You can't talk about tonight's 5-1 loss to the Cardinals without focusing on the bases-loaded, no-out situation in the fifth inning that yielded no runs, and another non-quality start from the rotation. "We had a shot at them there in the fifth," manager Buck Showalter said. "That was a big momentum swing." Was it quality pitching from Cardinals right-hander Chris Carpenter or the Orioles' hitters pressing at the plate? Maybe a little of both? Buck Showalter meets with the media to...

The Orioles have failed to follow up their series victory over Cincinnati with more momentum as they have now lost the first two games of the series with St. Louis. Chris Carpenter pitched a complete-game, seven-hitter on 132 pitches as the Cardinals beat the Orioles 5-1. He is now 3-7 with an ERA of 4.00. The Orioles fell behind in the second inning for the second night in a row and they failed to get clutch hits for the second straight night. After going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring...

Each time Brad Bergesen begins to warm in the Orioles' bullpen, Chris Jakubauskas makes a big pitch to end an inning and stay in the game. He's not especially sharp tonight, but he's stubborn. The Orioles had a chance to wipe out a four-run deficit, or at least take a big chunk out of it, after loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth. Felix Pie and Blake Davis singled, and J.J. Hardy reached on an infield hit. Chris Carpenter was teetering. The Orioles couldn't topple...