Nationals manager Davey Johnson talked about the 40-man roster Tuesday and speculated as to some of the possibilities offensively in September the Nationals might bring up to the big club when rosters can be expanded. Johnson mentioned first baseman Chris Marrero and a name we had not heard before, outfielder Corey Brown. Both are on the 40-man roster. Marrero is batting .309 in 117 games, with 14 homers and 67 RBIs. It is about time he gets a chance to face major league pitching. Brown is...

Chris Davis, who sat out last night's game with a sore right shoulder, is starting at first base tonight. He's avoided the disabled list. For the Orioles: Nolan Reimold LF J.J. Hardy SS Nick Markakis RF Adam Jones CF Vladimir Guerrero DH Matt Wieters C Mark Reynolds 3B Chris Davis 1B Robert Andino 2B Brian Matusz LHP For the Athletics: Weeks 2B Crisp CF Matsui DH Willingham LF Allen 1B Sizemore 3B DeJesus RF Suzuki C Pennington SS Moscoso RHP

It has been a frustrating couple of weeks for veteran Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez as he continues to rehab from a right oblique strain suffered in early July. He had a setback last Wednesday in Harrisburg and has been in Washington ever since. Rodriguez played catch with Livan Hernandez on Tuesday and expects to play catch again Wednesday, but there is not a set timetable as to when he will swing a bat again. Rodriguez met with team doctors prior to Tuesday's game against the...

Brian Matusz will be back on a major league mound for the first time in six weeks tonight when he pitches at Oakland. In his last start, June 30 at home against St. Louis, he gave up eight runs over 3 1/3 innings. Let's hope the Orioles kept Matusz in the minors long enough to get his game together. I wonder if they did. I was kind of expecting to see Matusz stay with Triple-A Norfolk until the Tides season ended in early September. Had the Orioles chose, they could have had Matusz make four...

A victory in either of the remaining two games of this series would clinch the Orioles' first season series win over the Athletics since 1998, when they went 8-3. Warning: In the last six series where the Orioles won the opening game, they've gone 1-12 in the remaining games. They've won seven series openers on the road this year, including their last four in a row. However, the Orioles have won just two of the six road series after claiming the opening game - April 1-3 at Tampa Bay and...

After the Orioles drafted Nicky Delmonico in the sixth round in June, they knew it would be difficult to sign him. The now 19-year-old from Farragut High in Knoxville, Tenn., had a strong college commitment to Georgia. But late last night, Delmonico came to terms with the Orioles - and the signing bonus of $1.525 million is first-round money. He was signed to a 2012 contract. By the way, the Orioles signed all three players yesterday - Dylan Bundy, Jason Esposito and Delmonico - to 2012...

The Orioles have designated reliever Luis Lebron for assignment to make room for pitcher Dylan Bundy on the 40-man roster. Bundy agreed to terms on a major league deal last night shortly before the midnight deadline, so he must be placed on the 40-man. Lebron, 26, missed the 2010 season after undergoing ligament-reconstructive surgery on his right elbow in May. He was pitching at short-season Single-A Aberdeen this season, allowing three runs and two hits in seven innings over seven...

Sunday's ugly 8-5 win against the Tigers got me thinking about the pitching rotation for the rest of the season and even next season. Jo-Jo Reyes, who the O's oddly scooped up off waivers not too long ago, registered his first win as an Oriole with his six-inning, four-hit, one-run (off a solo shot) outing. When the Orioles first acquired Reyes, running through my mind were thoughts such as, "What in the world are they thinking now? This guy went 28 consecutive starts without a win, tying...

Since April 2007, I've been writing stories mostly about Washington D.C. baseball history at Nationals Daily News. A lot of my stories are based off of a date in time in D.C. baseball history. Today's story is about a pitcher, Allen "Bullet Ben" Benson, who made his Washington Senators debut this week in 1934. What makes this story so different than any of my other stories is the way I learned about Benson. It happened a little less than two years ago when I received an e-mail from a...

During a season in which the Orioles have had a lot of bad days, Monday was not among them. And I'm not talking about the win at Oakland. I'm talking about scouting director Joe Jordan signing what I had been calling the "big three." He got Dylan Bundy, Jason Esposito and Nicky Delmonico. The pressure was on Jordan and his staff to get the deals done. Fans are fed up with this season and felt the Orioles could not afford to let any good young talent in the draft get away. At a time when...