A reader asked earlier today about the Orioles' rotation for the Cardinals series that begins tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Zach Britton, Chris Jakubauskas and Brian Matusz are the scheduled starters. Jakubauskas will work on normal rest and take Jake Arrieta's turn. Arrieta, as you'll recall, is slated to throw another bullpen session on Wednesday and make Saturday night's start in Atlanta. The Cardinals are batting .276 against right-handers and .247 against left-handers. They're...

Nineteen-year-old Dominican right-hander Wirkin Estevez settled in quite nicely to his second start Thursday for the short-season Single-A Auburn Doubledays. After getting knocked around in his first New York-Penn League start June 18, Estevez was very impressive Thursday against Mahoning Valley, throwing five innings of shutout ball, allowing just one hit and one walk, and striking out five. The 6-foot-1, 170-lb. prospect has his velocity up between 87 to 93 mph on his fastball, and hit 88...

The Morrill family of Yarmouth, Maine, took the usual assortment of souvenirs with them when they headed out of Baltimore on a nine-hour drive home Monday morning. There were t-shirts, Buck Showalter bobbleheads, miniature baseball bats, O's drawstring backpacks, caps - all memories of another fun weekend at Camden Yards, a trip that's become an annual summer excursion for Melissa Morrill and her five kids. But one unexpected package forced a little shuffling of luggage and passengers: the...

Mark Reynolds has been on fire over the last four weeks, hitting .296/.446/.648. He leads the Orioles in home runs, doubles and walks. He trails only J.J. Hardy in on-base percentage and is arguably the best hitter on the team. Despite all of that, Reynolds remains at the bottom of the lineup, hitting ahead of only Robert Andino or Blake Davis and sometimes Felix Pie (who really shouldn't be in the starting lineup, ever, but that's another story). I spent last week in Pittsburgh watching...

When Orioles president Andy MacPhail and manager Buck Showalter met with season ticket holders at Camden Yards on Saturday afternoon, they were asked a few interesting questions. Among them, one fan asked if the O's brass uses sabermetrics in sizing up player acquisitions and in their daily preparations. A simple definition of sabermetrics calls it simply "the statistical analysis of baseball data." Another defines sabermetrics as the analysis of baseball through objective, empirical...

The Washington Nationals have won 13 of their last 15 games. That's pretty heady stuff. When play ended Sunday, the Nats owned a 40-38 record, a mere 3 1/2 games out of the Wild Card. This run that they're on right now can only be described with one word: ridiculous. On this streak, the Nats have won close games and blowouts. They've pitched over their heads and picked up the bullpen on the few occasions they've faltered. The Nats blew three saves in Friday's game alone and still won. In...

It's another off-day in June for the Orioles. We're up to five, in case you're scoring at home. And if you're scoring at home, you're probably not reading this blog. I didn't realize until checking yesterday's postgame notes that J.J. Hardy has homered in eight consecutive series. He's reached base safely in 29 of 32 games since May 21. Derrek Lee is batting .375 with four doubles, two homers and seven RBIs in his last nine games. Mark Reynolds is batting .450 with two doubles, two...

Nick Markakis came up with three hits in five at bats in Sunday's win over Cincinnati. His average is at its highest point since April 9 and he now has a 16-game hitting streak. Markakis is batting .405 (30-for-74) during the streak, which is one off his career best. The batting streak has raised his average from .236 to .277. "I feel like I'm getting there," he said. "Just gotta take it day-by-day and try to continue what I'm doing. Get on base and get big hits when you need...

Let's hear from winning pitcher Jeremy Guthrie: "We came out swinging the bats real well, as we did all series. Just some big, big swings by D-Lee (Derrek Lee) and Mark (Reynolds), and then those extra runs we tagged on. We put pressure on their pitcher the majority of the afternoon. That was important for us." "I thought I was able to locate the fastball early, the first four innings especially. It had some life on it and I was able to go to both sides of the plate. We mixed in the...

When he came to bat in the fourth inning today, Orioles third baseman Mark Reynolds had already made two errors, giving him 18 on the year. He might have wanted to redeem himself and he did by hitting a solo homer 443-feet to left field. But he said he wasn't thinking about trying to turn around his day as he batted against Homer Bailey. "I can't think that way. I have struggled over there at third base, it's no secret," Reynolds said. "Just gotta stay focused and not carry my at bats...