Just a quick note to update you on Triple-A Norfolk third baseman Josh Bell, who left last night's game in Indianapolis in the fifth inning after a hard slide into second base. Bell is considered day-to-day after experiencing some swelling in his left knee. He's available tonight if needed, but is expected to miss one or two games. Bell is

While Manny Machado is the most well-known and most-interviewed Delmarva Shorebird and is playing very well right now in his first full minor league season, the infielder that plays next to him is probably playing as well as anyone on the O's farm right now. Xavier Avery went 4-for-8 as the Baysox split a doubleheader last night. Avery got thrown out once on the bases in each game, just the second and third times he has been caught stealing this year. Avery's 13 stolen bases leads the...

It's been a tough two weeks for the Baltimore Orioles and we all know it. After a promising start to the season, there's been a lot of losing thanks to inconsistent pitching and a lack of offense. After the sweep by the Yankees this weekend, a lot of fans either on sports talk radio and various places online started to question the decisions of Orioles manager Buck Showalter. It's hard to rationalize, but there's a difference in the perception of a manager when they are either losing or...

Don't look now, but since going

While wondering exactly when Carl Crawford stopped being good ... There were plenty of things to like about last night's 4-1 win over the Red Sox, and we pretty much covered all of them over the course of the evening. I'll go back to that 11-pitch at-bat from Adam Jones in the second inning. He struck out, but he also seemed to get Clay Buchholz out of rhythm after the Boston right-hander had retired the first five batters on only nine pitches. You can see Jones maturing offensively....

The Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos provided most of the offense for the Nationals Tuesday against the New York Mets and continues to make a case to be the regular backstop for this team going forward. This case doesn't have to go to an arbitrator. The numbers don't lie. Ramos is now batting .378 which is 128 points better than the next offensive starter (Danny Espinosa .250) and well over 150 points better than Jayson Werth (.220) and Adam LaRoche (.219). On Tuesday, Ramos had one of...

Adam Jones talked about his 11-pitch at-bat against Clay Buchholz in the second inning. "That set the tone," he said. "Everybody was able to see everything that he threw and he really didn't fool a lot of guys. He's still good. He still held this team to four runs, but it was a lengthy at-bat. I wish it had a better result. "It's good to see us swinging the bats. You have Vladi. As soon as he got that last hit, I said, 'Don't let that man get hot.' He's the one guy that you do not...

Zach Britton became the fifth American League rookie since 1980 to win four games by the end of April. He set the Orioles' record for wins by a rookie starting pitcher in the season's first month. Zach Britton recaps his performance and his fourth win of the season "Obviously, I didn't know that," he said. "It's pretty special, obviously. The fact I'm here is awesome. I was expecting to be down in Norfolk, but I'm just trying to make the best of the opportunity, and I think I've...

If manager Buck Showalter had to pick out any flaws from Zach Britton's performance tonight, he'd focus on the rookie allowing Dustin Pedroia to easily steal third base in the fourth inning, and all the deep counts. That's about it. Buck Showalter analyzes Zach Britton's start following the O's 4-1 win "You'd like to see him be able to take that stuff over another inning or so, but I thought the bullpen was really good tonight, J.J. and Kevin," Showalter said. "And I've got to...

During the Red Sox' recent run of eight wins in nine games, the Sox starting pitchers were tremendous pitching to an ERA of 0.88 during that stretch. They had given up just six earned runs over 61 1/3 in the nine games. Tonight, Boston starter Clay Buchholz allowed four earned runs over 6 2/3 versus the Orioles. Buchholz entered with a career ERA of 2.98 against Baltimore and it went up to 3.26 tonight. Boston pitching gave up just five runs total in its four-game sweep of Los Angeles and...