Nationals top prospect Bryce Harper sat out the last two games of the first half of the South Atlantic League season continuing to nurse his sore left thumb. He originally jammed the thumb during last Sunday's game and has missed four games off and on during the last week as a precautionary measure. Harper will travel to Salisbury, Md., and is expected to play in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game on Tuesday. He batted .330 with 14 home runs and 45 RBIs in 64 games for the Single-A...

WASHINGTON - Chris Jakubauskas didn't receive an official invite to spring training, but he's won two games for the Orioles this season. Funny how these things work out. He's also their best hitter on the pitching staff. Chris Jakubauskas talks about his outing on the mound Sunday and at the plate "The first hit, ironically, probably means more to me since I was a hitter my entire life growing up. It means more to me than it did when I got my first win, but obviously today the win...

Some thoughts after the end of the weekend series in Washington. The clubs split six games this year and today's O's win keeps the Orioles ahead, 19-17, in the all-time series versus the Nationals. * We've said it before, but maybe this team will finally get hot on offense for an extended time. It seems that Nick Markakis and Derrek Lee have heated up and maybe those hot bats will join those of Adam Jones, Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy to see this club finally put up some runs. Markakis is...

WASHINGTON - The Orioles avoided the sweep with today's 7-4 victory over the sloppy Nationals, who committed three errors and bobbled a few other balls. Buck Showalter hopes the O's can use the momentum from Sunday's win to carry them into Pittsburgh "I've said many times, usually you look at that error column and you're winning that, you're in the ballgame. And taking advantage of those was big," said manager Buck Showalter. Chris Jakubauskas picked up his second win after...

The Orioles overcame some early frustrations - they hit into three double plays in the first four innings - to beat the Nationals 7-4 Sunday and salvage the final game in this series. The Orioles won for just the second time in eight games and are 2-4 on their current road trip. They ended the Nats' eight-game winning streak. The clubs wind up splitting six games this year, with each taking two of three at home. The Orioles are 11-7 versus the Nats since 2009 and the all-time series has the...

WASHINGTON - Chris Jakubauskas singled twice today before Jim Johnson replaced him. That .667 average will put a little more pressure on the other pitchers. The last Orioles pitcher to collect two hits in a game? That would be Erik Bedard on May 20, 2007 against the Nationals. This is the 130th time that an Orioles pitcher had two hits or more in a game. We're not sure whether Jakubauskas will take his next turn. He could be skipped because of Thursday's open date on the schedule. There's...

Derrek Lee is 2-for-3 today with an RBI double through the fifth inning in Washington and the Orioles lead 5-3. That makes him 9-for-12 in this series with three doubles and an RBI and he has raised his average from .214 at the start of play Friday to its current .246. Lee had five hits Friday, two Saturday and has two today. Lee had multi hits two games in a row just twice all season before this series and now has three in a row. Before this series, in seven games since coming off the DL on...

WASHINGTON - Adam Jones singled with two outs in the top of the fifth inning to score J.J. Hardy, and Derrek Lee followed with a double to increase the Orioles' lead to 5-2. That's it for Nationals left-hander Tom Gorzelanny. The Orioles have salvaged the inning after a highly questionable send by third base coach John Russell resulted in pitcher Chris Jakubauskas being thrown out at the plate by a wide margin. Jakubauskas collected his first major league hit, a single leading off the...

WASHINGTON - The Orioles can't seem to get that one big hit that opens the flood gates. They loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning on Derrek Lee's leadoff single - his eighth hit of the series - third baseman Ryan Zimmerman's throwing error and Mark Reynolds' infield hit. Craig Tatum, batting seventh, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Lee scored, but he was the only one. Robert Andino grounded out to end the inning. Opportunity wasted. In case you're wondering, Tatum is...

WASHINGTON - I want to thank everyone for wishing me a Happy Father's Day. Right back at you. I hope you have something special planned today. Somehow, the quotes I posted from Brian Matusz in my last entry appeared below Jeremy Guthrie's update. Just so there's no confusion, Matusz was doing the talking. Luke Scott said his back was feeling better this morning, but he received more treatment and didn't think he'd be available to pinch-hit later. Manager Buck Showalter wasn't ready to...