Jeremy Guthrie turned in yet another good performance last night against the Minnesota Twins, even though he was handed the defeat. He went seven innings, gave up two runs, walked no one and struck out four. This is Guthrie's fifth season with the Orioles. Is it time to start considering him among the great Oriole hurlers of all time? It sounds like an odd question. He's not a strikeout king. His career record is 39-51. Even though he has been the staff ace by default, nobody really...

Jeremy Guthrie turned in another quality start, but he wasn't satisfied, saying he was "outpitched" by Minnesota's Scott Baker and took the loss. "I didn't make the big pitches where I needed to," he said. "It's a reoccurring thing and it's not good enough, not good enough tonight, not good enough last time, not good enough the time before. So we'll work on it, try to get better, make better pitches." At least Guthrie has his health. "I felt much stronger today than I felt the...

Manager Buck Showalter spent about five minutes taking questions from reporters after tonight's 3-1 loss to the Twins. On Jeremy Guthrie: "His health, he's turned the corner. He's in good shape. He gave us a real chance to win. Deserves a better fate. Just ran up against a guy who was as good as he was tonight, and maybe a little better. Got a changeup out over the plate to (Jim) Thome. And we just didn't put much together offensively. We didn't square up many balls at all. We knew...

The 2011 season has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Orioles manager Buck Showalter, whose team started off 6-1, then lost eight in a row before snapping the lengthy losing streak at home. With the O's in the middle of a 10-game homestand, Showalter took some time out of his busy schedule and welcomed me into his office for his inaugural MASNsports.com video blog. The O's manager talked about the continued efforts to get a winning culture established in Baltimore, and how he uses the...

Jeremy Guthrie deserved better than leaving tonight's game with a 2-0 deficit. Guthrie allowed two runs and seven hits, walked none and struck out four. He also hit two batters. He threw 104 pitches, 68 for strikes. His only clean inning was the first, but he kept batting. Unfortunately for the Orioles, Scott Baker has suffocated the Orioles' offense with seven shutout innings and only four hits allowed. He's struck out nine batters. Speaking of being stingy, Guthrie has surrendered two...

The Orioles continue to trail the Twins, 1-0, as we head to the top of the sixth. Matt Wieters doubled to right field with one out in the bottom of the fifth, and Brian Roberts walked to keep the rally alive after Robert Andino struck out. Nick Markakis battled Scott Baker through a nine-pitch at-bat before striking out on a slider. Markakis fouled off five pitches while running the count full. Markakis snapped out of a 1-for-21 slump by going 2-for-4 last night. However, he's 0-for-3...

It's a little early in the season to call any single game that big or important, but this would be a nice night for an Orioles' victory. They are playing the Twins who still are without some key players like Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. Also, the Twins have scored the fewest runs in the majors this year and have a major league low six homers. Get 'em while you can. Also, the O's could use a series victory and a win tonight would give them the series win here, three to one. The Birds won...

Jeremy Guthrie has made one mistake tonight, and he's trailing, 1-0, because of it. Jim Thome homered to center field with one out in the second inning, upping his career total to 591. Thome was batting .163 with one homer, five RBIs and a .279 slugging percentage. Guthrie also allowed a two-out single to Denard Span in the third. He's thrown 38 pitches, 26 for strikes, and his fastball has topped out at 94 mph. Twins starter Scott Baker, looking for his first victory of 2011, retired the...

Derrek Lee has two RBIs this season, and they both came on April 6, when he hit his only home run of the season. He's carrying a .206 average that's been dragged down, in part, by his 2-for-11 stretch in this series. At least he's been patient. Lee has nine of the Orioles' 42 walks to lead the club in that category. Is Lee going through an adjustment period after switching leagues? "I think there's some of that, too," manager Buck Showalter said. "I think we lose sight of that, but...

It's been an interesting few weeks for O's pitcher Brad Bergesen. Late in spring training, he took a line drive off his right forearm and he had to battle back from that. For four days, he was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk even if he never actually physically was with that team. Now Bergesen is trying to regain the form that made him the best Orioles starter in 2009 when he went 7-5 with a 3.43 ERA. He is trying to recapture the form that allowed him to crank out quality sinker after quality...