Brian Matusz may have had a rough day today and a short outing, but it had nothing at all to do with being hurt or any injury. "I'm 100 percent healthy," Matusz said. It was the shortest non-injury start of Matsuz's career, and he gave up four runs and four walks over just 1 1/3 innings today in a 9-6 loss to Tampa. "From the get-go I didn't get a good feel warming up in the bullpen," Matusz said. "Just one of those days where you have to battle without your good stuff. They were...

The Orioles won two of their first three series this year against Tampa Bay, and when they beat the Rays 7-0 on Friday, three out of four was looking quite realistic. But the Orioles could not close out the game last night and Brian Matusz exited early today as the Rays won 9-6 to win the series. Matusz faced 13 hitters and 10 reached base on five hits, four walks and an error. He gave up four runs in just 1 1/3, throwing 52 pitches. He falls to 1-1 this season with an ERA of 5.11 after three...

Manager Buck Showalter must be sitting in the dugout wondering whether ESPN has an open seat on Baseball Tonight. He didn't sign up for this mess. Evan Longoria was credited with a two-run inside-the-park home run in the eighth inning after Adam Jones charged his line drive and watched the ball hook away from him and roll to the fence. The ball appeared to nick his glove, though a few people in the press box are disputing it. It's the latest embarrassment for the Orioles today. The Rays...

Michael Gonzalez is entering today's game with two runners in scoring position, no outs and the Orioles trailing 5-3, in the seventh inning. Gonzalez has been used in non-pressure situations, but Alfredo Simon can't go any further. He's logged 4 2/3 innings, plus two batters in the seventh, and thrown 75 pitches. It's pretty obvious that he's gassed. Simon deserves serious praise for holding Tampa Bay to one run so far and sparing the bullpen of excessive use. Manager Buck Showalter has...

Maybe it was a combination too good for Tampa Bay to pass up. A pitcher who can be slow to the plate with runners on base and a catcher that, well, is not Matt Wieters. Tampa Bay took advantage of that to steal four bases in the top of the first inning today against Brian Matusz. It looked like they had a fifth in the top of the second but Johnny Damon was called out. While today's short start of just 1 1/3 innings could raise concerns about Matusz and topics like fastball velocity could...

I've repeated that sentence so many times, I felt like writing it in a headline. I'm both Doug and Wendy Whiner. It's actually the bottom of the third. Somebody please slow down the pace so I can get caught up. The Rays were kind enough to run into another out. They did, however, increase their lead to 5-2. Alfredo Simon has thrown 22 pitches in 1 2/3 innings. He needs to keep going or Chris Jakubauskas will have to replace him and manager Buck Showalter will be scrambling for Tuesday...

Wade Davis didn't want Brian Matusz to have all the frustration. Davis gave up back-to-back home runs to Adam Jones and Vladimir Guerrero in the bottom of the first inning, reducing Tampa Bay's lead to 3-2. Jones has nine homers to trail team-leader Mark Reynolds by three. Guerrero has six, the most recent coming May 22 against Washington. The Orioles also hit back-to-back homers on April 27 in Boston. Jones followed Luke Scott's blast that night. Meanwhile, Matusz has walked the first...

Left-hander Brian Matusz fell behind, 1-0, just four pitches into his third start with the Orioles. Johnny Damon launched a 1-2 slider onto the flagcourt in right field, his 27th career leadoff home run. The ball traveled an estimated 392 feet. Damon has reached base in 37 consecutive games to tie the Rays record set by Ben Grieve in 2001. Ben Zobrist and Justin Ruggiano followed with singles - Zobrist on a changeup, Ruggiano on an 88 mph fastball - and Evan Longoria's sacrifice fly...

The term June swoon does not apply to Mark Reynolds. After starting June hitless in five at-bats in the month's first two games, he is 8-for-24 with five homers and 11 RBIs. His June OPS is 1.244 after he picked up his first two-homer game as an Oriole last night. It was his 10th career two-homer game. After picking up five hits, three of them homers, over the last three games, Reynolds is now batting .205. This is his highest average since he was at .212 on April 19. The month has also...

Orioles lefty Zach Britton said it was not unexpected news. He was told today by manager Buck Showalter that his next start will likely be Friday in Washington and not Tuesday in Toronto. Britton has already pitched 82 innings and the club knew at some point Britton would pitch too many innings this year if he continued to go every fifth day. He pitched 153 innings last year between the minors and majors. "Obviously I don't want to skip starts, but I know they are doing it for a good...