ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Rays made things interesting in the eighth. And by "interesting," I mean heart-pounding. Michael Gonzalez returned to his little dome of horrors and walked the first two batters he faced, including Ben Zobrist on four pitches. He fell behind, 2-0, to Johnny Damon before retiring him on a foul pop. Gonzalez was done. In his place came Koji Uehara, who didn't walk a batter in his last 32 appearances of 2010. Uehara got a called third strike on pinch-hitter Sam...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Well, it was fun while it lasted. B.J. Upton singled to center field off Orioles reliever Jeremy Accardo with two outs in the seventh inning to break up the collective no-hit bid. I could have sworn I ordered the combination no-hit platter tonight. It was a clean single, and it came after Brian Roberts made a nice backhanded stop and off-balance throw to retire Dan Johnson. Upton stole second despite a pitch-out, with catcher Matt Wieters bobbling the ball and making...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Rays have two baserunners through five innings against Chris Tillman, both coming on walks. That's it. TIllman has thrown 80 pitches, so getting him through the ninth will be quite a challenge. But hey, he wasn't even supposed to start tonight. Kelly Shoppach swung through a 92 mph fastball to end the fifth, the 10th consecutive batter retired by Tillman. Tillman had to fight to make the club out of spring training, and it mostly happened because Justin...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Chris Tillman blanked the Rays in the first inning, but they made him work for it. Tillman went to a three-ball count to the first three hitters, though he retired Ben Zobrist on a foul pop up and struck out Johnny Damon on a 91 mph fastball. Evan Longoria walked after taking two curveballs out of the strike zone with a 1-1 count and a 92 mph fastball that also missed. Manny Ramirez fell behind, 0-2, looked at a 94 mph fastball that missed outside and lined to right to...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - I had a little time to kill before the Orioles took the field for batting practice, so I asked J.J. Hardy about last night's rundown that ended with him plowing into the Rays' B.J. Upton. Third base umpire Scott Barry called Upton out, which brought manager Joe Maddon from the dugout for a prolonged argument. Hardy assumed that he was guilty of obstruction, which would have stoked an eighth-inning rally. Hardy spun around and almost spiked his glove after making...

The Nationals won their first game of the season Saturday 6-3 over the Atlanta Braves, keyed by a big rally-killing effort from the bullpen with Tyler Clippard leading the charge. The Braves threatened a big rally in the sixth inning when Dan Uggla led off the inning with a solo homer off of Chad Gaudin's first pitch that made it 4-2 Nationals. Following a walk and a double, Clippard got out of a 3-1 count to strikeout pinch hitter Brooks Conrad and induced Martin Prado into a liner to...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Zach Britton showed up at Tropicana Field today and sat in the left field seats. Just a rookie pitcher and his thoughts. Britton got the surprise call yesterday that he was joining the Orioles in St. Petersburg and making his major league debut tomorrow afternoon against the Rays. He'll take it all in before taking the mound. "It's exciting," he said. "I was walking around because the last time I came here, it was the game before Wade Boggs got his 3,000th hit. I...

Nationals right-hander Jordan Zimmermann makes his 2011 debut Sunday at Nationals Park as Washington wraps up its three-game set with the Atlanta Braves. Zimmermann was 1-2 with a 4.94 ERA last season. He will be opposed by Braves right-hander Tim Hudson (17-9, 2.83 ERA). Zimmermann's first career start was a win against the Braves on April 20, 2009. After successfully rehabbing from ligament replacement surgery, Zimmermann made seven starts for the Nationals in 2010. Sunday marks...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Here are the lineups for tonight's game at Tropicana Field: For the Orioles: Brian Roberts 2B Nick Markakis RF Derrek Lee 1B Vladimir Guerrero DH Luke Scott LF Adam Jones CF Mark Reynolds 3B Matt Wieters C J.J. Hardy SS Chris Tillman RHP For the Rays: Zobrist 2B Damon LF Longoria 3B Ramirez DH Johnson 1B Upton CF Joyce RF Shoppach C Brignac SS Shields RHP Also, an Orioles official confirmed that pitcher Alfredo Simon has obtained his visa and will enter the U.S....

The Nationals are not concerned about Ian Desmond's first start as a leadoff man. Desmond went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts against Derek Lowe and Braves relievers in Thursday's season opener at Nationals Park. Desmond batted .290 with an on-base percentage of .364 in spring training, getting most of his leadoff starts after the team traded Nyjer Morgan to Milwaukee. Last year, Desmond batted .269 with an on-base percentage of .308 in 154 games. He struck out 109 times. Will Desmond have...