Zach Britton said his callus is fine. The eight three-ball counts among the 21 batters he faced was a different story. Zach Britton talks about the shortest outing of his young career after the O's 6-2 loss "I just wasn't very good at all," he said. "When you fall behind, you've got to give them fastballs, and they're hot, so they're hitting the ball well. When you fall behind in counts, they're going to square some balls up." Though the three runs and four hits were confined to...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter wasn't going to use the rain as an excuse for tonight's 6-2 loss. It's not like the Rays were inside a dome. Buck Showalter meets with the media to discuss the Birds' 6-2 loss to the Rays "This is not a perfect-condition sport," he said. "You have to deal with all of it - cold, wind, rain. It's part of it. We've played in a lot worse." The Orioles are 2-14 when scoring three runs or fewer. Showalter was asked whether he's concerned that the lack...

The Washington Nationals got out of a two men on, nobody out situation in the 10th inning to survive the Marlins, 3-2 in a thrilling extra-inning affair at Sun Life Stadium, snapping their losing streak at three. The Nationals are now 4-1 in extra innings this season. The game was tied 2-2 from the sixth inning on. With one out in the 10th, Jayson Werth walked against Michael Dunn (2-2) and then Laynce Nix slapped a double to get Werth to third base. Adam LaRoche, who has struggled early on...

Reliever Jason Berken didn't allow a run tonight, which is significant if you consider that he permitted seven in his last five appearances. It wasn't exactly a clean outing for Berken, who gave up three hits, issued an intentional walk and struck out two in 1 1/3 innings, but his ERA is down to 5.02. He had surrendered 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings in those five previous games. That qualifies as a slump. Berken replaced Zach Britton with one out in the sixth and allowed two straight singles. He...

You can't count on anything these days. Zach Britton failed to make it through the sixth inning tonight for the first time in seven major league starts. He retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced, but manager Buck Showalter went to his bullpen with the left-hander's pitch count at 95. Jason Berken replaced Britton, who allowed all three runs and all four hits in the second inning. Britton walked one and struck out four. James Shields continues to blank the Orioles on one hit, Vladimir...

Update: The game headed to extra innings, but it didn't take long for the Nationals to respond. With runners on second and third in the top of the 10th, Adam LaRoche hit a sacrifice fly to center field, good enough to score Jayson Werth from third. The run would be enough for Drew Storen and Sean Burnett, who took care of the Marlins in the bottom half of the inning. Nationals win, 3-2. The Nationals' Jerry Hairston Jr. is off to a good start against the Marlins Ricky Nolasco with a double,...

There's always intrigue down on the farm. Craig Tatum was catching tonight for Triple-A Norfolk, but backup John Hester pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the second inning. Tatum never received an at-bat in the game. Is he hurt? Did the Orioles pull him from the game so they could make a roster move? Wouldn't they have held him out of the starting lineup if that were the case? Am I speculating too much? Update: I'm told that Tatum was removed because of slight shoulder soreness. Back...

A couple of notes on tonight's game with Tampa leading the Orioles 3-0 in the fourth. *Zach Britton had given up just one run in the first and second innings over his first six starts, until Tampa got to him for three runs and four hits in the top of the second tonight. The Rays four hits in that inning was more than the three hits they had versus Britton when he pitched six innings against them in his major league debut. *Tampa starter James Shields is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.69 over his last...

Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco has five strikeouts through two innings but somehow the Nationals got something going in the second. After two outs, Pudge got a base hit. Jerry Hairston followed with a double that scored Pudge. Ian Desmond then struck out swinging to end the inning. Nolasco struck out the side and had five strikeouts through two frames. The Nationals led 1-0 heading to the third. Jordan ZImmermann has allowed a first inning single to former National Emilio Bonifacio, but...

Zach Britton was impressive in the first inning, retiring the side in order on 12 pitches, but he allowed back-to-back doubles and a two-run homer leading off the second to fall behind, 3-0. Britton got a grounder and two fly balls in the first. The first two fly balls in the second, from Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton, reached the right field fence. The fly ball from Brandon Guyer cleared the left-center field fence. That's not nearly as good. Guyer was batting for the first time in the...