Orioles cleanup hitter Vlad Guerrero has a hot bat right now. He has produced four straight multi-hit games after going 2-for-5 last night. Over the four games, Guerreo is 9-for-19 with five doubles and three RBIs. He is batting .433 (13-for-30) over his last seven games, raising his average 31 points. In 39 games on the year, Vlad is batting .298 with four homers and 16 RBIs. I'm sure the Orioles are enjoying his hot bat and also hope the RBI production can increase. He did get a clutch RBI...

As the Orioles struggled to put up runs in a 15 innings struggle last night, it got me thinking that we really needed a Yankee killer to come to the plate and put this one away. Someone. Anyone to get that big hit. So who are/were the greatest Yankee killers in Oriole history? I looked up the Baltimore players who racked up the most big games against the Bronx Bombers in Orioles history Multiple HR games Boog Powell 4 Brooks Robinson 2 Ramon Hernandez ...

Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo told ESPN 980 yesterday that mega-prospect Bryce Harper would not play in the major leagues this year, despite the fact that he is currently playing well above the level of the league he is currently in. Through 37 games, Harper is hitting .366/.448/.657 with nine home runs and 31 RBI,s which leads all Nationals minor leaguers in just about every important offensive category. Still, Rizzo remains steadfast in his assertion that Harper, under no...

Maybe the most frustrating thing about the last two games is that the Orioles' starters gave up just one run - it was unearned - and they wasted those efforts by losing both games. Orioles starters have now pitched to an ERA of just 1.29 over the last eight games, but the Orioles have lost three of those eight. The starters have allowed two earned runs or less in seven of the last eight games. One of the best things about baseball is you get to play just about every day, so the Orioles...

Later today, we'll find out whether Brad Bergesen is starting on normal rest or a restless Jeremy Guthrie talked manager Buck Showalter into giving him the ball. We'll find out whether Derrek Lee is going on the disabled list so the Orioles can recall a reliever, and whether Troy Patton is the choice, since he's already here (though I doubt that he unpacked.) We'll find out whether Brian Roberts took two aspirin and called Showalter in the morning to say he could play tonight, or whether...

Michael Gonzalez: "No way, shape or form was I trying to hit (Chris) Dickerson or anything like that. In fact, I was trying to throw a fastball down and away. It got away from me and I'm sorry it hit him. No one is harder on themselves than me. I understand and I know how it looked." "It was kind of shocking. I hit him and obviously I get thrown out, and I was more worried about how he was doing down there. You see a player go down like that and obviously in his head area, I really wasn't...

This might be the most agitated that I've seen manager Buck Showalter after a game since the Orioles hired him. He clearly wanted to say more - about plate umpire Dan Bellino's strike zone and Bellino's decision to eject reliever Michael Gonzalez after the left-hander hit Chris Dickerson in the head - but he was biting his tongue so hard, I'm surprised it didn't snap in two. Asked how Bellino explained the ejection, Showalter replied, "That his intent was to throw at him. Pretty obvious,...

It was going to be hard to top the frustration of Monday's loss at Boston, but the Orioles may have done it with this 4-1 loss in 15 innings versus New York. Another poor night for reliever Mike Gonzalez who gave up a two-run triple that broke a 1-1 tie in the 15th and was ejected after hitting the next batter in the head. I don't quite understand what intent the umpire saw there, but that's probably beside the point. Gonzalez has gone from bad to worse. He has probably sunk so deep in the...

We said it wouldn't get weird. Michael Gonzalez inherited two runners from Jeremy Accardo with no outs in the 15th inning and gave up a tie-breaking, two-run double to Robinson Cano on his first pitch. Gonzalez drilled Chris Dickerson on the side of the batting helmet with his third pitch, earning an instant ejection from plate umpire Dan Bellino. How in the world can Bellino assume Gonzalez was trying to hit Dickerson in that situation? The Orioles are out of relievers, so Jeremy Guthrie...

So much for a rested bullpen. Manager Buck Showalter has used six relievers again tonight, as he did Monday night at Fenway Park. Jeremy Accardo's turn came up in the top of the 13th, which isn't exactly going with the hot hand. Accardo had allowed runs in five straight appearances and six of seven. He permitted five runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings over those five games. And the Yankees pressured him tonight. Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira singled to open the 13th, putting runners...