Lots of fun planned for this weekend as our Baltimore friends/foes come to NatsTown. To kick things off, Matt Capps, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham will join coaches and broadcasters for an annual visit to the Military Advanced Training Center (MATC) at Walter Reed Army Medical Center this afternoon. They will sign autographs, take pictures and invite the soldiers to Friday night's game against the Orioles. Also, Screech and the Oriole Bird will compete in a number of challenges at ESPN...

I woke up during the night to an e-mail from the Orioles announcing that left-hander Alberto Castillo was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk after a 13-7 loss to Texas that completed the Rangers' two-game sweep. No surprise there. If you had him on your fantasy team, I'm assuming that you dropped him a while ago. Castillo has allowed nine earned runs in 6 1/3 innings over nine appearances with the Orioles. And I'm pretty sure that's nine separate call-ups. I hope he's on some sort of points...

So what is the deal with Luke Scott? How can one player be looking so bad one day and a few days later be one of the hottest hitters in the game? The only thing that is consistent with his swing is its inconsistency. Scott was hitting just .177 after his first 24 games and had just one multi-hit game in that time. But over his last 11 games he is hitting .488 with seven multi-hit games. He had 14 hits in his first 24 games and has now 20 hits in his last 11 games. He averaged one RBI...

Down 10-1, the Nats battled back to get within 10-6 and the bases loaded in the 8th. There were two outs for slugger Adam Dunn. 23,612 at Nats Park knew this was the best chance the Nats were going to have to save a miserable night in the field. But Mets reliever Pedro Feliciano did not give Dunn the opportunity to beat him. Dunn flew out to Jason Bay to end the threat. The Mets won the game 10-7. "I have faced Feliciano a lot of times. He is a tough guy to not only get a hit off of...

For lefty Brian Matusz, it was the shortest outing of his 17-start, Major League career. Five days after shutting out Cleveland for seven innings, he allowed eight hits and a career-high seven runs in just 2 1/3 innings as the Texas Rangers beat the Orioles 13-7 Thursday to sweep the two-game series. Matusz, who had given up just two homers all year over 47 1/3, tonight gave up two more. Nelson Cruz hit a three-run shot in the first and Vladimir Guerrero added a two-run shot in the second as...

The Nationals will attempt to stay above .500 as they welcome in the Baltimore Orioles for the start of three at Nats Park. The pitching match-up in game one features left-hander Scott Olsen (2-1, 3.15) against rightie David Hernandez (0-5, 5.84). I caught up with Scott to get a preview of his start against the Birds. He has been lights out recently. In Olsen's last five starts, he has allowed only 4 earned runs in 32 1/3 innings pitched for a 1.12 ERA. Is this your best run of your...

The Orioles won a game on Tuesday after falling behind, 3-0, to Cy Young winner Zack Greinke. I suppose that made a 4-0 deficit tonight against Scott Feldman seem a lot smaller. We'll see how they handle a 6-3 deficit. The Rangers jumped all over left-hander Brian Matusz in the first inning, but the Orioles fought back with three runs in the top of the second to cut the Rangers' lead to 4-3. Now Matusz has served up his second home run, a two-run shot by Vladimir Guerrero in the second...

Brian Matusz has given up two longballs over the first two innings tonight and Texas leads the Orioles, 6-3 after two frames. Matusz had allowed just two homers over 47 1/3 innings in his first two starts and Texas matched that in two innings. It's a roller coaster Matusz, who gave up six runs two starts ago vs. Minnesota and then pitched seven scoreless last Saturday vs. Cleveland. Tonight, Nelson Cruz hit a three-run shot in the first and Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run shot in the...

Using all the restraint I could muster, I waited until the end of my chat with minor league infielder Mike Flacco to bring up his more famous brother. "Have you talked to Joe much lately?" He hasn't. I'm sure that never gets old for him. Mike Flacco was kept at extended spring training while recovering from a fracture in his lower back. He was hoping to be assigned to one of the full-season affiliates after batting .272 with 14 doubles, five triples, three homers and 34 RBIs in 60 games...

The Frederick Keys have placed two middle infielders on the disabled list today as second baseman L.J. Hoes and shortstop Greg Miclat go on the DL, which must last at least seven days in the minor leagues. Hoes has missed several games now due to a form of strep throat and his DL stint is retroactive to May 18. Miclat, who missed two weeks in April with a broken nose, last night suffered a sprained foot sliding into second base in the third inning of a game Wednesday night. Hoes, a...