For the Orioles, it has been nearly two months since their pitchers recorded three straight quality starts. Yes, it has been that long. They can make it three in a row tonight when Miguel Gonzalez pitches at Cleveland.
From May 25 to May 27 against Kansas City, the Orioles posted three in a row. Jason Hammel pitched six scoreless innings, then Wei-Yin Chen gave up two earned runs over six and Brian Matusz allowed three earned runs in six innings against the Royals.
The Orioles season high is...
Two players on the Orioles Gulf Coast League team, third baseman Hector Veloz and right-handed pitcher Jhondaniel Medina have been suspended by the team. The suspensions began a few days ago and could end sometime next week.
They were suspended for disciplinary reasons, a team official confirmed, but would not say what exactly had happened.
Veloz was signed out of the Dominican to a $300,000 bonus in July of 2010, which is believed to be the largest bonus ever given to a Dominican amateur to...
The question has been asked often: How can a team that leads the majors in errors, struggles to score runs and get clutch hits and has an ever-changing rotation that ranks 12th in the league in ERA, still be in the playoff hunt after 92 games?
I have another question as an addendum to that: How can a team with a minus-55 run differential still be in the playoff race after 92 games?
Here is the best answer I can come up with. The Orioles have shown an amazing ability this year to win the close...
Frustrated most of the afternoon by their inability to get a key hit with runners in scoring position, Mark Reynolds ended nearly eight innings of frustration for the Orioles this afternoon. His two-run single to center put the Orioles ahead and they beat the Twins 4-3 to split this four-game series by winning the last two.
Down 3-2 entering the eighth, Matt Wieters and Wilson Betemit drew one-out walks and moved up a base on a groundout. With Ryan Flaherty on deck, the Twins elected to pitch...
It wasn't exactly a homer drought, but when Chris Davis hit a long homer to right today in the second inning off Cole De Vries, it ended a stretch of nine homerless games for him. It was Davis' 15th homer of the year.
Davis entered today 0-for-11 over his past three games and 3-for-26 over his last seven contests.
That brought the Orioles to within 2-1, as Minnesota took the lead scoring twice in the last of the first off Wei-Yin Chen, who today is looking for his first win since June 17 at...
After noticing last night that the Orioles are a surprising 9-5 this year in games started by Tommy Hunter, I wondered what the team's record was in games started by others.
Here is a ranking of the starters by the team's winning percentage when they start:
.643 - Hunter (9-5)
.611 - Jason Hammel (11-7), Wei-Yin Chen (11-7)
.500 - Miguel Gonzalez (1-1), Dana Eveland (1-1, Chris Tillman (1-1)
.389 - Jake Arrieta (7-11)
.375 - Brian Matusz (6-10)
.000 - Zach Britton (0-1)
Yes, that is rather...
Adam Jones is certainly hitting better against left-handed pitchers this season. That came in handy last night when he hit a two-run homer in the first inning against Francisco Liriano. It was all the offense the Orioles would get in a 2-1 win over the Twins.
Jones hit four homers all of last season in 153 at-bats against lefties. This year, he has six in 93 at-bats against southpaws. He averaged a homer every 38.3 at-bats last year against the lefties and that mark is one every 15.5 at-bats...
Tommy Hunter, at least for one night, rejoins the Orioles rotation tonight in Minnesota. Steve Johnson will also be starting for the Triple-A Norfolk Tides at home against Rochester.
You have to wonder if Johnson could soon get a crack at the Orioles rotation. While Johnson has been used mostly in relief in recent appearances with Norfolk, he was a starting earlier this year and could be someone to look at if Hunter struggles tonight.
Hunter has certainly gotten several chances this year to...
The Orioles added a draft pick for next June today in the first Competitive Balance Lottery. The Orioles will get the fourth pick in Round A, which will follow the first-round picks in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft.
A projection on the MLB Network, where the results were announced this afternoon, was that the pick would fall between the 32nd and 37th overall selections and the Round A picks will come before the second-round picks.
The order for the Round A picks is Kansas City, Pittsburgh,...
The Orioles say their seventh-round draft pick, pitcher Matt Price from the University of South Carolina, is dealing with a tight right shoulder capsule and may not pitch in a game this year.
"His physical wasn't completely clean and they are being overly cautious," Orioles scouting director Gary Rajsich said. "I'm not saying that is anything out of the ordinary, it is just a pitcher with a lot of wear and tear. It's something that hasn't held other pitchers back. There are some pretty...
The Orioles and 12 other major league teams have a chance to add a pick in next June's First-Year Player draft today when baseball holds its first Competitive Balance Lottery this afternoon.
The lottery, scheduled to take place at 1:30 p.m. in New York, is a mechanism designed to help teams perceived to need the most assistance by awarding extra draft picks to some of them. The 10 smallest-market teams and 10 lowest-revenue teams will have the chance to win one of six extra selections in the...
At this point, beyond just getting wins to turn around a long run of losing, Orioles fans could use a few good outings from some of the Orioles' young starting pitchers for their collective psyche.
By now, maybe long before now, some fans have begun to doubt these young hurlers. They have seen them go back and forth between Triple-A and the majors too much and have seen good outings, but then watched that followed up with a poor outing.
They have seen them work with Rick Adair, the O's big...
If there was ever a player that didn't let his slump on offense carry over to his defense, it's Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy. He continues to give the club superior defense at a premium position and that is important on a team that makes so many errors at other spots on the diamond.
But at the same time, the duration of Hardy's slump has to be baffling to the player, his manager and coaches - and to the fans.
Hardy has never been a big hitter for average. But he batted .269 for the Orioles...
For a while, the Orioles bullpen had the best ERA in the majors and/or the American League. Yesterday, before the game, the Orioles' bullpen ERA of 2.87 ranked second-best in the AL, but after giving up 12 runs in the 19-7 loss at Minnesota, the Orioles' bullpen ERA is up to 3.16 and they have fallen all the way to fifth in AL.
2.75 - Oakland
3.04 - Boston
3.13 - Seattle
3.14 - Kansas City
3.16 - Orioles
In four games since the All-Star break, Orioles starters have pitched just 15 1/3...
As the Orioles try to get some wins after a stretch where they have gone just 7-15 over their past 22 games, tonight they begin a four-game series with the team with the worst record in the American League.
The Twins are 36-52 and have lost five in a row. They are just 5-12 this year against the AL East, 17-28 at home and 4-7 in July.
Over the weekend, they were swept by Oakland in a three-game series and allowed nine homers to the A's, including eight in the past two games.
The Orioles...
Here are some of the recent numbers on the Orioles' offense:
* They have been shut out three times in the last five games and five times in the past 22 games.
* They have scored just 34 runs in the last 11 games, and 73 over the last 25 games, an average of 2.9 per game.
* The Orioles are 3-for-31 with runners in scoring position over the last five games and are batting just .168 with RISP over the last 25 games.
* The Orioles now rank 11th in the AL in batting average and runs scored and...
With each Orioles loss these days, is it possible that a reality is setting in and that reality is that this year, which started out with such promise, will not end up with the Birds in the playoffs?
It hasn't been just a tough series, or week, or homestand the team has endured. But since starting the year with a record of 27-14 on May 19, the Orioles are 19-28.
That is 47 games of sub-.500, losing baseball.
During those 47 games, the ERA of the Orioles' starting pitchers is 5.33. That ERA...
Chris Davis has seen Justin Verlander on top of his game before. He went 0-for-4 today, as did several of his teammates, as Verlander pitched the Tigers to a 4-0 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards.
"I thought after the All-Star Game, we were going to have a real good shot at lighting him up, but he was just setting us up," Davis said. "He won MVP last year for a reason. I felt like at times today he was just toying with us. He was hitting his spots, mixing it up, then when he needed his...
For Baltimore native Steve Johnson, it's been quite an afternoon. He got to play for his hometown team on the field at Camden Yards for the first time. He pitched two innings against the Tigers and gave up a Miguel Cabrera homer in his major league debut.
But Johnson left to the cheers of the crowd after the top of the eighth. He walked the first two batters, but later fanned two to strand a pair in scoring position as the Camden Yards fans cheered him on.
"Just walking off the field in the...
There is a saying in baseball that momentum is only as good as that day's starting pitcher. If the Orioles had any momentum after Saturday's 13-inning win, Justin Verlander squashed it.
He gave up just three hits over eight innings today as Detroit beat the Orioles 4-0 to take the series finale in front of 30,439 at Camden Yards.
Verlander retired 16 of the last 17 Orioles, and walked two and fanned eight, throwing 117 pitches. He improved to 10-5 on the year and lowered his ERA to...