When Brian Matusz throws his first few pitches tonight, most of us will turn our attention to the radar gun to check out his velocity.
But, just as important for Matusz will be his command and control of his other pitches. All four of his pitches have been finding too much of the middle of the plate recently, as he has given up 14 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings over his past three starts.
So watch Matusz's secondary pitches tonight and how he is commanding them. It could be just as important...
Blake Davis is certainly enjoying his time in the major leagues. He has been with the Orioles since June 18 and is batting .313 (5-for-16) over five games.
For Davis, he is in the majors about two years after it looked like he might make it the first time. He was having a solid spring training in March of 2009 with the Orioles and coming off a season where he hit .284 at Bowie. His stock was on the rise and he made a good impression in big league camp.
But then he suffered an ankle injury...
The Orioles may be teetering right now. Teetering on the brink. They have fallen seven games under .500 for the first time this year and their recent play makes it look like it could get worse before it gets better.
They need to beat Jaime Garcia tonight to avoid a three-game sweep by the Cardinals. Garcia is 6-3 with a 3.06 ERA on the year and has pitched to an ERA of 2.59 in June.
Friday night, they begin a 10-game road trip at Atlanta. The Braves have now won eight of 10 games and will...
The Orioles have failed to follow up their series victory over Cincinnati with more momentum as they have now lost the first two games of the series with St. Louis.
Chris Carpenter pitched a complete-game, seven-hitter on 132 pitches as the Cardinals beat the Orioles 5-1. He is now 3-7 with an ERA of 4.00.
The Orioles fell behind in the second inning for the second night in a row and they failed to get clutch hits for the second straight night. After going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring...
So far, the St. Louis Cardinals are enjoying their first-ever trip to Baltimore. They won 6-2 last night by taking a 3-0 lead in the second inning and they took a 2-0 lead tonight in inning two.
Colby Rasmus hit a two-run homer off Chris Jakubauskas to start the St. Louis scoring. It was his second homer of the series, his third in four games and his eighth on the year.
Skip Schumaker's RBI single in the third extended their lead to 3-0 and a sac fly by Lance Berkman made it 4-0. It could...
The Orioles public relations staff put out some interesting notes on J.J Hardy today.
Did you know his nine homers in June is one off the major league lead for the month. Prince Fielder, Paul Konerko and Carlos Pena have hit 10 to lead MLB in June homers.
If Hardy hits one more this month, he will tie Miguel Tejada's team record for most homers in a month by an Orioles' shortstop. Tejada hit 10 in August of 2007.
Hardy, who has hit five homers over his last 11 games, has now homered in...
Right-handed reliever Alfredo Simon returns to the Orioles active roster for tonight's game with St. Louis.
He was out since June 13 with a right hamstring strain. Simon said he feels great. He pitched two scoreless innings for Double-A Bowie on Sunday after spending some time rehabbing the hamstring in Florida.
"I just was working in Sarasota and now I'm ready to go," Simon said. "I just pitched two innings in Bowie and feel ready to go."
Simon last pitched for the Orioles on June 12...
Luke Scott is feeling better today after suffering a right knee contusion when he made a great catch in the top of the ninth last night. But, he is not in the starting lineup against St. Louis.
"Yeah (still sore)," Scott said. "I feel better today than when I left the field. I iced my knee a bunch of times at home. I've got a little stem machine of my own at the house and I did what I could.
"Woke up this morning and still have some swelling. It's still a little tight and sore, but I...
Two words: Don't panic.
Manny Machado homered in his second at-bat in the Carolina League, but he is hitting just .158 at 3-for-19 in six games with Single-A Frederick. I don't think anyone in the O's organization is worried in the least about a player who is playing in that league at the age of 18.
Machado doesn't turn 19 until July 6.
Before Machado was promoted to Frederick, he had been struggling some this month with Single-A Delmarva. In fact he is batting just .176 (13-for-74) this...
It hasn't become as rare as, say, seeing a pitcher throw a complete game anymore, but it still seems pretty rare in baseball these days.
That is, seeing a relief pitcher pitch not one, but two innings, in an outing. It doesn't seem like that would be asking too much, but managers are always thinking ahead and know that a two-inning outing for a top reliever today could mean he can't be used tomorrow.
In the last week or so, we have seen Buck Showalter use both Jim Johnson and Koji Uehara,...
The St. Louis Cardinals had lost five of six games and 12 of their last 15 before tonight's series opener at Camden Yards. Plus, they had the highest ERA in the majors during the month of June.
Despite that, the Cardinals beat the Orioles 6-2 in tonight's series opener. Kyle Lohse, who entered with a career interleague ERA of 5.93, pitched five shutout innings before a rain delay.
Lohse, who gave up four hits with one walk and two strikeouts, improved to 8-4 with an ERA of 2.78.
The...
With the selection of reserves for the All-Star teams coming up on Sunday, we'll know soon which Oriole or Orioles will make the American League squad.
Most seem to be predicting that just one player from this team will make it, but there are several deserving candidates.
They include Adam Jones, batting .294 with 14 doubles, 13 homers and 45 RBIs.
"Personally, it's out of my hands," Jones said. "You know, we've got guys in here having helluva years. I'm just trying to do my part. We...
It probably should not come as a shock to anyone, but Orioles manager Buck Showalter did express concern today over the lack of production from Vladimir Guerrero, his cleanup hitter.
Guerrero has just four extra-base hits, two homers and two doubles, over his last 32 games. His current slugging percentage is .388 down from last year's .496 and his OPS is down from .841 to .702.
"Yeah, there is (reason to be concerned)," Showalter said. "But, Vladdy we all know, he's not conventional. You...
Orioles manager Buck Showalter talked today about the recent lack of playing time for outfielder Nolan Reimold. He did not play in the series with Cincinnati and had just eight at-bats during the recent nine-game road trip.
"It's been a challenge. We keep hoping that Luke (Scott) can get it going and we went through a period where there were a lot of left-handed pitchers, so it was pretty easy (to play him). We are going through the opposite now," Showalter said. "On my list of things that...
Checking in with some notes on both teams as the Orioles get set to host the St. Louis Cardinals for the first time tonight.
* The Orioles lead the American League with 32 homers in June. They hit nine in the Cincinnati series, and the Orioles have homered 13 times in the last seven games and 27 times in the past 17 contests.
* Orioles starting pitchers have just one quality start over the last 10 games and an ERA of 5.43 in that stretch. The ERA of the O's starters was 7.63 over the weekend...
He has been a lightning rod for criticism this year by fans on talk shows and message boards, but in the end, will Nick Markakis prove his critics wrong?
Will the 27-year-old Orioles outfielder have a big finish to this season and make up for lost time with his stats after a slow start?
Right now, it may be heading that way. Markakis' bat is finally hot and he is hitting .405 during a 16-game hitting streak with four doubles, two homers and 12 RBIs during the streak. He is 9-for-19 over the...
The short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds have gotten their new season off to a terrible start. Since beating Hudson Valley at home on opening night, Aberdeen has lost nine in a row.
If Aberdeen loses at home tonight versus Brooklyn, the 10-game losing streak would tie a team record. It took two seasons to do that before, as the 2004 squad lost its last four and the 2005 team began 0-6.
Aberdeen has struggled to score with just 29 runs and a .221 team average.
Six of the IronBirds nine...
When Orioles president Andy MacPhail and manager Buck Showalter met with season ticket holders at Camden Yards on Saturday afternoon, they were asked a few interesting questions.
Among them, one fan asked if the O's brass uses sabermetrics in sizing up player acquisitions and in their daily preparations.
A simple definition of sabermetrics calls it simply "the statistical analysis of baseball data."
Another defines sabermetrics as the analysis of baseball through objective, empirical...
Nick Markakis came up with three hits in five at bats in Sunday's win over Cincinnati. His average is at its highest point since April 9 and he now has a 16-game hitting streak.
Markakis is batting .405 (30-for-74) during the streak, which is one off his career best. The batting streak has raised his average from .236 to .277.
"I feel like I'm getting there," he said. "Just gotta take it day-by-day and try to continue what I'm doing. Get on base and get big hits when you need...
When he came to bat in the fourth inning today, Orioles third baseman Mark Reynolds had already made two errors, giving him 18 on the year.
He might have wanted to redeem himself and he did by hitting a solo homer 443-feet to left field. But he said he wasn't thinking about trying to turn around his day as he batted against Homer Bailey.
"I can't think that way. I have struggled over there at third base, it's no secret," Reynolds said. "Just gotta stay focused and not carry my at bats...