After Brian Matusz hit Daric Barton in the top of the fifth inning on Tuesday night, the O's Julio Lugo got plunked by Vin Mazzaro leading off the last of the fifth.
Lugo said he didn't object to getting hit, but it was where the ball hit him that got him a bit hot after the play.
"I didn't like that, it was too close to the head. If they want to hit me, hit me below the waist. Don't throw at people's heads. Don't throw high and in.
"It was a crucial run (for us), but you know...
It looks like it's one lefty replacing another at Double-A Bowie.
With Zach Britton moving up to Triple-A Norfolk, lefty Rick Zagone will move up and join the Baysox from Frederick to make Wednesday night's start for Bowie.
Zagone is 5-6, 3.20 on the year with Frederick in 15 starts. He has pitched 78 2/3 innings, allowing 79 hits, including seven homers. He has walked 22 with 54 strikeouts and Carolina League hitters were batting .261 vs. him.
Zagone, a sixth-round draft pick in 2008...
The Orioles are trailing again and look rather listless tonight.
There is time to come back again, but one of these nights, they won't be able to.
According to Elias, the O's are the first Major League team to win four straight games while erasing a deficit of at least three or more runs in each game since Detroit did it in the first four games of its franchise history. That was April 25-28 of 1901. That is 1901.
That was even before blogging and texting.
Tonight the O's trail 2-0 as...
He wasn't with the Oakland A's that long, and then Jake Fox was traded from Oakland to the Orioles just eight days ago.
He was in the starting lineup vs. the A's for a time here yesterday, but then when Dallas Braden was scratched as Oakland starter, the Orioles changed thier lineup and Fox didn't start. He is not in tonight's starting lineup either.
But he will be in the dugout opposite the A's team he feels gave up on him too soon. If he gets in the game, he says it will be a...
In roster news from the minors today, Bowie has activated lefty pitcher Chad Thall from the temporary inactive list. He is 1-0, 4.32 in 12 Baysox games this season with five walks and 14 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings.
The Delmarva Shorebirds have put first baseman Tyler Stampone on the disabled list with a left hand injury and received IF Mike Mooney from the Gulf Coast League.
Stampone was batting .249-0-28 in 59 games and is second on the Delmarva club in RBI.
With Pat Egan and Zach...
If it seems like David Hernandez is getting better with each relief appearance, that may be the case.
Hernandez is 2-1, 2.13 with two saves in 11 relief outings. And, over his last three games, he has pitched no-hit ball over 3 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts.
Sunday, he entered the game with the Nats and blew away Josh Willingham and Roger Bernadina on eighth-inning strikeouts. He threw six pitches at these speeds: 94, 95, 95, 95, 97 and 94.
"I go out there and I don't really feel...
If part of being a pitching prospect is learning to deal with adversity, than the 2010 season is becoming Brandon Erbe's personal classroom.
He and Kevin Millwood have something in common. They both made 14 starts this year without getting a win.
Millwood got the elusive first win in his 15th start. Erbe is not quite sure yet when his 15th start will take place.
A few days after his last start, June 20 vs. Toledo, he felt some right shoulder soreness and went on the disabled last Friday,...
It was a Monday of good news for O's pitching prospect Zach Britton.
First he was named the latest Eastern League pitcher of the week. Then, late Monday night, after a Baysox doubleheader, Britton got the word from O's director of player development John Stockstill that he was being promoted to Triple-A Norfolk.
He will join the Tides on Tuesday in Charlotte and is set to make his first start on Thursday in Norfolk against Charlotte.
"I was just sitting in the stands sweating. John...
Roster move in the minors: Righty Pat Egan, who has had a great year for Double-A Bowie, today moved up to Norfolk to join the Tides roster.
The 25-year-old Egan is 6-1, 2.12 with five saves. Over 46 2/3 innings, he has allowed 29 hits with seven walks to 25 strikeouts. Eastern League batters have hit just .177 vs. Egan. He was drafted in round 36 in 2006 out of Quinnipiac University.
Meanwhile, it has been a trying season for Baltimore native Brandon Erbe.
The right-hander remains...
O's hitting coach Terry Crowley gave a short, but honest answer to the question.
I asked him if he thought Nick Markakis' comments about players needing a better approach at the plate had anything to do with the improved O's offense in recent games.
"Um, probably not," Crowley said.
So what is the difference with the offense in the past week?
"I think they all basically look the same to me. We always have tried to practice patience on balls that are not ones we want to swing at and...
During a weekend when the O's starters pitched to an ERA of 8.16, the performance of the Baltimore bullpen was a real key in the O's three-game sweep of Washington.
Here is the game-by-game rundown:
Friday: 4 2/3IP, 4H, 0R, 0B, 3K
Saturday: 5IP, 1H, 0R, 1B, 2K
Sunday: 3IP, 2H, 0R, 1B, 4K
Totals: 12 2/3IP, 7H, 0R, 2B, 9K.
That is 12 2/3 shutout innings over the last three games. Mark Hendrickson and Jason Berken pitched twice in the series while Alfredo Simon and Will Ohman pitched in...
The Orioles have activated Koji Uehara and to make roster room Garrett Atkins has been designated for assignment, ending his tenure with the club.
Here is what interim manager Juan Samuel said about Atkins removal from the roster.
"The decision was made a few minutes ago to designate Atkins for assignment with Koji coming off the DL and the possibility of Felix Pie and other guys arriving here soon.
"Unfortunately things didn't work out for him here. It was getting kind of tough to get...
The Bowie Baysox have won back-to-back games at first-place Altoona and won Saturday night there by a 5-3 score.
Baysox left fielder Tyler Henson went 3 for 5 with an RBI and continues to kind of quietly have a very solid first full year at Double-A. The 22-year-old, fifth-round pick out of an Oklahoma high school from 2006, is now batting .295-7-36.
Henson is fifth in the league in hits and just outside the top ten in the Eastern League in batting average. He is batting .375 in June and...
Less than 24 hours after winning when trailing the Nationals 6-0, the Orioles beat Washington Saturday afternoon after trailing 5-0 after the top of the fourth.
This time, the O's scored four in the 5th to tie the game 5-5 and pushed across the sixth and go-ahead run when Drew Storen uncorked a wild pitch and Luke Scott scored from third base in the seventh.
The Orioles have won three in a row to tie their season-best streak which they had done two times earlier. They have come from behind...
Adam Jones hit his daily homer today in the last of the fourth.
Okay, he hasn't hit one every day, it just seems that way lately. He hit a 1-2 pitch out to left center to give the O's their first run of the game. His blast traveled 382 feet.
Jones has now hit three homers over his last four games, four in seven games and five over the last 10 contests.
Jones homers, 2010 season:
April & May: 5 HR in 207 at bats
June: 7 in 87 at bats
Of his 12 homers on the year, four have been hit at...
When Brad Bergesen walked the number nine hitter leading off the top of the third, that was not a good start to the inning. An out later, he hit a batter.
Bergesen had to throw 29 pitches as the Nats scored four runs on four hits off him in the third to take a 4-0 lead. Two more Washington runs and the O's will have them right where they want them.
Bergesen is clearly not sharp, nor does he have his usual sink it doesn't look like. He has thrown 65 pitches in the first three...
When reminded today about the 40th anniversary celebration of the 1970 World Series winning Orioles, manager Juan Samuel thought for a second.
"Let's see, in the 70's I was in the Dominican and probably with no TV," he laughed.
He realizes that today provides a link to a glorious past of Orioles baseball and hopes that is not lost on some of the players in his own clubhouse.
"It's nice to see those guys come back. For our players to see those guys and I hope they get a chance to...
After his back began to tighten up late in the game here on Thursday, O's home run leader Ty Wigginton sat out of last night's game and is not in the starting lineup today either.
Wigginton says the injury remains minor and we could see him at some point in today's game.
"It's improving. I should be available to pinch hit if they need me.
"Absolutely (I feel progress from yesterday). It was never to the point where I was overly worried about it."
Interim manager Juan Samuel...
We're talking offense here, folks.
Don't look now, but maybe the Orioles are finally starting to put some together.
After scoring 11 runs in the win over Florida on Thursday, they scored seven in the comeback win last night. The O's output of 18 runs is their most over any two-game stretch of this year.
For the first time all year they have four straight games with ten hits or more.
Over the last two games, the O's are batting .448 (13 for 29) with runners in scoring position.
The...
The Orioles overcame a 6-0 deficit to win 7-6 tonight vs. the Nats.
They scored the winning run on Cristian Guzman's throwing error in the last of the ninth that easily could have and should have been an inning-ending double play.
The O's previous best comeback win was from four runs down on May 13 vs. Seattle. Then, they trailed 5-1 after seven frames, but scored five in the 8th to win 6-5.
Tonight, they were down 6-0 after four and a half innings before scoring three each in the 5th and...