One critical component of a winning baseball team is accountability in the clubhouse by the players themselves. Veteran teams have leaders that lead by example. Small problems are solved before they become major fissures. The players in the clubhouse police themselves. When one player is not doing something on the field he should be doing, a veteran goes to him and fixes the problem. Sometimes when it comes from a teammate instead of a higher figure in the organization, like the...

For the Orioles: 2B Brian Roberts RF Nick Markakis 1B Ty Wigginton DH Luke Scott LF Felix Pie CF Adam Jones C Matt Wieters 3B Robert Andino SS Cesar Izturis RHP Rick Vandenhurk For the Blue Jays: LF Travis Snider 2B Aaron Hill RF Jose Bautista CF Vernon Wells 1B Lyle Overbay C John Buck DH Adam Lind 3B Edwin Encarnacion SS John McDonald RHP Shaun Marcum

For Brandon Snyder, the path to the Major Leagues has not been an easy or smooth ride. He dealt with a position move to catcher and injuries early in his minor league career. Then the last two years he has been unable to put up consistent numbers at Triple-A. Despite all that, the Orioles have seen other times in the minors when Snyder showed a solid bat and consistent gap-to-gap power. The drive and passion for the game, "want to" as Buck Showalter calls it, has always been there from...

The Toronto Blue Jays have hit 241 home runs. Much to my surprise, I just discovered that they haven't all come against the Orioles. Lyle Overbay hit No. 4 today for Toronto leading off the bottom of the 11th inning. He fell behind, 0-1, against left-hander Mark Hendrickson and ended the game on the next pitch. Koji Uehara cruised through the 10th inning on only 12 pitches, but manager Buck Showalter called upon Hendrickson for the lefty vs. lefty matchup. It didn't last long. Plenty of...

For the second day in a row, the Toronto Blue Jays used the home run ball to beat the Orioles. Lyle Overbay led off the last of the 11th and hit an 0-1 pitch from Mark Hendrickson over the right field wall for a 5-4, walk-off win. That was the Jays fourth homer of the game and seventh of this series. The Jays have hit a Major League-leading 241 on the season. The Orioles have now lost three in a row and are 0-8 on the year at Rogers Centre. They have lost 13 straight and 22 of their last...

The Orioles gave the Blue Jays a taste of their own medicine in the top of the seventh inning. Ty Wigginton lined a home run to left field with one out and nobody on base to break a 3-3 tie. He's homered twice on this road trip, increasing his season total to 22. The Orioles wasted 16 hits last night, stranding 14 runners in the process. They've stranded eight today and twice left the bases loaded, failing to take full advantage of the generosity of Toronto's pitchers. Jeremy Guthrie gave...

You probably could guess that one reason the Orioles are just 3-13 on the year vs. Toronto is all the homers the Blue Jays hit vs. O's pitching. Through Friday, Toronto has out-homered the Orioles 30-7. But, also consider the fact that Toronto's team ERA is 2.51 vs. the O's. In fact, the Orioles score fewer runs per game vs. the Jays this year than any other AL East staff. O's runs per game and OPS vs. AL East teams: *Boston: 4.6 and .729 *New York: 3.1 and .660 *Tampa: 4.1 and...

Brandon Snyder has collected his second RBI double in two games, lining a ball over the head of Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Travis Snider in the top of the second inning to score Adam Jones and give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. Snyder is getting a look in back-to-back games because the Blue Jays started left-handers Brett Cecil and Ricky Romero. He needs to take advantage of any opportunity. Manager Buck Showalter was asked before the game about the Orioles' need to add more power to their...

For the Orioles: 2B Brian Roberts DH Julio Lugo RF Nick Markakis 3B Ty Wigginton CF Adam Jones C Jake Fox LF Nolan Reimold 1B Brandon Snyder SS Cesar Izturis RHP Jeremy Guthrie For the Blue Jays: LF Travis Snider SS Yunel Escobar RF Jose Bautista CF Vernon Wells 1B Lyle Overbay 2B Aaron Hill DH Adam Lind 3B Edwin Encarnacion C Jose Molina LHP Ricky Romero I'm told that Matt Wieters is fine physically, so his exclusion from the lineup the past two games isn't for health-related...

Jeremy Guthrie needs to play the role of stopper today and end this losing streak at two games. I guess two games constitute a streak. Guthrie is 7-4 with a 2.92 ERA over his last 11 starts dating back to July 23. Only three other pitchers have won more games since that date: Roy Halladay (10), Ervin Santana (nine) and Trevor Cahill (eight). Guthrie has won his last two road starts - his first back-to-back road victories this year - and hasn't allowed an earned run spanning 15 1/3 innings....