Cole Kimball got the call late Friday. He didn't sleep all night and caught an early flight to Washington. At 3:24 p.m., Kimball threw his first major league pitch, a 92 mph fastball for a called strike, against Marlins cleanup hitter Gaby Sanchez. He struck out Sanchez on four pitches. Logan Morrison lined out to second base and Mike Stanton walked. Kimball then got Greg Dobbs to fly out to left. In less than 24 hours, right-hander Kimball went from the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs to...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Brad Bergesen has held the Rays scoreless through three innings, though he's allowed four hits and a few loud outs. Ben Zobrist doubled and Johnny Damon singled in the first, but Evan Longoria grounded into a 5-4-3 double play on the next pitch. B.J. Upton doubled with one out in the second, but Casey Kotchman grounded out on a changeup and Reid Brignac flied to the warning track in center on another changeup. Sam Fuld singled and stole second base with one out in the...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - If second baseman Brian Roberts is going to bust out of his slump, he'll do it from atop the order. No big surprise here. Roberts is the club's leadoff hitter and there aren't many options if manager Buck Showalter wants to lower him. J.J. Hardy would be the likely replacement. Felix Pie has speed, but he doesn't play every day and he doesn't steal bases. It's a moot point. Showalter has dropped Mark Reynolds to ninth and he's willing to make other changes, but...

Right-hander Tanner Roark has been called up from extended spring training to join Double-A Harrisburg Senators. Pitcher Erik Davis has been placed on the disabled list. Davis reportedly tweaked his knee last week and it is not considered a serious injury. Roark was 1-1 with 2.50 ERA in six starts with 33 strikeouts in 2010 with the Senators. The Washington Nationals have also announced that right-hander Ryan Tatusko has been promoted to Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs. Tatusko has gone...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Mark Reynolds is batting ninth again today. Luke Scott returns to left field, and Jake Fox starts behind the plate. For the Orioles: Brian Roberts 2B Nick Markakis RF Derrek Lee 1B Vladimir Guerrero DH Luke Scott LF Adam Jones CF J.J. Hardy SS Jake Fox C Mark Reynolds 3B Brad Bergesen RHP For the Rays: Fuld LF Zobrist 2B Damon DH Longoria 3B Joyce RF Upton CF Kotchman 1B Brignac SS Jaso C Davis RHP

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles have scored in just one of their last 23 innings - two runs total - dating back to the sixth inning of Wednesday's game against Seattle. They're batting .215 (17-for-79) with one extra-base hit and only four batters advancing beyond second base during that span. The pitchers, meanwhile, have posted a 1.95 ERA in those 23 innings. The rotation has recorded four straight quality starts, positing a 1.86 ERA. Brian Roberts is in a 2-for-35 slump, or a...

Right-handed relief pitcher Dan Klein continues to pitch very well on the farm for the Orioles. Klein pitched 2 1/3 scoreless in Double-A Bowie's loss last night and has now pitched 7 1/3 shutout innings in his first four games there since moving from Single-A Frederick. In 11 games between the two teams, Klein is 1-1 with an ERA of 0.78 and .193 average against. In 23 innings, he has allowed just two runs on 16 hits with four walks to 27 strikeouts. He is doing nothing to put to rest talk...

Harmon Killebrew ranks 11th on the all-time home run list with 573 home runs, and, had it not been for at least three injury-plagued seasons, Killebrew would have been among the elite players in the 600-home run club. "I never think about it that way because I was so fortunate to be playing baseball for as long as I did,'' Killebrew said during a spring-training interview in Fort Myers, Fla., his final day in a Minnesota Twins uniform. Killebrew, 74, who started his career with the...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles and Rays have a 4:10 p.m. start today, which means staying in bed a little longer and getting out of the ballpark a little earlier. It's a win-win situation. I'm a huge fan of the late-afternoon games. Wish there were more of them on the schedule. I won't suggest that jobs will be kept or lost based on today's outcome, but Brad Bergesen needs to steer away from the rocks and Jake Fox needs to guide him. Another crash won't do them any favors. Matt...

I have heard some fans say that we all should have expected to see new Orioles' third baseman Mark Reynolds hit for a real low average after he batted .198 last year. However, Reynolds hit .279 in 2007, .239 in 2008 and .260 in 2009. His career batting average coming into this season was .242. He was a career .280 hitter in the minor leagues. Right now, Reynolds is batting .174 with three homers and 15 RBIs. That batting average is 68 points under his career number. Plus, his power outage...