This will be a short update. A club official said Brandon Erbe's shoulder surgery yesterday "went well, better than expected." At this point, I don't have any further update but may have more later today, so check back here. Erbe has not pitched since a July 24th injury-rehab outing with Aberdeen. He was 0-10, 5.73 over 14 starts this year at Triple-A Norfolk. He was the O's third-round pick in 2005.

Brian Roberts 2B Nick Markakis RF Ty Wigginton 1B Luke Scott DH Adam Jones CF Felix Pie LF Matt Wieters C Cesar Izturis SS Josh Bell 3B Brian Matusz LHP

My close friends know that I've been pining for fall for awhile. I'm ready for sweaters, scarves, boots, pumpkin spice lattes and a nice cool breeze at Nationals games. Tonight, I can pretend it's fall by donating notebooks, pencils and pens to the Nationals' fourth annual Back to School Drive. Fans may donate new school supplies at the Center Field Gates from the time gates open through the fourth inning. Backpacks, calculators, composition and spiral notebooks, crayons, glue sticks,...

The Orioles have won three straight series for the first time since June 12-21, 2009 vs. Atlanta, the Mets and Philadelphia. They haven't won four straight since Aug. 3-15, 2004, when they went 3-0 vs Seattle, 4-0 vs Texas, 2-1 at Anaheim and 2-1 at Toronto. The Orioles are batting .302 since Aug. 3, the highest team average in the AL and second in the majors behind St. Louis (.304 in three fewer games). The 54 runs scored since Aug. 3 is tied for second (with the White Sox) behind Minnesota...

O's pitcher Jeremy Guthrie is throwing so well now, that even on a night when he doesn't have his best command, he didn't give up a run. "I didn't have a great feel for any of my pitches and had to battle," Guthrie told reporters after pitching six innings of two-hit, shutout ball in Friday's win over Tampa. You wonder what he might have done if he felt good about how he was throwing? Guthrie continued his great second-half pitching in the win over the Rays and is 4-1, 1.51 over his...

So what's the Orioles' uniform of the day? Maybe all black with an orange cap and cartoon bird. Or go all orange again until they lose. But please, no pillbox caps like the Pirates wore. A victory today would give the Orioles four straight series wins, all since Buck Showalter took over as manager. This would be the first of the group against a division opponent, which happens to lead the American League's wild card race. Don't forget Showalter's quote during the last homestand about...

I sat at the bar at Clyde's in Columbia and felt myself being transported to my childhood. And not because I drank John Dalys from a sippy cup. Those orange jerseys and pants looked familiar. They were bad back in the day and they're bad now, but if the Orioles can get four 20-game winners to pose in them, I'll take back everything I just wrote. I still love the old cartoon bird on the black cap and helmet. No white panel. That works for me. But the orange pants? Brutal. I received a few...

The Nationals needed this one. After five difficult losses, John Lannan and Sean Burnett rode some early offense to a 4-2 victory over Arizona. With the Braves and Phillies waiting on the road, this was exactly what the Nats needed to separate themselves from years past. Friday's win was the 50th of the season for the Nats and now the team is just nine wins away from last year's total of 59. With 47 games remaining, if the Nats can go 25-21, just a little bit above .500 the rest of the...

Despite facing the club with the second-best record in the Majors tonight, the O's good pitching continued and so did the winning. Jeremy Guthrie and two relievers teamed on a three-hitter in a 5-0 blanking of the Rays in St. Petersburg. It's the O's second shutout of the year. The Orioles are now 9-2 since Buck Showalter took over as manager, their best 11-game stretch since April of 2005. Guthrie gave up just two hits over six scoreless frames and one of those was a triple to left...

According to Jim Callis of Baseball America, in a tweet tonight, Orioles third-round pick, UCLA pitcher Dan Klein, got a signing bonus of $499,900. That is more than most of the players taken late in the second round received. According to BA, it is the third highest bonus the O's have handed out so far. Fifth-round pick Conner Narron got $650,000 according to the publication and ninth-round pick, pitcher Parker Bridwell got $625,000. Narron played his first pro game this afternoon in the...