I was preparing to write an entry about outfielder Lou Montanez reporting to Double-A Bowie today when I received an e-mail from the club's public relations director, Tom Sedlacek, announcing that Montanez and Jim Johnson would report this week. Great minds thinking alike. Montanez (oblique) and Johnson (elbow) are moving their injury rehab assignments from the Gulf Coast League team. Montanez will join the Baysox tonight, and Johnson will arrive tomorrow. Montanez was named the Eastern...

The wins keep coming - seven in the last eight games - and fans keep wondering how much credit should go to the new manager. I don't think it's possible to come up with an exact formula. Would any pie chart - as opposed to a Pie chart - be totally accurate? No matter how you slice it, Buck Showalter has made a positive impact on this organization. There's more energy, more focus. We kept hearing talk of players being held accountable, but perhaps they believe it more when the words come...

If you missed my story yesterday with Jim Callis of Baseball America, he believes very strongly that the Orioles will sign their top draft pick, prep shortstop Manny Machado, by next week's Monday midnight deadline. The Orioles have five players unsigned among players they drafted in the first 15 rounds: Round one pick Manny Machado Round three pick Dan Klein Round six pick Dixon Anderson Round seven pick Matthew Bywater Round 11 pick Alexander Gonzalez The club has not officially announced...

Okay, so he is human. The Marlins scored six runs on Stephen Strasburg in Tuesday's 8-2 win at Nats Park, doubling the most earned runs Strasburg had allowed in nine previous major league starts. Second baseman Dan Uggla got on Strasburg early with a two-run blast in the first inning and then a two-run double in the third. Uggla said Strasburg wasn't in the same groove as the first time he faced him on July 16. "It is his first start back. He was out there, kind of feeling for it a...

I remember when that title conjured up nothing but negative images. But not anymore. Did Buck Showalter spike the Gatorade? I'm running out of ideas. The Orioles are winning games every way imaginable. Low-scoring, high-scoring, tie-breaking, come-from-behind. Tonight, they simply bashed the Indians into submission, erupting for 14 runs in their gaudiest display of the season. Are you sold yet? I don't know how long it's going to last, and I don't care. I'm just going to enjoy...

Nationals left-hander Scott Olsen does not want to talk about the loss to Arizona last week in which he allowed a three-run homer to Mark Reynolds. Olsen says that is in the past and it is time to focus on Florida. After he called the outing "terrible (and) awful", you can understand why he wants to just move on. He has had seven days to prepare for another matchup against his former team and needs the win to get the Nats back in the series. Game Two has Olsen (3-3, 4.12) facing off...

This time, no quality start was necessary. The Orioles hit four homers and scored a season high in runs in a 14-8 romp over Cleveland Tuesday night in game one of a six-game road trip. The Orioles improve to 7-1 under new manager Buck Showalter and are 8-4 over the last 12 games. Jim Hunter talks with Buck Showalter following the O's 14-8 win over the Indians The Birds scored four in the fourth to lead 4-1 only to see Cleveland storm back for a 6-4 lead in the last of the fourth. But the...

Nats pitcher Yunesky Maya is scheduled to pitch two to three innings Friday for the GCL Nationals, according to pitching coordinator Spin Williams. Maya, who pitched for Cuba in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics, threw 30 pitches in two innings earlier and Williams says Maya "has done everything pretty good. His velocity is 88 to 90 MPH and he has two breaking balls and a straight change." If everything goes well on Friday, Maya will have one more game before getting a shot in...

I keep waiting for the Orioles to revert to their previous form, and they keep surprising me. I'm beginning to like this arrangement. Jake Arrieta issues a two-out walk in the third inning, commits a throwing error and surrenders a run-scoring single to Asdrubal Cabrera - the Indians first hit - to fall behind, 1-0. No big deal. The Orioles jumped all over Cleveland starter Justin Masterson in the top of the fourth, scoring four times to take the lead. Three of the runs are unearned...

Nationals pitcher Chien Ming-Wang is making slow progress in his rehabilitation from major shoulder surgery, but there are encouraging signs. Nationals pitching coordinator Spin Williams told me Wang will throw a sideline session in Viera, FL on Friday. "It was major shoulder surgery, similar to the Drew Brees injury, and we are still a long way away. But I am encouraged with the progression I am seeing from him compared to the last time I worked with him. I used to see tension on his face...