Brian Roberts will play at Bowie tonight for the first time since he played two games there on an injury-rehab assignment in 2006. I will be there to cover his play and get some pre and post-game quotes. Roberts was officially added to the Bowie roster today and is expected to play the whole game tonight. He is also expected to meet with reporters before and after the game, so there should be no shortage of B-Rob info coming your way later. Roberts played five games in the Gulf Coast...

Welcome back for another week of 'Where in the Yard?' here in the Orioles Buzz. With the O's home all week against Tampa Bay and Minnesota, you'll even have the chance to make your way to the Yard to spot this week's image! Though many of you know the drill, if you're joining us for the first time, the 'Where in the Yard?' photo contest goes something like this: Take a look a the photo below and let us know what the item is and where it's located in or around Oriole Park at Camden...

Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann has made very good progress in three rehab starts for the Potomac Nationals as he embarks on another start tonight in Woodbridge. Zimmermann is expected to pitch four innings with a pitch count capped at 65. He has been outstanding in his control and velocity. His fastball has been consistently in the mid-90s (once hitting 96 mph in hot and muggy Frederick). He has had great success in refining the changeup and getting its speed down to 84-86 mph. ...

Josh Bell had his first career multi-hit game yesterday, but that's not all. His ninth-inning single came against Blue Jays left-hander David Purcey. See, he can hit from the right side. I kept insisting yesterday that it would make more sense to option reliever Frank Mata than Bell when Luke Scott comes off the disabled list later today. The bench is short enough with a healthy Corey Patterson. Now that Patterson is expected to miss a few games, the Orioles need Bell on the roster. My...

CINCINNATI, Oh. --- The Nationals arrived here in Cincinnati getting ready to face a Reds team that is feeling a little desperate themselves after falling 1-0 to the Rockies in their series finale Sunday at the Great American Ball Park. Both the Nats and the Reds lost their respective series finales, 1-0. Of course, this has been an amazing season for Cincinnati, who were knocked out of first place in the Central and now are a half-game back of the Cardinals for the top spot. Travis...

O's right-hander Chris Tillman will take the mound at Camden Yards tonight vs. Tampa. We'll see if he can follow up on his excellent outing before the break at Texas where he beat the Rangers and out-dueled Cliff Lee. He took a no-hitter in the seventh and gave up just two hits and a run over 7 1/3. It was his first start after going back to Triple-A for three starts. O's pitching coach Rick Kranitz said this time Tillman returned a more confident pitcher and one that can now rely on...

Interim manager Juan Samuel told reporters after today's game that he's not thinking about optioning left-hander Brian Matusz to the minors. "Not at this point. Not in my mind," he said. Reminded that the Orioles demoted Brad Bergesen and Chris Tillman this season, Samuel replied, "We're not thinking about that right now." He clearly wanted to change the subject. Samuel had an extended chat with Matusz in the second inning before taking the ball from him. "I basically asked him if...

The Orioles are still looking for their first win of the year vs. the Toronto Blue Jays. Yunel Escobar's first homer of the year was a second-inning Grand Slam off Brian Matusz, as the Jays whipped the O's 10-1 Sunday afternoon to complete a three-game sweep. Juan Samuel talks with the media following the Oriole's 10-1 loss to the Blue Jays The Jays are now 9-0 on this season vs. the Orioles and have won three straight series vs. Baltimore for the first time since they won four straight...

The worst part about this game is it started. Brian Matusz gave up six runs in 1 2/3 innings. I omitted the hit batter when passing along his line in my last entry. It wasn't pretty. Felix Pie took another poor route on a fly ball to left, allowing it to bounce on the warning track and over the fence for a ground-rule double. He looked tentative chasing it. He certainly has the speed to run it down. Nick Markakis and Scott Moore couldn't catch up to Vernon Wells' fly ball down the right...

The plans for Michael Gonzalez have changed. He was supposed to pitch today at Triple-A Norfolk, but he'll wait until tomorrow. That appearance will be the last one on his injury rehab assignment. The Orioles originally were going to give him two more outings. The Blue Jays batted around in the second inning against Brian Matusz and have taken a 6-1 lead. Matusz goes 1 2/3 innings in his shortest outing of the season. He served up a grand slam to Yunel Escobar in the second among the five...