Once again, here are three things from tonight's game that jumped out at me, got me in a headlock and gave me a noogie. 1. The Orioles swung at the first two pitches from Cliff Lee and took a 1-0 lead. Corey Patterson doubled and Miguel Tejada singled. That's it. If you blinked, you missed it. The crowd erupted when Lee's third pitch didn't produce a hit. Talk about a short honeymoon. 2. Cesar Izturis hit a home run, which is about as rare as Mark Hendrickson not meeting the height...

Nationals starter Livan Hernandez faces his former team in the first half finale as the Nats wrap up a 10-game home stand versus Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants. Hernandez is (6-4, 3.12) in 17 starts and has been the Nats most durable pitcher since opening day, hurling 112 and 2/3rds innings. The Giants 2002 opening day starter was impressive in his last few outings. He has struck out 20 batters and walked only three in his last four starts. In two of those games, versus...

Juan Samuel wasn't kidding, apparently, when he said earlier today that his team needed to be aggressive tonight vs. Cliff Lee. Lee has a rep for getting ahead of hitters and the O's are sure swinging early in the count tonight vs. the 2008 AL Cy Young winner. It worked when Corey Patterson led off the game with a double and then, on the very next pitch, Miguel Tejada lined an RBI single to right. Two pitches and a 1-0 lead on Lee, who went 8-3, 2.34 for Seattle and is 4-0, 2.38 in five...

Left-hander Michael Gonzalez took an important step in his eventual return to the Orioles, pitching at Double-A Bowie for the second consecutive night. Gonzalez retired the side in order, striking out one. He also tossed a scoreless inning last night, but he allowed a hit and walked a batter. Gonzalez, replacing starter Rick Zagone in the seventh inning tonight, recorded two outs on fly balls. I'm told that he relied mostly on his breaking ball against the first two hitters, and his fastball...

So how important is winning at the minor league level? You will likely get a similar answer from most people on this question. They say winning is nice, but not if it gets in the way of developing Major League players. Here is Andy MacPhail's take on this topic: "It's preferable but not at the expense of developing players. In other words, you are not going to play a 27-year-old third base filler at A ball if he's standing in the way of a 20-year-old that you think potentially one day...

When it comes to how the Orioles are doing in the minor leagues these days, the general consensus seems to be good - not great, but better than in some past years. The O's farm system has sent several players to the Majors over the past few years, including some like Brian Matusz and Matt Wieters, who were high draft picks that are projected to be All-Star caliber Major Leaguers during their careers. Today, we begin a series of stories here looking at the Orioles and how they are doing at...

I exchanged text messages with Luke Scott earlier tonight, and it sounds like his injured hamstring is improving by the day. Scott has been rehabbing at the minor league complex in Sarasota. He took a "light jog" and hit today without experiencing any discomfort in his left leg. "I'm doing great," he wrote. "No pain. A little fatigue with all the repetition, but that's normal. Feeling good." Scott went on the disabled list retroactive to July 1 after straining his hamstring on a home...

Bring on Cliff Lee: Corey Patterson LF Miguel Tejada 3B Nick Markakis RF Ty Wigginton DH Adam Jones CF Jake Fox 1B Craig Tatum C Julio Lugo 2B Cesar Izturis SS Chris Tillman RHP Here's the Rangers lineup: Elvis Andrus SS Michael Young 3B Ian Kinsler 2B Vladimir Guerrero DH Josh Hamilton LF David Murphy RF Matt Treanor C Chris Davis 1B Julio Borbon CF Cliff Lee LHP

Let's hear it for hour naps! Actually, they leave me groggy and feeling like the day is being wasted, but it's raining here in Ocean Pines, I ate lunch and the game hasn't started. A nap seemed like a good plan, even if the original intention was to close my eyes for a few minutes and listen to Wall to Wall Baseball on MASN. A few minutes. Yeah, right. An hour later, Tom Davis and Dave Johnson were signing off and my mother was flipping through her Sopranos cookbook for that piccata...

Don't look now, but the offensively-challenged Orioles have scored 35 runs over their past six games with a team average of .316 during the stretch. They have scored 13 runs on 25 hits with four homers in the first two games of the series at Texas. Let's see if they can keep that going, or some semblance of it, tonight vs. Cliff Lee. It's been such a tough year for Chris Tillman that even when he gets to return to the O's mound, this time it's to face a former Cy Young winner. Here are...