Adam Jones hit his ninth home run tonight, a two-run shot into the second deck that gave the Orioles a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning. Kevin Millwood has blanked the Padres since that infuriating first inning. He's thrown 86 pitches through the fifth. Down on the farm, Nolan Reimold went 2-for-4 with a double, walk and run scored in Triple-A Norfolk's 10-3 win over Toledo. Reimold's average is up to .217. Looks like he's heating up. Jeff Salazar homered twice and drove in four runs. Paco...

The four starting pitchers tonight at the O's full-season affiliates combined to give up just one earned run and pitch to an ERA of 0.38 this evening. Here is the rundown: Norfolk's Troy Patton: 5IP, 6H, 3R, 1ER Bowie's Zach Britton: 6IP, 2H, 0R Frederick's Ryan Berry: 5IP, 2H, 0R Delmarva's Kenny Moreland: 8IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER That is 1 ER and 12 hits over 24 innings for the four. Patton has now pitched to an ERA of just 1.84 over his last five starts, lowering his ERA for the year...

Well, you knew San Diego would score after the Orioles botched that rundown between second and third in the last of the first. Cesar Izturis was chasing the runner toward third base and just needed to keep running at him and there likely would have been two runners at third and an easy third out. But he made a throw he didn't need to make and a return throw was too late and the O's botched a basic rundown. Jim Palmer and Eddie Murray sounded amazed and stunned in the booth. Nick Markakis...

Let's start with the good: The Orioles scored a run for Kevin Millwood in the first inning after Julio Lugo reached on Jerry Hairston's throwing error, stole third base and raced home on Nick Markakis' fly ball. Interim manager Juan Samuel told reporters that outfielder Felix Pie, rehabbing a torn muscle in his back, will begin an injury rehab assignment in the minors on Tuesday. Double-A Bowie left-hander Zach Britton shut out Harrisburg on two hits over six innings. Triple-A Norfolk...

For the Orioles: 2B Julio Lugo 3B Miguel Tejada RF Nick Markakis 1B Ty Wigginton LF Luke Scott CF Adam Jones C Matt Wieters SS Cesar Izturis RHP Kevin Millwood For the Padres: 2B David Eckstein 3B Chase Headley 1B Adrian Gonzalez LF Scott Hairston C Yorvit Torrealba RF Will Venable SS Jerry Hairston Jr. CF Tony Gwynn Jr. LHP Clayton Richard Richard has allowed more than three runs only once this season - May 28 vs. the Nationals. He's gone six or more innings in his last seven games,...

Delmarva and Frederick play games today and tomorrow and that will end their respective first halves and bring those two clubs to their All-Star breaks. Delmarva is playing well and takes a five-game win streak into tonight's home game vs. Lexington. The Shorebirds have allowed just nine runs during their season-high win streak. Delmarva has now won eight in a row at Perdue Stadium, its longest home win streak since taking ten in a row there in July and August of 2005. Kieron Pope...

The question comes up every fifth or sixth day: Will Kevin Millwood finally get his first win? He won't bring much momentum into his latest attempt. We know about the lack of run support. He's received 44 in 14 starts, and the Orioles have scored just 24 while he was in those games. They've totaled 17 in his last 11 outings while he's been on the mound. But Millwood isn't in the midst of the longest losing streak of his career, eight games, simply because the offense keeps bailing on...

Nolan Reimold has hit safely in four of his last five games with Triple-A Norfolk, batting .389 (7-for-18) with three RBIs. His average is up to .206. Maybe it's been a good idea to drop the first base experiment for a while. Stop filling his plate, and he'll have better results when he steps up to it. Guess who leads the Tides in RBIs (16), hits (21), doubles (six) and runs scored (11) this month? Hint: It's the same player who ranks second among all Orioles minor leaguers with 41 RBIs...

The latest Orioles draft pick to agree to terms is fourth-round pick Trent Mummey, a lefty hitting outfielder from Auburn that was taken with the 118th overall selection. Mummey is expected to take his physical in Baltimore on Monday and, if all goes well there as expected, he will then officially sign and soon after join the Aberdeen IronBirds. A Baltimore Sun report said Mummey was signed to a $252,000 bonus. "It was a slot signing," O's scouting director Joe Jordan said. "We feel...

When I hear the term "two-strike approach" I think of a batter and how they want to protect the plate and swing at anything close when the count is 0 and 2. But maybe O's pitchers need a better "two-strike approach." The stats say the O's hurlers are among the worst in AL when the count is 0-2. Worst batting average against, 0-2 count: .227 - Oakland .205 - Orioles .204 - Minnesota Only Oakland gives up a higher batting average this year on an 0-2 pitch than the O's. The Yankees...