Rhyne Hughes, who is joining the Orioles in Boston today, reached base via hit or walk in all 14 games that he started for Triple-A Norfolk. Hughes batted .372 (16-43) with two homers and seven RBIs against right-handers, and .250 (2-8) with one homer and four RBIs vs. lefties. You'll like this one: Hughes batted .429 (6-14) with one homer and nine RBIs with runners in scoring position. He'll stick out like a sore thumb in the Orioles' clubhouse. I'm not sure if manager Dave Trembley...

I have always been impressed with professional athletes who go out of their way to give back to the community. Its one thing to have a charitable foundation but it's special when the athletes are out in the community in person especially with events and causes that benefit children. On the Orioles' first day off of the season I spent the evening at the Harford County Boys & Girls club annual fundraising dinner. My wife Bonnie and I were invited to attend and I was asked to emcee the...

Is it a stretch to say that it's been such a tough start for the Orioles that now former O's first-round picks long since forgotten are now helping O's division rivals out of their doldrums? That is exactly what happened with Darnell McDonald and the Boston Red Sox earlier this week. Boston entered Tuesday's game with Texas at 4-9 and with five losses in a row. The Sox trailed 6-2 after five innings. But McDonald, called up from Triple-A earlier in the day, hit a pinch-hit, game-tying,...

We found out that you can trust MySpace, at least when Adam Jones' brother is announcing the latest Gold Glove winners. Can we do the same with Facebook? Here's what Rhyne Hughes posted on his wall: "Got the CALL! Thanking God for this blessing and opportunity! See you in Boston!!" Thirty-nine people "liked" his post and gave it a thumbs up. Make it 40 if I can write about a win tonight. Hughes is batting .375 with five doubles, a triple, three homers and 11 RBIs in 14 games with...

They fall at Fenway: Boston's run against the O's bullpen in the 8th Friday gave the Sox a 4-3 win over the Orioles. The game starts a stretch of 12 straight vs. the Red Sox and Yankees. The Birds fall to 2-15 on the year with four losses in a row. They are 1-7 with two games left on the road trip. The Orioles, who went 2-16 last year vs. Boston, are 1-14 in their last 15 games at Fenway Park. They have lost nine in a row vs. Boston since a win on 7-26-09. Boston is 20-2 vs. the...

If it's the late innings we have come to expect the Orioles bullpen to fail to get the job done this year. It happened again Friday night at Boston. J.D. Drew led off the 8th in a 3-3 tie with a single off Matt Albers. Two ground balls later, he was on third with two outs. Will Ohman came on and walked Victor Martinez and David Ortiz to load the bases. He fell behind Martinez 2-0 and then issued an intentional walk. Jim Johnson came on to face Adrian Beltre and threw strike one. Then...

The O's trailed the Red Sox 2-0 after three frames at Fenway. In the Boston second, David Ortiz, hitting .146 with no homers, hit a homer out to left center on a Jeremy Guthrie 2-1 pitch. Guthrie had retired the first five batters. In the Sox third, Guthrie walked number eight hitter Jeremy Hermida to lead the inning and he reached third before scoring on a J.D Drew sac fly. After throwing just 12 pitches in the first, Guthrie threw 19 in the second and 29 in the third for 60 on the...

While tonight's Red Sox starter, Jon Lester, is 10-0, 2.39 in 12 career starts vs. the Orioles, some Birds in tonight's lineup have good stats vs. Lester. Here is how tonight's lineup fares vs. Lester: Montanez: 1-2 Jones: 5-19 Markakis: 7-35 Tejada: 4-9 Wigginton: 6-13 Wieters: 5-9 Reimold: 3-6 Atkins: 0-0 Izturis: 2-6 If you add that up you get 33 for 99, an average of .333. Maybe the slumping O's can get to Lester tonight. Lester has an ERA of 8.44 on the year and has given...

The Orioles are 3-18 in their last 21 road games and 27-64 on the road since the start of the 2009 season. The Orioles have scored more runs in Brian Matusz's three starts (19) than they have in the 10 combined starts of Jeremy Guthrie (seven runs in three starts), Kevin Millwood (eight runs in four starts) and David Hernandez (three runs in three starts). The Orioles enter the series with Boston with each of their three starters having a lower ERA than the Red Sox pitcher they are facing....

For the Orioles: Lou Montanez LF Adam Jones CF Nick Markakis RF Miguel Tejada 3B Ty Wigginton 2B Matt Wieters C Nolan Reimold DH Garrett Atkins 1B Cesar Izturis SS Jeremy Guthrie RHP For the Red Sox: Marco Scutaro SS JD Drew RF Dustin Pedroia 2B Kevin Youkilis 1B Victor Martinez C David Ortiz DH Adrian Beltre 3B Jeremy Hermida LF Josh Reddick CF Jon Lester LHP Guthrie has faced Matt Garza twice and Justin Duchscherer once in his first three starts, and he'll face Lester tonight and most...