I wanted to pass along another reminder about what you will be reading in this space beginning Monday. I'll present a series of blogs on the Orioles minor league system. We'll take a look at how the O's are doing on the farm, how they develop players, how scouting and player development work together and how the O's make decisions like deciding when to promote a player. For those of you that are diehard fans of the minors, I hope it will add some information for your further enjoyment of...

The Nats offense connected early against Jonathan Sanchez, scoring five runs and sending the Giants starter to the showers in the fourth inning. With a 5-3 lead, the Nats had to like their chances with a normally reliable bullpen waiting for the opportunity to go. But in the fifth and sixth frames, the Nats had opportunities to add to their lead, but were unable to plate another run, leaving four men on base following three hits. In the sixth inning, the toughest outs of the night came at...

Chris Tillman lost his no-hitter with one out in the seventh inning when Ian Kinsler grounded a single into left field. Now we can talk about it. Tillman had allowed one baserunner, walking Elvis Andrus, before Kinsler broke up the no-no. Tillman deserves credit for maintaining his focus and retiring Vladimir Guerrero and Josh Hamilton, protecting a 5-0 lead that was built in part on home runs by Nick Markakis, Cesar Izturis and Adam Jones. With his pitch count at 101, a complete-game...

The Orioles have hit three homers off Cliff Lee tonight at Texas. Lee had allowed just five homers all year over 103 2/3 innings and 13 starts. This is the most homers he has allowed in a single game on the season. Nick Markakis hit a solo shot in the fourth, his sixth of the season and third over his last nine games and second on the year vs. a lefty. Markakis homers in 2010: April through June: 3 homers over 287 at bats. July: 3 homers over 40 at bats. Cesar Izturis hit a solo homer to...

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...