Buck Showalter on first half and today's 3-2 loss

Orioles manager Buck Showalter was asked in a joking manner whether he had any roster moves to announce following today's game. He replied that the club already made one or two.

Nice return of serve.

There are no roster moves and there's no more baseball until Friday night in Detroit. The Orioles enter the All-Star break on the decline, losing again today 3-2 to the Nationals before 46,247 at Camden Yards.

They've lost 10 of their last 13 games and will be four back in the division if the Yankees win today. That's not limping into the break, that's crawling on your elbows.

"I try to keep in mind we had four or five guys who were missing that we have back now, whether it be Jonathan (Schoop) or Matt (Wieters) or J.J. (Hardy)," Showalter said. "Adam (Jones) was down for a while, (Kevin) Gausman has been out for a while. I try to stay on the positive side of that, that knock on wood they're going to be there for us where we didn't have them. We had some good people come in and keep us engaged in the competition and we're there. I look at all the answers we're going to need are in our locker room and in our organization. I'm very confident in the people we have.

"You are who you are at every point in the season. The beauty of baseball and the big leagues is you play so many games, there's no Cinderellas, there's no flukes. You are what you are. What you've done in April, you have to be responsible for, good and bad. I think our best baseball is ahead of us. I'm really proud of the support we've gotten the past three days. It's a tough ride home for me personally, but not as tough as for some fans that really went out of the way to support us. It tugs at me."

Showalter doesn't envy football coaches who have to sit on a loss for a week, but his own season is interrupted. The latest loss will stay with him through the break.

"There's a guilt trip around every corner," he said. "I don't want to feel that way. The effort's been great, the want-to's been there. I didn't know what our record was until (someone) told me. I don't get involved in that unless you guys tell me. We're trying to win the next game, and that's in Detroit.

"I want these guys to get as far away from it as they can, take some pride in the way they've competed and knowing that it's still there for them. We don't look at what somebody else is doing or can do until we do things we can do and have done this year to be consistent. A lot of baseball left and we're engaged in the competition and will continue to be."

Wei-Yin Chen lowered his ERA to 2.78 in 110 innings, working through the eighth for the fourth time this season. But his record dropped to 4-5 after he allowed three runs (two earned) in the fourth and the Orioles, besides Adam Jones, were stymied by Max Scherzer.

"He was good," Showalter said. "That was about the only inning. He had some count advantages that he didn't take advantage of. He got some 0-2 counts. Not going to be much margin for error with their pitcher. They told me Adam passed Frank Robinson today. That's pretty impressive.

"Wei-Yin was good. I thought Bud (Norris) was good, too. It was good to get everybody out there the last few days. We've got, obviously, some time off."

Chen has posted five straight quality starts, going 2-1 with a 1.95 ERA and holding opponents to a .203 average. He's 20-5 in his career when working at least seven innings.

"Wei-Yin's been solid for us," Showalter said. "After having him for a while we've got a pretty good idea what works for him and what doesn't. He's really taken to it. He's been solid. I'll tell you something, too, that goes unnoticed is how he is in day games. It kind of tells you a little something about not only conditioning but being ready. He's a guy when you try to move some things around, it always seems to fit in his makeup."

Jones homered off Scherzer in the first and ninth innings to account for the Orioles scoring. They only put one runner in scoring position today and Jones popped up to end the sixth.

Jones is 11-for-22 with three home runs lifetime against Scherzer in the regular season.

"He had some success statistically against (Scherzer)," Showalter said. "You don't ever feel like a guy like him you've figured him out. Guys know. Didn't just quite finish a couple breaking balls and Adam got out there, strong enough, and the ball was carrying pretty good on the second one. The first one he got pretty good. But he didn't make many mistakes. That's for sure.

"He's got so many ways to get you out. He kind of invents different shapes to his breaking ball. He'll two-seam and four-seam a ball. He got bored a little bit, I think, the fourth or fifth inning and broke out the changeup a little bit. But we had three or four balls on the button that we'd like to have had fall in there, but good pitchers seem to have that ... There weren't many, maybe two or three. One of them was foul, so you can't count that one. He didn't present many areas where he really had to go and reach back, so that's why he was able to maintain his stuff for so long."

Jones was asked for his reaction to passing Robinson for eighth place on the Orioles' all-time home run list with 180.

"Frank, any time you do anything and mention his name, that's pretty cool," Jones said. "He did that in six years here. Took me eight. He's a little better (laughs).

"Any time you're in the conversation with him, especially with this rich history the Orioles do have, it's pretty cool."