The Orioles won their, season-high, fourth game in a row today with a 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals. What made this sweep so great was that all three games were come-from-behind victories. The Orioles overcame 6-0, 5-0 and 3-0 deficits to win each game by one run in the late innings.

Today the Orioles were again aided by the Nats' major-league-worst defense. Adam Kennedy attempted an ill-advised attempt at a double play in the fifth inning which would lead to Matt Wieters to cross the plate and score the tying run. The Orioles were no aces on the the field themselves today. No errors were charged but Adam Jones got eaten-up by a hooking line drive hit right at him in the third inning. The misplay would allow Washington left-fielder Josh Willingham an RBI triple. Willingham would later score on Roger Bernadina's two-run shot off of Jeremy Guthrie.

Guthrie had another solid, if unremarkable, outing. Guts went six innings giving up three runs, keeping the Orioles in the game and never letting things get out of hand. The Oroles bullpen took care of the rest with three innings of scoreless, drama-free ball. The Birds' pen had a fantastic weekend playing pitching 12 innings and not giving up a single run.

Jones redeemed himself with an RBI double during the Orioles fifth inning rally. After a Wieters single Jones would score on a Scott Moore RBI single.

The Orioles' big heroes of the day were Miguel Tejada who roped a two-out single to score the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth and David Hernandez for his work in the top of the inning. Hernandez came into the game with one out and two on relieving Will Ohman and David responded in one of the most impressive displays I have seen this year. David threw six pitches, and got two stirke-outs to end the inning. Hernandez blew six fastballs past Josh Willingham and Roger Bernadina to put an exclamation point on a great weekend for the pen.

Tejada's RBI single did more than just uplift the Orioles, he picked up Julio Lugo who once again was unable to, stay out of trouble on the basepaths. With one out Lugo ripped a double into the outfield. Representing the go-ahead run with Corey Patterson up he inexplicably broke for third base. But then stopped in no-man's land and was thrown out easily back at second. Thankfully Corey Patterson laced a double down the right field line and Tejada singled to score the eventual game-winner.

Lugo's play was just one of the most boneheaded things I have ever seen. He is a veteran, he should know better and if this team is going to get better then it's veteran players need to perform at much higher levels than that.

Speaking of which...

Garrett Atkins has been designated for assignment. Atkins was an experiment gone horribly awry for everyone involved and he had been little more than a warm body on the bench and the roster for the last month. The move makes room for the latest return of Koji Uehara and will only leave us to ponder who will be cut when Felix Pie returns to the team in the next week or so. My initial nominee is, well, Julio Lugo.

Scott Moore and Ty Wigginton can take over the first and second base positions for the time-being and they are showing ten-times the batting ability of Lugo who has looked disinterested since he got here.

It was a great weekend of Orioles baseball. Wait a minute, did I just type that? Great weekend? It is so important that the Orioles keep up this momentum and rattle off another couple of wins before heading out on the last road-trip of the first half that will take them through Boston, Detroit and Texas. Jones is hitting again, Scott is hitting, Markakis is hitting, Wieters is showing signs of life, the bullpen has been great; good things are happening right now for this team. Finishing a disastrous first half on a strong note would be fantastic.

It was another go-around in the annual ‘Battle of the Beltways’ interleague series; however, on Friday both the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals would play game that would be remembered for a while by their respective fan bases in a crazy, thrilling 3-hour, 53 minute marathon with 43,484 in attendance.

Only one team would win and in the end, the defense of the Nationals would undo a thrilling game and the Baltimore Orioles would come back from six runs down and earn a 7-6 victory in the bottom of the ninth inning as Jake Fox scored the winning run.

Errors – four in total – doomed the Nationals and the final one was fatal on the night.

With the game tied at six with one out in the ninth inning, Baltimore had runners at first and second base. Julio Lugo – who played second base for the Orioles on the evening – grounded out to shortstop Ian Desmond, who then flipped the ball to Cristian Guzman to start the double play hopefully end the frame.

Guzman’s throw to short would end up short to first base and the ball would sneak under first baseman Adam Dunn’s glove for a devastating error. That would allow Fox to score and send Baltimore (by far the worst team in baseball) to only their 21^st win in 73 games.

Perhaps Washington manager Jim Riggleman did Baltimore a favor by leaving reliever Tyler Clippard in the game way too long.

He came into the game to start off the eighth inning and immediately walked Matt Wieters – the leadoff hitter. Moments later, pinch-hitter Scott Moore would absolutely crush a Clippard offering and send it over the wall in right field to bring Baltimore within one of the lead, 6-5.

Instead of yanking Clippard and bringing in another pitcher, Riggleman decided to stay with him and things would only get worse. Hewould give up a one-out double to light-hitting shortstop Cesar Izturis and then would allow the Orioles to tie the game off a Corey Patterson RBI-single.

Amazing. In the end, the Orioles had absolutely no business even winning that game on Friday.

Jake Arrieta was not good on the night, as he only lasted and gave up six runs - five earned. He's definitely hit a rough after taking care of the Yankees and Giants in his first two major league starts. The Nationals got the Orioles in the first five innings, but after that, the bullpen would keep them at bay.

In other news, perhaps the most disliked player in Baltimore (the boo birds were out for him), Garrett Atkins will probably be in town for a little longer. The team sent Lou Montanez to the DL, and with Felix Pie still rehabbing, Atkins still has a spot and may play some with Ty Wigginton also ailing (back issues).

Finally, the Orioles this afternoon will celebrate the 1970 World Championship team by holding a pre-game ceremony before today's game against Washington. It will be cool to see the two teams don the old uniforms from that year (the Nationals will wear Senators jerseys despite they being the Expos back then).

The Orioles WON! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! But more importantly, I was there! My first live win of the season, Ugh, I swear it feels as though a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It was a great night all around. Adam Jones continued his turn-around with a 3-5 night including a homerun, and two RBI. Miguel Tejada was the star of the evening with a 4-hit 4RBI night including a three-run homer as the Orioles cruised to a 11-5 win over the Marlins.

People have been riding Jones all year, with reason, but i think it is absolutely great to see how he has turned things around so far. His batting average is up over .270 for the first time since April, his OPS is up over 700 and he is driving the ball. Yes, Adam still needs to work the count more and walk more often and his OBP is still absurdly low, but I think that will come with time. Right now I just want to sit back and watch Adam continue this nice streak, and hope it continues for another month or so.

In the shadow of this win however is a very interesting development. This afternoon Orioles outfielder Nick Markakis and owner Peter Angelos met in a Little Italy cafe and had a discussion about the direction of the team. Nick asked for the meeting and Peter obliged.

According to the Baltimore Sun the meeting went remarkably well and all parties seemed more than pleased:

"I wanted to give him my input and tell him the things I thought we lacked and needed, and what we needed to change," Markakis said. "He's completely open to anything. He was listening, and he was a lot easier to talk to than I anticipated. You know me, sometimes you’ll have a better conversation with the wall than talking to me. But it went a lot better and it was a lot smoother than I thought it was going to go. If I can strike up a conversation and talk to a guy like him who owns the team, I think it is a good situation."

A couple things about this:

1) It is fantastic to see Nick Markakis stepping up into the leadership role. I like that he is becoming more vocal as he becomes more comfortable with the team and his role in the game. The Orioles need a leader like this, they need someone to be a captain. Nick should be that guy.

2) It is equally fantastic to see Peter Angelos being so receptive and open to meeting with his players as such. Of course it would be stupid not to meet with him and at least hear him out but I do like the idea that the budding team captain is getting in nice with the owner. I know it is never fashionable to praise Peter Angelos but he deserves some kudos here.

All in all, today was a good day in Birdland. I know it is impossible to get excited about a team that just won its 20th game - in July, but lets be happy for at least one night shall we?

One last thing: Big shout to the young lady wearing one of our fantastic shirts in the upper deck tonight. Thanks for reading and thanks for still believing.

The Orioles last night continued their slide as they dropped their third straight game, losing to the Marlins, 7-5.

They are now an incredulous 19-52 on the season and 25.5 games back. It’s not even July yet and they are that far back in the divisional race (not that it matters).

Matusz took the loss on Wednesday night as got battered around a bit during points in the game. Again, the Orioles took an early lead (much like in Sunday’s game against San Diego), but their offense could not build on it, nor could their pitcher even hold it.

Florida pitcher Ricky Nolasco was not all that great either, but he got the win. Leo Nunez got the save.

Baltimore took a 4-0 lead in the second inning thanks to homers by Luke Scott and Adam Jones; however, the Marlins to used to long ball to tie the game at 4 in the third inning. Florida broke the tie in the sixth as they got doubles from Ronny Paulino and Chris Coughlan and that sent Matusz to the showers.

The Orioles scored again in the eighth off a Patterson RBI-infield-single; however, the Marlins finished off the game in the 9^th as they got an insurance run off a shaky Alfredo Simon.

The moment that irked me throughout the evening was in the eighth inning. With the Orioles down by two, Matt Wieters … bunts. Why? I know it’s situational baseball strategy, but I would not picture him bunting and furthermore, his attempt at it was poor.

Who knows if the O’s could have rallied if Wieters got on, but the play (probably conjured up by Samuel) was not a smart one in my opinion.

With the season now beyond repair, the managerial situation perhaps may be the most interesting side story taking place.

Bobby Valentine didn’t surprise anyone with turning down the Orioles job this week (um, does anyone seriously not doubt he has the Marlins on his mind), while the team met up with Showalter yesterday and will interview Wedge a second time.

Plus, Rick Dempsey is going to get an interview (a lot fans like he’s getting the chance, while many *really* don’t). While I think he’s got a lot of fire, love for the organization and his own ideas how to fix things, I’d prefer someone with experience and team building.

Right now, Showalter would be the best fit for the Orioles.

Went out to the Yard last night since I was in the Columbia area doing business and wanted to see the Marlins for a bit last night. The Orioles lost their 51st game of the year last night, 10-4, to the Florida Marlins.

Jeremy Guthrie was shaky at times during his outing and took the loss - his ninth of the season. The Marlins did their damage in the fourth and in the last third of the game, where they touched up the Oriole bullpen for another six runs.

The underacheiving, but young and talented Marlins team beat up the Orioles and several players - star Hanley Ramirez, rookie Mike Stanton, Gaby Sanchez and Wes Helms - all had productive nights at the plate. Plus, every Marlin starter had a hit.

Matt Wieters had a big three run homer in the second inning to bring Baltimore within one of the lead, 4-3; however, they would not do much else. The Orioles' newest addition, Jake Fox, made his debut in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter.

At this point, the addition of Fox is a nice insurance policy in case Wigginton gets dealt and also gives much more depth on the team. Fox can play the corner outfield positions, corner infield positions, and also go behind the plate as a catcher.

Furthermore, he's a former Cub ... and MacPhail seems to like his former North Side Chicago picks.

I love this line from Dan Connolly from yesterday's Baltimore Sun's Oriole Insider blog about the Fox deal along with Andy MacPhail's love for his former picks from Chicago:

"I've always said that one of the best ways to build a winner is to emulate another legendary success story, you know, like the Cubs."

Ouch. There's nothing more than needs to be said.

Finally, the Orioles may be spared of drama for one day in the region.

For some bizarre reason - aside from the team record-wise at 34-36 - the Marlins decided to make a personnel change on the field. 

This morning, they have fired manager Fredi Gonzalez, bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley, despite having won 87 games last season!

According to ESPN, Triple-A manager (New Orleans) Edwin Rodriguez had been named interim manager, with Brandon Hyde and John Mallee the interim bench and hitting coaches

Does team owner Jeffrey Loria have some sort of temper, or does he really think that the franchise (with it's low payroll) should be that much better?

Seriously, and we all thought the Orioles might be a symbol of some alleged dysfunction...

Somehow, I don't think Fredi Gonzalez should feel too bad.

I'm sure the Braves may be calling (he was a part of their organization for years and manager Bobby Cox is retiring after the season), or heck, he can interview for the open spot in Baltimore!

The Orioles made a trade today, in an attempt to add some depth to their infield the Birds acquired Jake Fox from the Oakland Athletics for minor league pitcher Ross Wolf. Fox is a utility guy mostly, but this pretty much spells the end for Garrett Atkins. I would look for Fox to start taking reps at second and short with Wigginton taking most of the starts at first.

Fox made a pinch hitting appearance in the seventh inning of tonight's loss ot the Marlins. He hit a deep fly ball that was just a couple feet short of a three-run homerun. I swear it was the most applause I have heard for a fly out. The Orioles' latest loss followed the same script as many others; Guthrie was good, but not great, the offense sputtered but kept it a little interesting and as always the Orioles were unable to get a key hit when needed.

Same as it ever was.

The Orioles also announced that former shortstop Mike Bordick is currently with the team and will be assisting in infield drills before home games. Bringing Bordick on during this Spring was one of the better moves this team has made in the last couple of years and I am sure that this is just Bordick's first step before coaching in the bigs.

All of these moves are nothing more than band-aids on a bullet wound. Hell, they are those moves are like using the tiny-little band-aids that are always felt over in the box because they are too small for anything on Peter Weller in the opening scene to "Robocop".

The Orioles just lost their 51st game. We haven't finished All-Star voting yet.

Jake Arrieta on Sunday could not find the magic that led him to win his first two major starts, and in the end, the Orioles lost their 50^th game in 69 chances at the hands of the San Diego Padres, 9-4.

The Padres started off the game on a slippery note, allowing four un-earned runs allowing the Orioles to take a 4-0 lead in the opening frame; however, even an early head start could not help Arrieta.

At the end of the day, Arrieta – who beat the Yankees and Giants in succession – only lasted three innings and gave up six runs.

The weekend out in beautiful San Diego was yet another painful experience as the Orioles had a chance for a rare series victory, but they absolutely blew a nice cushion. By the third inning on Sunday, the Orioles were out of the game and seemingly had no chance against Jon Garland – who won his seventh game of the season, despite his team’s disastrous start.

Crazy enough, after the first inning, the Orioles looked like a completely different team, only mustering two hits the rest of game and unable to produce any offense whatsoever.

If there’s any positive news to take from Sunday for Baltimore, Matt Wieters may have started to finally show some life in June as he ripped a three-run double in the first inning. In addition, Adam Jones went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

AMAZINGLY, Baltimore has not won a road series all season.

On Saturday, Kevin Millwood won his first game as the Orioles barely won as Alfredo Simon saved in the game in an extremely shaky ninth inning. As mentioned earlier, Adam Jones – who is finally starting to come around this season – ripped a two-run homer to help out the offense.

The Orioles will return home this week for a nine-game homestand as they will face off against the Marlins, Nationals and the Athletics.

Moving on…

The Baltimore Sun this weekend reports that Buck Showalter will be in town Wednesday to interview for the managerial position and Eric Wedge will chat with the team for a second time as well.

What does this all mean? Obviously, the Orioles want someone with experience and Juan Samuel may be a short timer in Baltimore. I’d think Samuel may be the manager at least until the remainder of the All-Star break, but I’d expect the organization to move on thereafter and clean house for sure at the end of the season.

Also, it looks like the Orioles may want to make a change sooner rather than later.

Finally, despite some very embarrassing attendance totals for a few games at Camden Yards this season, people are watching the Orioles on MASN – at higher levels than ever. This weekend on his blog with ESPN Buster Olney said this when the topic of the team’s TV ratings were brought up and the fanbase:

“This is a great fan base just waiting to be inspired. So when you turn on the TV and you see the empty seats at Camden Yards, you know those seats will be filled whenever the team starts to competing again.”

So true. If you hear the chatter on sports talk radio, the blogs, websites and all – people still care and definitely follow the team, they just want a winner on the field. Then again, a lot of fans are just staying at home too.

The 2010 Orioles may be sorry, but the loyalty among the fanbase is still there...