Florida Marlins

Streaking Orioles 7:10 p.m. [MASN2] Can the Orioles make it six victories in a row when they travel to Miami to face the Florida Marlins? It would be the team's longest winning streak of the season.

FoxSports has reported in a tweet that free-agent pitcher Mark Buehrle has agreed to terms with the Florida Marlins on a four-year, $58 million deal. If so, this becomes a disappointing day for the Washington Nationals, who were hoping to beef up their starting rotation with the former Chicago White Sox starter. The Marlins had put it on the street earlier in the day at the winter meetings that they had offers out to both Buehrle and C.J. Wilson, and would sign the first pitcher to accept.

The Orioles today announced that they have declined to tender a contract offer to outfielder Eric Byrnes, allowing him to become a free agent. Byrnes was acquired from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for OF Larry Bigbie on July 29. He hit .192 with 3 homers and 11 RBI in 52 games for the Orioles and combined to bat .226 in 126 games between the Oakland A's, Rockies and Orioles last season. After hitting safely in his first 11 games with the Orioles, he batted .137 over his final 41 games of the season, including an .073 average over the final month.

When Orioles right-hander Kevin Millwood threw quality start after quality start earlier this season, only to get handed no-decisions and losses because of a lackluster offense, he didn't complain, didn't point fingers. On Thursday, it was payback time for Millwood, who survived five shaky innings in an 11-5 Orioles win that ended an 11-game losing streak to the Florida Marlins. An offense that had scored just 33 runs in Millwood's first 12 starts has scored 27 for him in his past four outings, the past two of which have resulted in Millwood's only victories of the season.

Orioles spring schedule Date Opponent Site Time March 3 Florida Marlins Jupiter, Fla. 1:05 p.m. March 4 Florida Marlins Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 1:05 p.m. March 5 Washington Nationals Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 1:05 p.m. March 6 Los Angeles Dodgers Vero Beach, Fla. 1:05 p.m. March 7 Florida Marlins Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 1:05 p.m. March 8 New York Mets Port St. Lucie, Fla. 1:10 p.m. March 9 Minnesota Twins Fort Myers, Fla. 1:05 p.m. March 10 New York...

The Orioles will open their 2004 spring training schedule on March 4 against the World Series champion Florida Marlins in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. at 1:05 p.m. The Orioles will play 14 games at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, their spring base for the ninth season. Baltimore will play its first night game at Fort Lauderdale Stadium in two seasons against Florida on March 27 at 7:05 p.m. The Orioles will conclude spring training on April 3 with a game against the Cincinnati Reds in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Orioles scored three times in the sixth inning to take their first lead and defeat the Florida Marlins, 8-4, in their exhibition opener yesterday at Roger Dean Stadium. Brian Roberts singled to break a 4-4 tie, and an error allowed Chris Gomez to score. Melvin Mora's sacrifice fly increased the lead to 7-4. Trying to win a spot in the back end of the rotation, Orioles left-hander Matt Riley allowed three runs and three hits in two innings. He also walked three and threw 53 pitches - 29 for strikes.

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Orioles packed their bags and headed north after yesterday's 7-2 victory over the Florida Marlins in their Grapefruit League finale, with just as many questions as they had when they arrived in Florida. The past six weeks have settled none of the position battles and eased few of Sam Perlozzo's concerns. Three days before his team's opener against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the manager still doesn't know the identify of his center fielder or left fielder. More orioles Anna Benson, claiming marriage is "irretrievably broken," files for divorce from pitcher Kris Benson.

The Orioles open their exhibition schedule today against the Florida Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., which - incidentally - is the only spring training city in Florida or Arizona named after another member of our solar system. This has not always been so. The Milwaukee Brewers used to train in Sun City, Ariz., before moving to a new site in nearby Chandler during the 1980s. The Washington Nationals train on Florida's Space Coast, not far from Cape Canaveral, though I don't believe there is a celestial body named Viera, unless you count the host of the Today show.

It was an agonizing decision. The Orioles had two split-squad games yesterday, one at Fort Lauderdale Stadium against the New York Mets and one in Jupiter against the Florida Marlins. What's a dedicated sports journalist supposed to do? I could stay in the spring break capital of the world and get ready for a night of St. Patrick's Day revelry, or drive an hour to watch the Marlins for about the 24th time this spring. I chose the road less traveled and went from the Orioles' home game to a local sports bar to watch Maryland play Butler in the NCAA tournament.

A night after overcoming a three-run deficit to beat the Florida Marlins, the Orioles dug themselves out of a six-run hole against the Washington Nationals and then got a little help to score the winning run. Second baseman Cristian Guzman's throwing error in the ninth inning on Julio Lugo's potential inning-ending double-play ball allowed Jake Fox to score from second and the Orioles to celebrate a 7-6 victory last night at Camden Yards....

Brian Matusz, or any of the other Orioles starters for that matter, hasn't gotten much experience this season protecting any lead, never mind a four-run bulge. So perhaps it shouldn't have been a total surprise that Matusz looked completely uncomfortable in such a situation Wednesday night after the Orioles had one of their best offensive innings of the season. Matusz managed to get just one out before squandering the four-run advantage in the third inning and then allowed the go-ahead run in the seventh as the woeful Orioles lost again, dropping a 7-5 decision to the Florida Marlins in front of an announced 13,720 at sultry Camden Yards.

All the excitement the Orioles generated in their first game back home lasted about as long as Matt Wieters' seemingly harmless fly ball in the second inning hung in the air before carrying into the left-field seats. Aside from Wieters' three-run home run off Anibal Sanchez, the Orioles did very little right in their 10-4 loss to the Florida Marlins on Tuesday night before an announced 14,821 at sleepy Camden Yards. Jeremy Guthrie had one of his worst starts of the season, putting his team into a four-run hole in the second inning and allowing six earned runs in the game.

There are times when Jeremy Guthrie makes you crazy. He's clearly a very talented pitcher and a very intelligent guy. He's also a young man who seems as though he's in a constant struggle to figure himself out, so that's probably a fool's errand for anybody else. Let's just leave it at this. Guthrie pitched much better Tuesday than in Tampa against the New York Yankees or in Dunedin against the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately, that's not saying much, but this is the time of year when a little progress goes a long way. "I think it was a little better," Guthrie said after pitching five innings in Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Florida Marlins.

Orioles manager Dave Trembley likes to talk about the "dogfight" going on for roster spots in the bullpen, but it wasn't apparent after Jeremy Guthrie left the mound in Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Florida Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium. Cla Meredith and Matt Albers, two of the middle relief candidates who have been the most effective throughout the exhibition season, struggled in their one-inning appearances. Meredith had not allowed a run in his first seven appearances and had allowed just two hits in six innings, but he allowed two runs on two hits and a hit batsman in the sixth inning.

There are times when Jeremy Guthrie makes you crazy. He's clearly a very talented pitcher and a very intelligent guy. He's also a young man who seems as if he's in a constant struggle to figure himself out, so that's probably a fool's errand for anybody else. Let's just leave it at this. Guthrie pitched much better on Tuesday than he did in Tampa against the Yankees or in Dunedin against the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately, that's not saying all that much, but this is the time of year when a little progress goes a long way. "I think it was a little better," Guthrie said after pitching five innings in Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Florida Marlins.

FoxSports has reported in a tweet that free-agent pitcher Mark Buehrle has agreed to terms with the Florida Marlins on a four-year, $58 million deal. If so, this becomes a disappointing day for the Washington Nationals, who were hoping to beef up their starting rotation with the former Chicago White Sox starter. The Marlins had put it on the street earlier in the day at the winter meetings that they had offers out to both Buehrle and C.J. Wilson, and would sign the first pitcher to accept.

BaseballCalifornia Angels -- Placed P Jeff Schwarz on the 25-man roster. Designated P Scott Lewis for assignment.Detroit Tigers -- Activated OF Milt Cuyler off a rehabilitation assignment. Optioned OF Ricardo Ingram to Triple-A Toledo.Florida Marlins -- Recalled OF Darrell Whitmore from Triple-A Edmonton. Placed OF Carl Everett on the 15-day DL.New York Mets -- Signed OF Kevin McCarthy and assigned him to the Rookie Gulf Coast League.Texas Rangers -- Activated P Roger Pavlik off the 15-day DL. Optioned P Hector Fajardo to Triple-A Oklahoma City.