Grand Slam

August 26, 1968: Dave McNally hit a grand slam and picked up the win as the O's beat the A's.

Invincible no more Diane Pucin Los Angeles Times Roger Federer won't win another major title. There is always going to be a Jo-Wilfried Tsonga now, someone younger, who is a bigger hitter and fearless. Federer will have to be content with his 16 major titles and six Wimbledon championships. Pete Sampras will get to keep that record of seven Wimbledon wins. Federer, who turns 30 next month, is the tiniest step slower in reaching the net, a second tardy in arriving to hit a volley and, as was obvious Wednesday when Tsonga wasn't intimidated being down two sets to Federer, who is not invincible any more.

As a rookie in the big leagues, Orioles left-hander Zach Britton has encountered plenty of celebratory firsts this season. On Friday night, in an uninspiring 8-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, Britton experienced several rather unpleasant ones, including his first grand slam allowed, first string of consecutive poor outings and first time he hasn't pitched into the sixth inning as a big leaguer. "He's a guy who spent half a season in Triple-A, and he's going to have some [tough]

Among all the statistics that have swirled around the Orioles' all-or-nothing slugger Mark Reynolds through the years, there was one that was particularly hard to explain. Reynolds is absolutely terrible in his career with the bases loaded. Head-shaking, mind-numbingly bad. He had struck out in half of his 52 official at-bats with the bases juiced and had never hit a homer in that situation. Until the sixth inning on Saturday night, when he smashed a 94-mph fastball from Toronto's electric lefty Ricky Romero into the left field seats for his first career grand slam, one that gave the Orioles an eventual 5-3 win. "Obviously, that's the best result possible, but I'm just trying to get a pitch to hit," said Reynolds, who entered the at-bat hitting .186 on the season.

The conventional wisdom explaining the Orioles' sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays in the season-opening series at Tropicana Field was that the defending American League East champs were caught at the right time, when they were dealing with key injuries and an unsettled bullpen. That theory was easy to buy after the Rays came to Baltimore last weekend and swept the Orioles, setting up what was supposed to be more dominance by the first-place Rays this weekend. But something funny happened on the way to the Trop this time around.

Saturday's drama between the Orioles and New York Yankees peaked in the late innings, when the Bronx Bombers completed a home-run cycle, witnessed their superstar make more baseball history and then watched as one of their hottest players got drilled in the back with a pitch after homering twice. The game itself, though, was basically over after 10 pitches. Paced by another gem from ace CC Sabathia, the Yankees embarrassed the Orioles 15-3 on Saturday night in front of an announced crowd of 39,054, the majority of which was wearing pinstripes and chanting, "Let's Go Yankees.

Mark Reynolds hit a grand slam in his first at-bat with the Orioles on Sunday. Sure, it came in a meaningless intrasquad scrimmage, but Orioles fans are hoping his home run was a sign of things to come once Opening Day rolls around in April. The Orioles third baseman, acquired from the Diamondbacks in an offseason trade, put 76 long balls into the bleachers the past two seasons, including a career-high 44 in 2009. Meanwhile, Luke Scott led the Orioles with 27 home runs last season, and Ty Wigginton was the only other Orioles hitter to top 20 home runs (Wiggy had 22)

A day after being shut down with recurring hip soreness, Orioles starter Justin Duchscherer acknowledged this morning that he was concerned and described his frustration level as a "10 out of 10. " But a painless flat-ground throwing session later in the day left him a little more optimistic even though he won't make his originally scheduled exhibition start Wednesday. "We'll treat it symptomatically," he said. "Hopefully, it's just inflammation. " Duchscherer, who said he felt "awesome" after a bullpen session Thursday, reported to Ed Smith Stadium on Saturday complaining of soreness.