Jason Hammel

Scouting report Devil Rays (51-80) @ Orioles (58-71) Day ................ Time ..................... TV ...................... Starters Tonight .......... 7:05 .............. MASN ............Jason Hammel (1-4, 7.43) ....................................................................... vs. Daniel Cabrera (9-13, 5.10) Tomorrow ...... 7:05 ............ MASN ......... James Shields (10-8, 4.09) ........................................ .................................... vs. Steve Trachsel (6-8, 4.61)

One of the great pleasures of baseball is arguing about what should happen, what moves need to be made -- as if we all can see into the future and know more than the field personnel. After Wei-Yin Chen turned in another sub-par, late-season outing, the three Sun baseball writers in the press box Monday night discussed who we would give the ball to start a one-game playoff. It's an interesting debate. And it's germane too, since the Orioles very well could find themselves in that situation in a wild-card playoff next week.

Entering the All-Star break, the biggest surprise of the Orioles season isn't that they're above .500. It isn't that they're in second place. It isn't even that Jason Hammel has emerged as an ace or that Jim Johnson has become a lights-out closer. No, the biggest surprise of the season is that despite all that, the Orioles still have a worse record than the Pittsburgh Pirates. For more than a decade, the Orioles and Pirates have been waging a war of ineptitude. The Pirates got a, uhh, head start by starting their streak of losing seasons in 1993.

Right-hander Jason Hammel pitched three innings and allowed just one hit in the Orioles' 10-inning, 7-7 Grapefruit League tie with the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium. Hammels, who was making his second exhibition appearance, gave up a leadoff home run to Rays outfielder Matt Joyce in the second inning, but allowed only one other batter to reach base. In his Orioles spring debut last week, he pitched two scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves. The Orioles did most of their damage at the plate in the second inning, jumping on Rays ace David Price for four runs.

SARASOTA, Fla. - One day after an ugly game against Team Spain in which they dominated, the Orioles took on an American League East rival in another sloppy game. They nearly gave it away, but in the ninth inning Ryan Flaherty hit a three-run, two-out, walk-off homer to give the Orioles an 11-10 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays. It was the first spring homer for Flaherty, who is fighting for a reserve infield role. The Blue Jays took the lead in the ninth by scoring two runs on a Luis Exposito error and an Adam Russell walk.  Jason Hammel, who likely will be the club's Opening Day starter, allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings in his second Grapefruit League performance.

So the Red Sox are coming to Camden Yards for another critical three-game series against the Orioles . Normally we'd save that for Boston's final trip to Baltimore in late September, but who knows if this Red Sox team will still be in the playoff hunt by then. Boston arrives in Baltimore two games under .500 with a 57-59 record. I still think the Red Sox have one strong surge in them, but the later it gets, it becomes more unlikely. They haven't played well all year long.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter will have a lot of issues to deal with over the course of spring training - which officially begins today - but he doesn't seem the least bit worried about his starting rotation, even though he concedes that there are a few things he might have to worry about. “We're probably at 9, 10, 11 guys that we're looking at," he said Tuesday. “You've got to say 'What if?' If [Jason Hammel] has a knee issue or Miguel [Gonzalez] has some issue or [Wei-Yin] Chen or something, we'll be able to move in a lot of different directions.

Here's a look at how our Orioles Insiders see the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees playing out: Eduardo A. Encina Orioles in 5 Can't pick against the Orioles now. The O's will feed off the crowd today, as will Game 1 starter Jason Hammel, who fought to get healthy in time for this moment. I like the idea of going with Miguel Gonzalez in Game 3 in Yankee Stadium in a huge momentum game. He's shown he can win there. In my eyes, the Orioles only need to win one of two at Camden Yards.

It's one of those baseball statistics that's hard to believe. I checked it a couple times to make sure I hadn't missed anyone. And I really believe I haven't. According to baseball-reference.com, there are 44 active major league pitchers who have at least 80 career wins - a modest accomplishment, but impressive considering all who have played the game. Of that group of 44, none has played for the Orioles. Think about that for a moment. I'm not talking about none of the 44 plays for the Orioles right now. I am talking about ever.

Members of the Orioles starting rotation have had their struggles getting deep into games, but right-hander Jason Hammel gave the team a gritty six-inning effort against the Dodgers in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader. Through 16 games, no Orioles starter has yet to last more than six innings. Still, the way Hammel battled through early pitch-count problems was key to the series-opening victory. It also served as an example to the rest of the rotation. Hammel struggled through a 32-pitch first inning that saw the Orioles go down early on Andre Ethier's three-run homer.