Plates

Wilson Betemit's surging bat is moving up the Orioles lineup He's hitting fifth in tonight's game against the Indians at Camden Yards. Betemit, who has mostly hit in the sixth and seven spots this season, is part of a lineup shuffle that includes Matt Wieters moving to seventh. Betemit enters tonight's game with an eight-game hitting streak -- including four multi-hit games -- and is batting an eye-popping .542 (13-for-24) over his last eight games. In late May, Betemit was hitting just .214, but he's hitting .383 (23-for-60)

Orioles switch-hitting  catcher Matt Wieters was the hero of Sunday's 2-1 win over the Nationals with his two-run homer in the eighth inning. And while it continued Wieters' domination of left-handed pitching this season, it was just his second homer from the right side of the plate. Wieters' split stats are incredibly intriguing. He's hitting .413 against left-handed pitching -- 215 points higher than his average against right-handed pitchers, even though eight of his 10 homers came from the left side.

Each week a nutritionist from the University of Maryland Medical Center provides a guest post to The Baltimore Sun's health blog Picture of Health (baltimoresun.com/pictureofhealth), which is reprinted here. This week, Mary Gallagher, dietetic intern, weighs in nutrition guidelines. The MyPlate icon, seen on http://www.choosemyplate.gov , has replaced the USDA Food Pyramid as the premier guide to more healthful eating. The MyPlate message is designed around the five food groups people should eat every day: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein and dairy.

Opening Day for the Aberdeen IronBirds is still weeks away, but Ripken Baseball unveiled the new concession lineup at Ripken Stadium on Wednesday morning. Basically, Cal Ripken Jr.and Billy Ripken have taken over the food service operation at Ripken Stadium. They've brought in a new seafood vendor, the Parkville-based Conrad's Crabs and Seafood , who will be steaming crabs live at the stadium, something the previous crab vendor didn't do. The Charred Rib , based in Timonium, has been brought in to sell their popular ribs, along with barbecue chicken, onion loafs and their own version of bread pudding.

Want to express yourself on a license plate? Go ahead. The state will gladly take your $50 per year. You can't say any old thing, though. The Motor Vehicle Administration has cataloged more than 4,000 words, phrases and letter-number combinations it won't put on a tag. The agency's Objectionable Plate List, as it's called, is a compendium of vulgarities, obscenities and other no-no's aimed at keeping tags out of the gutter. The Baltimore Sun requested the information last week, hoping to share what the MVA doesn't want you to see on the road.

Packed into a sardine can of an interview room with about two dozen reporters - most of them sending details of his outing to his home nation of Taiwan - Orioles rookie left-hander Wei-Yin Chen tried to explain the toughest day of his brief major league career. Through his first seven starts as a big leaguer, the 26-year-old has been close to perfect on paper. He came into Sunday's start against the Washington Nationals with a 4-0 record that included wins over the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers in his past two starts.

First baseman Chris Davis was not in the starting lineup on Tuesday with lefty CC Sabathia on the mound. That alone probably is enough to sit the slugging left-hander, who is 0-for-2 with two strikeouts against Sabathia. But Davis has also been in a deep slump. Counting his 0-for-8 performance in Boston on May 6 - the 17-inning game in which he picked up a win by throwing two scoreless innings - Davis has just three hits in his past 28 at-bats, dropping his average from .326 to .274.

If you needed another reminder that Matt Wieters is one tough fella behind the plate, just look to Friday's fourth inning. Sean Rodriguez came barreling around third trying to score and Wieters stood in front of home while looking out to right field for the relay throw from Robert Andino (via Nick Markakis). Wieters said he quickly glanced toward third and saw the 6-foot, 200-pound Rodriguez coming at him. “You take a peek when he's about halfway down the line. I knew it was going to be a bang-bang (play)

It's got the bumper sticker. It's got the little flag.  But your car, hopped up on Opening Day excitement, wants a little something more. Lucky for the ride, you can now order it one of the new Orioles cartoon bird license plates. A collaboration between the Orioles and Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration, the plates are rather adorable, all orange and black with the little birdie logo in one corner. The cartoon bird is a throwback to the cartoon bird of the '60s and '70s, brought back by the team this year for the 20th anniversary of Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

If you're so excited for the start of baseball season that you feel like you're not just on the Orioles bandwagon, but you're at the wheel of it, well, now you can show it. The Orioles, in conjunction with the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, are releasing Orioles cartoon bird State of Maryland license plates. The plates, which cost $50 apiece, are partially a charitable venture, as $25 of that goes to the Baltimore Orioles Charitable Foundation. Each plate has a randomly assigned four-digit number, so they're not customizable, which would've been a nice touch.