Strike Zone

Orioles closer Kevin Gregg pitched a perfect ninth inning in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over the Athletics, giving the team its first home sweep of the Athletics in more than a decade. It was a rare uneventful night for Gregg, whose propensity to allow baserunners in save situations often leaves fans chugging Alka-Seltzer. His late-night appearances usually aren’t heartburn-free, but he has been getting the job done the past three weeks. Gregg, who was signed to a two-year deal in the offseason, has converted his last five save opportunities and he hasn’t allowed a run in seven straight appearances.

Aberdeen - Though his team came up one win short of a state baseball title, losing 4-0 to St. Michael's Saturday in the Class 1A championship game, Patterson Mill head coach Matt Roseland said he considered the Huskies' 2011 campaign a success, and that their appearance in this year's final was a sign of good things to come for the four-year-old program. "I told the guys before Saturday's game, 'we said at the beginning of the season that our goals were to win the [UCBAC's] Susquehanna Division, and to win the [1A North]

The return of a healthy Brian Matusz would be a welcome development for an Orioles rotation in flux. However, the young left-hander appears to be several weeks away from making his 2011 debut. The Orioles had initially hoped that Matusz would rejoin the club on their 11-day homestand, which begins Monday, and start throwing bullpen sessions off the mound in front of pitching coach Mark Connor and bullpen coach Rick Adair . But Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Sunday that the 24-year-old is still feeling effects from a strained left intercostal muscle and hasn't been cleared to throw off the mound.

The final three outs Sunday at Progressive Field provided a fitting conclusion to a demoralizing series and an awful road trip, one on which the Orioles were exposed in every possible way. Trailing the Cleveland Indians by two runs in the ninth inning, Derrek Lee flied out on closer Chris Perez's first pitch. Vladimir Guerrero popped out on Perez's second pitch, and Luke Scott worked a seven-pitch at-bat before he struck out looking on a ball that appeared to have been outside the strike zone.

Orioles right-handed relief pitcher Jason Berken looks like a different man this spring after losing at least 20 pounds since last season. Fortunately for the Orioles, he again is looking like the guy who was the club's best pitcher in the first half of 2010. In his two outings this season, Berken has faced 10 batters and retired nine of them, including six on strikeouts. In the seventh inning of Sunday's win, his first big league game since being shut down Aug. 13 with shoulder inflammation, Berken struck out the side, throwing 10 of his 15 pitches for strikes in the Orioles' 5-1 win against Tampa Bay. In Monday's home opener, Berken pitched the seventh and the eighth, allowing just one hit and striking out three in the club's 5-1 win against the Detroit Tigers.

When the Orioles open the 2011 season April 1 against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field, it is expected that Jeremy Guthrie will be on the mound for the visitors. The Orioles' 12-6 victory over the Rays Tuesday before a sellout crowd at remodeled Ed Smith Stadium proved to be a good warm-up for the right-hander, who threw two perfect innings against a lineup that will likely resemble the one he sees in a month. "Everything felt like it left off at the end of last season, so that's good," said Guthrie, who went 8-4 with a 2.76 ERA in 14 starts after the All-Star break in 2010.

Though the results of new designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero 's physical examination won't be available until at least Thursday and his contract won't be finalized until those results are in, his arrival in the clubhouse at the Ed Smith Stadium complex Wednesday morning created quite a buzz. "God, it's good to see him," said pitcher Chris Tillman , who gained some SportsCenter fame when he bounced a pitch in front of Guerrero a couple of years ago and it still cost him a base hit. "I probably saw the replay of that 60 times during the postseason.

Ravens linebacker Jameel McClain said Wednesday he will appeal the $40,000 fine he received for hitting Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Heath Miller on Sunday. "Rules are rules," McClain said. "We will appeal it and see where it goes from there, but that's basically where I stand with the situation. " The third-year veteran hit a falling Miller with his forearm, shoulder pads and possibly helmet at the end of a pass play in the third quarter. Miller suffered a concussion but walked off the field under his own power.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Catch a breath, Nolan Ryan. You have been everywhere during the 2010 World Series. You have posed for more pictures than Cindy Crawford . You have done more interviews than Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos did before hiring John Farrell as manager. You have done everything except draw a map of the strike zone for Derek Holland, and it has been a beautiful thing to witness. But for the sheer fun of it, let's stop to consider how life would have been different if Fox Sports Southwest had not advanced you and Chuck Greenberg the money to beat Mark Cuban in the bankruptcy auction to buy the Rangers.

The contrast couldn't have been any more glaring from the first inning Thursday night at U.S. Cellular Field. Chicago White Sox starter Edwin Jackson threw 12 of his first 13 pitches for strikes and struck out five of the first seven hitters he faced. Orioles starter Jake Arrieta missed the strike zone with eight of his first 13 pitches, walked three batters in the first inning and needed 35 pitches to get the first three outs. Things never got much better for Arrieta, whose night was over after four rocky innings, or for the Orioles, who dropped another series with an 8-0 loss to the White Sox in front of an announced 23,898.