Tampa Bay Rays

In the 10 months or so that executive vice president Dan Duquette has been on the job, there's been a couple areas he has stressed more than anything else. One is that he wanted to discover undervalued assets. Acquire players that can help the team win but weren't getting an opportunity for one reason or another. Consider that goal met with the contributions of Nate McLouth, Lew Ford, Miguel Gonzalez and Randy Wolf, among others. His other talking point for much of his brief tenure has been the need to find hitters who can get on base at a high clip.

Orioles rookie Manny Machado has spent his brief time in the big leagues making difficult plays at third base - like the slow roller down the line - appear routine. But the dazzling plays he'd already made in his short time as a big leaguer paled in comparison to the savvy, game-saving one he turned in Wednesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays. With the go-ahead run on second base and two outs in the top of the ninth, Machado charged Evan Longoria's slow roller to third. But instead of throwing to first - it would have been a tough play to make - he faked the throw, spun around and caught pinch runner Rich Thompson off third base for the final out of the inning.

On a night when the Orioles regained a share of first place in the American League East, another humongous win was overshadowed by another scary injury. Three nights after the Orioles lost right fielder Nick Markakis for the rest of the regular season, right-hander Jason Hammel limped off the mound in the fourth inning of Tuesday night's 9-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Hammel, who was making his second start since missing nearly eight weeks after arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, left the game after feeling the same piercing pain in the same knee.

When the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays begin a three-game series Tuesday at Camden Yards, the two most effective relievers in the American League will be in uniform. It's fair to speculate that without Orioles closer Jim Johnson and Rays closer Fernando Rodney, their teams probably wouldn't be in playoff contention. Orioles manager Buck Showalter has said all season that Johnson's steadying presence in the back of the bullpen and in the clubhouse has been one of, if not the most important element, in the club's surprising success.

Orioles right-hander Tommy Hunter denied any frustration in the wake of Friday's 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, in which he pitched one of his better games of the season but was handed a tough-luck loss because his teammates' bats had yet to arrive in Tampa Bay. The Orioles were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and are hitless in their past 22 at-bats with runners in scoring position. They stranded 10 base runners on the night and struck out 11 times. Most nights those statistics will lead to a loss.

After the kind of night that Mark Reynolds had in Friday's 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays - in which the Orioles first baseman was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts while stranding six base runners - it seems as if Reynolds is at the plate an awful lot in key situations, and most of the times leaving Orioles fans disappointed. “We had a bunch of chances,” Reynolds said. “I know I had a lot of chances tonight; we just didn't come through. I know we got to get better; I got to get better in those situations.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles had an idea of what to expect from Taiwanese left-hander Wei-Yin Chen in his first major league season. But the 27-year-old rookie set a high standard for himself. After striking out a career-high 12 batters on Sunday in Baltimore, he expressed his frustration in being unable to go six innings. After starts, he's regularly said through his interpreter that he measures his success by how deep he's able to go into games. In Saturday night's game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field, Chen wasted few pitches, working ahead in the count and challenging an aggressive Tampa Bay lineup, leading the Orioles to a 4-0 win over the Rays in front of an announced crowd of 20,612.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -  There was plenty of blame to go around after the Orioles' 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night, but very little of it could be placed on right-hander Tommy Hunter. Yes, Hunter's biggest problem this season has been his inability to keep the ball in the park. But Hunter pitched well against the Rays, falling just one out short of a quality start. He made two mistakes, a pair of solo home runs that - combined with the Orioles' continued struggles with runners in scoring position - proved to be the difference before an announced 18,410 at Tropicana Field.

X-rays taken on shortstop J.J. Hardy's left side following the Orioles' 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday afternoon were negative. Hardy, who was drilled in the side by a 91-mph fastball from James Shields in a five-run fifth inning, said he had a sizable bruise. He entered the Orioles' clubhouse with his torso wrapped in ice. "They're fine," he said. "They hurt but they're fine. They hurt a lot. " Hardy has started in 96 of the Orioles' 99 games this season and is playing through a sore throwing shoulder.

Stop me if you have read this before. OK, don't stop. Because you have read this before. About five times before. But this next stretch is a real test for the Orioles. Maybe the most important of this surprising season. I know, I'll pause to duck the flying fruit. The Orioles keep passing tests. Or they fail them and we expect them to go away and they rally again. This past eight-game road trip to Minnesota and Cleveland didn't look particularly daunting. Minnesota is struggling and the Indians had been playing over their heads in the first half.