"Since the day Vladimir Guerrero walked into the Orioles' spring training clubhouse for the first time, his mere presence has been the source of much fascination from his new teammates.

It wasn't just his prodigious batting practice blasts, his Hall of Fame-worthy statistics and his ability to make contact with pretty much any pitch in the same area code as home plate. It was the boyish enthusiasm the 36-year-old plays with, and the smile that's on his face no matter what he does on a baseball field.

"Strikeout, smiling; hits a home run, same smile," Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman said.

With the Orioles in desperate need of something good to happen offensively in the seventh inning Sunday afternoon, Guerrero flashed that wild swing and then that wide smile. His two-run homer off an otherwise dominant Jordan Zimmermann powered the Orioles to a 2-1 win in front of an announced 33,626 at Camden Yards and a series victory over the Washington Nationals.

"Today's a good example of what he can bring for us, just his presence as much as anything," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "A lot of times, he walks through the door like he's playing his first game of Little League, the zest that he has for the game and the day-to-day things that go on for a baseball team for seven or eight months. You look at a guy like him and you realize how much he's going to miss it when he doesn't play. I've been around him a while now, and I've never seen him have a bad day."

Guerrero, who drove an 0-2 curveball that was supposed to be in the dirt about four rows into the left-field seats, pumped his fist as he lumbered around the bases. His fifth home run of the season followed Nick Markakis' single, a rally that came after Zimmermann had retired 13 straight Orioles to take a shutout bid and a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning."