Mel Antonen

Breaking down All-Star teams selection process

Nationals Orioles
Breaking down All-Star teams selection process
Just to be clear, it is true that Major League Baseball's selection process for the All-Star teams is confusing. So, let's make it easy in four steps: First, the fans vote for nine starters in the American League and eight in the National League, the AL getting one more because of the designated hitter. Then, the players determine nine AL backups and eight NL backups along with eight pitchers for both teams, which includes five starters and three relievers. The third step belongs to the the...
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Mel Antonen

A look at one American League All-Star team ballot

Orioles
A look at one American League All-Star team ballot
The American League All-Star team will be announced Sunday. Here's a ballot where the starters' common thread is bounceback seasons: First base: Prince Fielder, Texas At 31, Fielder, who leads the majors in multi-hit games, is contending for the AL batting title after a neck injury limited him to 42 games and three home runs last season. This year, he hit his 300th home run, joining his dad, Cecil, in that group. The only other father-son combo to have 300 home runs each is Bobby and Barry...
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Mel Antonen

A look at one National League All-Star team ballot

Nationals
A look at one National League All-Star team ballot
Here's one ballot for the National League All-Star team, which will be announced Sunday by Major League Baseball: First base: Paul Goldschmidt, ArizonaThe Diamondbacks are one of the best run-producing teams in the NL, and Goldschmidt might be the best player in team history. He's an excellent defensive player who hits with power and gets on base more than 47 percent of the time. And, he might end up with 25 stolen bases. Backup: Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs Second base: Dee Gordon,...
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Mel Antonen

Will rotation problems around major leagues lead to early trades?

Nationals Orioles
Will rotation problems around major leagues lead to early trades?
With a month to go before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, the Orioles and Nationals are surging, but each could use help. In addition to health, the Nationals' biggest need is bullpen help that bridges the rotation to closer Drew Storen. The Orioles' bullpen is fine, but will they trade for a bat or pick up a starter that they can control for a couple years, given Wei-Yin Chen and Bud Norris are eligible for free agency after the season? Should Norris be traded so Kevin Gausman can...
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Mel Antonen

Longtime Oriole Nick Markakis is enjoying his transition to the National League

Nationals Orioles
Longtime Oriole Nick Markakis is enjoying his transition to the National League
After nine seasons with the Orioles, outfielder Nick Markakis is running into all kinds of firsts with the Atlanta Braves, none more challenging than facing two of the baseball's best lefties - Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner - for the first time on the same road trip. Markakis, a left-handed batter, had a single and double against Kershaw, the Dodgers' three-time National League Cy Young Award winner. A few days later, Markakis went 0-for-3 with two fly balls and a grounder against...
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Mel Antonen

Are Max Scherzer’s last two games the best ever?

Nationals
Are Max Scherzer’s last two games the best ever?
Max Scherzer threw the second no-hitter in Nationals history and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0 Saturday at Nationals Park. Given that Scherzer had pitched a one-hit 4-0 shutout in Milwaukee in his previous start, it is a good argument that Scherzer has put together the greatest two-game accomplishment in history. Scherzer's performances invite comparisons to Johnny Vander Meer, the Cincinnati Reds starter who threw consecutive no-hitters in 1938. Vander Meer, a lefty, had 11 walks and 11...
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Mel Antonen

How do you fix All-Star voting process that's become a Royal pain?

Orioles
How do you fix All-Star voting process that's become a Royal pain?
Second baseman Omar Infante of the Kansas City Royals is hitting .204 and leading American League second basemen in the All-Star voting. If the voting holds and Infante makes the starting lineup for the game in Cincinnati next month, it won't be the first time a player has been the subject of national ridicule for making the All-Star team without impressive statistics. Check out 1988 and Athletics catcher Terry Steinbach, who the fans voted into the starting lineup even though he was hitting...
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Mel Antonen

Nats' Storen stops trying to be someone else, finds success

Nationals
Nats' Storen stops trying to be someone else, finds success
Closer Drew Storen's daily routine starts in the Nationals clubhouse a few feet from his locker, where he sits in a brown leather chair and scouts the opponent's lineup on TV. "You can see a lot more on TV than watching from the side,'' Storen says. He does the hot tub and stretches, and in the sixth inning, he heads to the Nationals bullpen. Then, if there is a save situation, a familiar scene unfolds: The right-field bullpen door opens and No. 22 sprints to the mound amid a thunderous...
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Mel Antonen

Ex-minor leaguer with familial ties steered Orioles to Brooks Robinson in pre-draft era

Orioles
Ex-minor leaguer with familial ties steered Orioles to Brooks Robinson in pre-draft era
The third day of Major League Baseball's amateur draft is today. The first year of the draft was 1965, and it was established so that the rich teams couldn't buy up all the talent. Before the draft, players were scouted and recruited in the same manner that college recruiters used to go after high school athletes. But some players, such as Orioles great Brooks Robinson, who was elected to Cooperstown in 1983, had to find other ways to get noticed. Robinson wasn't followed by scouts as an...
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Mel Antonen

Surviving injuries will be key to several races in majors

Nationals Orioles
Surviving injuries will be key to several races in majors
The Orioles got catcher Matt Wieters back into their lineup Friday night in Cleveland, although second baseman Jonathan Schoop's return is still a ways off. Wieters has been out since May 10 of last season. In Washington, infielder Anthony Rendon, who finished fifth in the National League MVP voting last season, is back with the Nationals, but the Nats are still without outfielder Jayson Werth and pitchers Doug Fister and Stephen Strasburg. Rendon had two hits in his first game back and then...
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Mel Antonen

More doubleheaders would benefit Major League Baseball

Nationals Orioles
More doubleheaders would benefit Major League Baseball
Although it wasn't scheduled at the start of the season, the Orioles and White Sox played a traditional doubleheader at Camden Yards on Thursday, a throwback to the 1960s when scheduled doubleheaders were the norm. After the first game, there was no clearing the stadium. No day-night deals. No needing two tickets for separate games. No set time for the start of the second game - except that it would start at 4:40 p.m., 40 minutes after the first was done. The Orioles and White Sox played two...
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Mel Antonen

Hot-hitting Paredes had long journey to Orioles (with other MLB notes)

Orioles
Hot-hitting Paredes had long journey to Orioles (with other MLB notes)
Jimmy Paredes' eight-year journey to the Orioles, as well as a spot among the American League's batting leaders, has a Houston Astros connection to it. The New York Yankees signed Paredes in 2004, and when the Yankees needed an experienced bat for their 2010 stretch run to the American League East title, they traded Paredes to the Astros in a deal that brought then designated hitter/first baseman Lance Berkman. The Astros figured Paredes would be their second baseman, but when Jose Altuve...
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Mel Antonen

NL East review: It took a while, but Washington has returned to top spot

Nationals
NL East review: It took a while, but Washington has returned to top spot
Nothing has changed in the National League East: The Nationals are the best team in the division and they're playing that way. After falling as many as eight games behind the Mets in the NL East with a 7-13 start, the Nationals have returned to first place, where they are expected to stay. And they are in first place even though three of their best players are on the disabled list and their elite pitching staff isn't firing on all cylinders. The Mets, the team that made headlines with a good...
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Mel Antonen

AL East review: Surprises and disappointments in season's first two months

Orioles
AL East review: Surprises and disappointments in season's first two months
The first two months of the season are in the books, and the one certainty is that every team in the American League East has flaws. The defending champion Orioles have been inconsistent. The Yankees have slowed after a hot start. The Red Sox have had rotation problems and can't score runs. The Blue Jays don't have as much pitching as they thought, but they can hit. And the Rays have all the pitching, except most of it is on the disabled list. For your Memorial Day reading pleasure, here is a...
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Mel Antonen

Major league roundup: Surging Astros haven't relied on confusing offense

Orioles
Major league roundup: Surging Astros haven't relied on confusing offense
Quick hits on the latest baseball news: * The Houston Astros have a comfortable lead in the American League West, and they are doing it with a strong bullpen, two excellent starting pitchers and an all-or-nothing lineup that leads the league with 57 home runs. But they are certainly not doing it with a pesky offense that drives opponents crazy: They have a .302 on-base percentage and their .229 team average is the lowest in the league. Evan Gattis is hitting .188, George Springer .190, Luis...
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Mel Antonen

Quicker pace: Speed-up rules working with minor adjustments

Nationals Orioles
Quicker pace: Speed-up rules working with minor adjustments
For six weeks, baseball's new pick-up-the-pace rules have been in place, and while the average time of game has been cut by nine minutes, the real question is this: Has anyone really noticed the quicker pace? "We don't want our players thinking about it,'' Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "But, there haven't been any issues.'' Toronto outfielder Jose Bautista agreed: "There's been no adjustments.'' And Orioles manager Buck Showalter wondered if a family of four who attends a...
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Mel Antonen

Focused Ramos ready to shed tag as injury-prone catcher

Nationals
Focused Ramos ready to shed tag as injury-prone catcher
Catcher Wilson Ramos came to Washington in a 2010 trade with the Minnesota Twins. Since then, his career has been defined by a kidnapping incident in Venezuela, as well as injuries that put him on the disabled list for three consecutive seasons. But this season, that could all change. Ramos, 27, has a new lease on life. He's one of the Nationals' most consistent hitters. He's relaxed, healthy, and enjoying his job and life away from the field. He's dropped weight, feels strong and his body...
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Mel Antonen

With Roenicke out in Milwaukee, which managers remain on the hot seat?

Nationals Orioles
With Roenicke out in Milwaukee, which managers remain on the hot seat?
And now, some comments about baseball's top news stories: * The Milwaukee Brewers fired manager Ron Roenicke even though the team seemed to be getting healthy and digging out from its April slump. The Brewers had won three of four when general manager Doug Melvin made the announcement Sunday night, but long-term the Brewers had been fading. They led the National Central by 6½ games at the end of June last season and were still only a game behind first-place St. Louis when September began....
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Mel Antonen

As season's first month nears end, answers to some pressing questions

Nationals Orioles
As season's first month nears end, answers to some pressing questions
You have questions, we have the answers: Q: Are the Mets for real in the National League East or is this an April mirage? A: The Mets' start is a sign of their all-new can-do attitude. They won 79 games last season and came to spring training convinced they were a contender. And then, after they won two of three in their first series in Washington, they had a confidence-builder, beating a team they went 4-15 against in 2014. The Mets are winning even though their second-best pitcher, Zack...
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Mel Antonen

Latest legal twist only further clouds curious case of Barry Bonds

Nationals Orioles
Latest legal twist only further clouds curious case of Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds' Hall of Fame chances have a new twist of confusion after his felony obstruction of justice conviction was overturned Wednesday by an appeals court in San Francisco. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco said there wasn't enough evidence to convict baseball's all-time home run leader. So Bonds is now an innocent man - at least legally. Bonds, 50, was convicted of obstruction in 2011. The legal win is one thing, but what about the court of public...
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