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Rachel Levitin: Scouting the perfect seating locations at Nationals Park

May 09, 2013, 5:49am

The Nats are looking good right now. They're coming off a three-game win streak with Jordan Zimmermann holding his own as team anchor and the under-.500 Chicago Cubs coming into town for a three-game series for Mother's Day weekend. With warmer temperatures on the way, school wrapping up for the kids and summer truly around the corner, now's the time to get to the ballpark ... or at least that's what my friends keep telling me. I'm at the ballpark often enough, catching games and writing...

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Anthony Amobi: O's took a chance and gamble with Machado has paid off

May 09, 2013, 5:40am

Orioles

Anthony Amobi: O's took a chance and gamble with Machado has paid off

In August 2012, the Orioles were in the wild card hunt and desperate to solve a problem - third base. Former Oriole Mark Reynolds, despite his power, was struggling at the hot corner, and executive vice president Dan Duquette, the front office, along with manager Buck Showalter were looking for a solution. In the middle of that month, the Orioles did something bold and head-scratching at the same time. They promoted Manny Machado from Double-A Bowie to the majors. At first, I was bewildered...

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David Huzzard: Stephen Strasburg and approach versus results

May 08, 2013, 5:13am

Nationals

David Huzzard: Stephen Strasburg and approach versus results

Stay within yourself, don't try and do too much, and let the game come to you are all baseball clichÃƒÂ©s Nationals fans have become accustomed to over the early part of the 2013 season. They aren't easy concepts to understand until you see players not doing it. Up until the recent 7-4 run, the Nats weren't doing any of these things and were quite a frustrating team to watch. In baseball, approach is much more important than results and many Nats players had poor approaches at the...

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Zach Wilt: A full season of Manny Machado

May 07, 2013, 3:02am

Orioles

Zach Wilt: A full season of Manny Machado

Seven wins on an 11-game west coast road trip are enough to turn even the Orioles' fiercest doubter into a believer in 2013. For the first time this season, I stopped comparing this year's team to its surprising playoff roster from a year ago and instead just enjoyed watching the O's starters pitch a 3.76 ERA, the bullpen to a 3.60 mark and cheered as the offense totaled 5.27 runs per game against the A's, Mariners and Angels. It took just over a month for me to stop making that comparison...

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Ted Leavengood: Winning a championship, one series at a time

May 07, 2013, 2:55am

Nationals

Ted Leavengood: Winning a championship, one series at a time

There was too much Sterling Marte and A.J. Burnett in Pittsburgh, too little Bryce Harper. Yet the Nationals still looked like the better team when all was said and done. The Pirates are capable of beating anyone. They won their series against the Nationals in 2012 and recently swept the Atlanta Braves. Pittsburgh has an obvious weakness in their bullpen, however. They lead the league in bases on balls and a good team will exploit that. On Saturday night, the Nats' veteran hitters took the...

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Domenic Vadala: Serving up the youth movement

May 06, 2013, 5:53am

Orioles

Domenic Vadala: Serving up the youth movement

I'll be as frank and up front as I possibly can in saying this: I'm not a big fan of youth. At 32, some people might ask what I mean by that, given that I'd like to hope that I'm not that old myself. However, when it comes to athletes, I like guys with a bit of experience. I'm not suggesting that the Orioles should nab other teams' good players out from under them as Boston and New York have done for years. What I am saying is that I like players that marinate a bit in the minor leagues...

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Marty Niland: Veterans, bench finally getting into the swing of things

May 05, 2013, 6:45pm

Nationals

Marty Niland: Veterans, bench finally getting into the swing of things

It's not conventional wisdom for a major league team to "get healthy" on the road, and even less conventional for it to happen against a hot team, but that's just what seems to have happened to the Nationals as they wrapped up their 4-3 road trip. In Pittsburgh, where the Nats have not won a series since 2010, the Nats took two games from a Pirates team that had won six of nine, including a series win over St. Louis. And they did it behind several players whose contributions this season...

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Matthew Taylor: Tillman continuing pitching staff's success on west coast

May 03, 2013, 6:54am

Orioles

Matthew Taylor: Tillman continuing pitching staff's success on west coast

Chris Tillman provided the Orioles bullpen with some much-needed rest Thursday night by pitching eight shutout innings against the Angels. In the process, Tillman became only the second Orioles starter to go more than seven innings in 2013, which has left the team's relievers to carry a heavy early-season load. Coming into the game, the O's bullpen had pitched a shade more than 42 innings in the previous 13 games. Tillman averaged 5.2 innings per outing in five starts prior to Thursday....

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Anthony Amobi: McLouth playing a major role in Orioles' strong start

May 02, 2013, 5:56am

Orioles

If there's one theme that we as fans have seen with the Baltimore Orioles since last season, it is this: manager Buck Showalter will find a way for everyone on his team to contribute. It seems that there is a different player contributing on a daily basis for the Orioles to attain another postseason berth; however, so far, in the first month of the 2013 campaign, one player has stood out to me. Well, it is not Adam Jones, Manny Machado, Chris Davis, nor Matt Wieters - it's Nate...

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Rachel Levitin: Unassuming Zimmermann the stopper the Nats need

May 02, 2013, 5:46am

Nationals

Rachel Levitin: Unassuming Zimmermann the stopper the Nats need

Jordan Zimmermann's 2-0 win over Atlanta last night helped the Nationals snap the team's nine-game losing streak against the Braves. It's already apparent that the Nats have a few growing pains in their transition from the 2012 season to 2013, but that's the thing about baseball - you never quite know exactly how a singular game is going to shake out, let alone an entire season, until it's all said and done. What's great about Zimmermann's success this season thus far is that his work...

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Neal Shaffer: Bundy's issue demonstrates O's depth has improved

May 01, 2013, 5:56am

Orioles

Neal Shaffer: Bundy's issue demonstrates O's depth has improved

Let's get this much out of the way early: Dylan Bundy is probably going to need surgery. Maybe not right now. It's possible that the current injury is a minor one and that the platelet-rich plasma injection will do the trick. Given his legendary dedication to fitness, he might not even miss much time. But let's be realistic. Tommy John surgery is an increasingly common occurrence among young pitchers, particularly the kinds of young pitchers who throw as hard as Bundy does. A 2003 USA...

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David Huzzard: Advanced metrics place Harper in select company

April 30, 2013, 7:08pm

Nationals

David Huzzard: Advanced metrics place Harper in select company

As a disappointing 13-14 April comes to an end for the Nationals, the only thing that went right was Bryce Harper. An April OPS of 1.150 is only so impressive on its own, but consider that the tops in all of baseball last season was Miguel Cabrera with .999 and the only regulars with better than that in April 2012 were Matt Kemp, Bryan LaHair, Josh Hamilton and David Ortiz. Harper is off to a hot start, but there are signs that it won't be ending anytime soon. Watch Harper at the plate....

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Ted Leavengood: In Span, Nats have a glove of a different kind

April 29, 2013, 6:31pm

Nationals

Ted Leavengood: In Span, Nats have a glove of a different kind

Denard Span is no Michael Morse. Morse had the kung-fu warm-up cut - immortalized in his bobblehead - and there was his A-Ha walk-up music. Span had large shoes to fill on many levels. It did not get easier when Morse ripped up the Cactus League for nine home runs and a .357 batting average in spring training. It was reminiscent of the 2011 spring when he had his breakout season, hitting .303 with 31 home runs. There were more than a few call-ins to radio shows bemoaning the loss of Morse and...

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Zach Wilt: Kevin Gausman's biggest concern

April 30, 2013, 4:39am

Orioles

Zach Wilt: Kevin Gausman's biggest concern

Kevin Gausman's first five starts in 2013 have absolutely captivated the baseball world. Some prospect experts love talking about his smooth upper-90s fastball while others highlight his quick work on the mound or his ability work out of jams. For me, I'm most impressed with Gausman's command, which is highlighted by his incredible 29-to-1 K/BB ratio. In 28 2/3 innings pitched, Gausman has surrendered just one free pass and struck out 29. To give you some perspective, only one big leaguer...

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Domenic Vadala: When did the culture change in Baltimore?

April 29, 2013, 4:50am

Orioles

Domenic Vadala: When did the culture change in Baltimore?

With the advent of the internet, we're, in theory, no longer bound to listen to only local radio as most stations stream their programming online. So being interested in some local perspective on the NBA playoffs, I tuned into WEEI-Boston's midday "Mut and Merloni" show last week. At that moment, they were talking about the American League East and specifically about the Toronto Blue Jays. While they did agree that on paper they were a good team, they also said they felt that the culture...

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Marty Niland: For Harper, here's hoping best is yet to come

April 28, 2013, 3:49pm

Nationals

Marty Niland: For Harper, here's hoping best is yet to come

Of all the red-letter days in Washington's baseball history, Nationals fans may well look back on April 28, 2012 as the most important date of all. It was on that date that a 19-year-old rookie named Bryce Aron Max Harper made his major league debut, amid the media spotlight of Los Angeles. He singled and drove in a run for a Nats team that was struggling offensively, and while Washington would fall to the Dodgers, both Harper and the Nats would soon heat up and not look back. Harper...

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Matthew Taylor: Inside the O's now-ended streak of extra-inning success

April 25, 2013, 7:40pm

Orioles

Matthew Taylor: Inside the O's now-ended streak of extra-inning success

The Orioles' streak of 17 consecutive extra-inning victories ended with Wednesday's 6-5 loss to Toronto. The Orioles matched the 1949 Cleveland Indians for most consecutive extra-inning victories in major league history. I reviewed the box scores from all 17 games and came away with the following facts and figures: * The average number of innings played per game during the streak fell just shy of 12 (11.82352941176471, to be exact). The longest game of the streak by innings played was 18...

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Rachel Levitin: Can Goon Squad affect turnaround for Nats?

April 25, 2013, 4:56am

Nationals

Rachel Levitin: Can Goon Squad affect turnaround for Nats?

Three weeks into the 2013 season and the Nationals are struggling to get their 2012 groove back. Fact is, though, it's only April and there are months of baseball still to be played. The biggest factor haunting the Nats in present day is high expectations associated with coming off a successful run last year. "We've been pressing," outfielder Jayson Werth told MASNsports.com's Dan Kolko. "We've been trying to do too much. That's a common side effect. It's just one of those things....

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Anthony Amobi: Will Jake Arrieta ever figure it out?

April 25, 2013, 7:51am

Orioles

Anthony Amobi: Will Jake Arrieta ever figure it out?

On Sunday, Jake Arrieta started on the mound for the Orioles. One would have thought after a successful spring training, he would finally figure it out after several seasons in the majors. From the looks of things, he still may not have. After his performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Arrieta was again optioned to Triple-A Norfolk for seemingly the umpteenth time in the last couple of seasons. Sitting in the stands Sunday, I wondered how a guy who looks like your prototypical power...

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David Huzzard: The Espinosa-Lombardozzi debate isn't much of one at all

April 24, 2013, 5:11am

Nationals

David Huzzard: The Espinosa-Lombardozzi debate isn't much of one at all

The Danny Espinosa/Steve Lombardozzi debate highlights many fascinating aspects of baseball fandom. It is tools vs. grit, slash line vs. batting average, and strikeouts vs. productive outs. The main issue is that in every meaningful category for their careers, Espinosa is a better player. Look at the two slash lines. Espinosa, for his career, is at .236/.311/.407 and Lombardozzi is at .273/.314/.352. While the increase in contact rate is aesthetically pleasing, it is close to meaningless...