The Nationals find themselves in an enviable position. Clinging to the National League East lead by a half-game over the Miami Marlins on the last day of May, they expect to get cleanup hitter Michael Morse back as early as Friday when they start a three-game weekend series with the Atlanta Braves.
Morse, who is with the high Single-A Potomac Nationals this week on a rehab assignment, went 3-for-6 with a walk and an RBI over two games so far as a designated hitter. He's scheduled to play...
There was a time back in 2005 when I worked at a Major League Baseball team apparel store for extra money before leaving for college. This store specialized in Chicago Cubs gear, but it was that store that garnered my appreciation for team logos and memorabilia from the past.
Numerous retailers attempt to recreate some of the most unique logos in baseball history on caps, t-shirts, jerseys, plaques, and just about anything you can think of - and the novelty to that is the fact that baseball is...
At the moment, all is not well in Birdland. Four straight losses, seven losses in 10, three straight dropped series. Starting pitching - the bedrock of early success - suddenly seems quite vulnerable. The great unmeasurable of clutch performance feels measurable in the wrong way.
And yet, all is good. I promise it is.
Cast your memory to the preseason and recall that most analysts predicted a dismal campaign. Some even went so far as to say that the Orioles would lose 100 games. Even the...
When the Nationals traded four major prospects for Gio Gonzalez this winter, many fans in D.C. were hesitant about the potential reward such a risky move could bring.
Gonzalez, 26, had two All-Star caliber seasons under his belt, and was one of the best left-handed strikeout pitchers in baseball, but some wondered about his potential to be an elite pitcher moving into the future. While he had succeeded in 2010 and 2011 with Oakland, he had also allowed more walks than any other pitcher during...
This post was inspired by Neal Shaffer's guest blog from last Wednesday entitled, "Tell the truth: Do you want Brian Roberts back?" I thought about responding to his post in the comments, but had so many opinions on the subject, it seemed like it needed its own post.
First, let's discuss Brian Roberts. Earlier this season, I wrote a post arguing that Roberts was the greatest second baseman in Orioles history. I also made the proclamation that I seriously doubted that he would have any...
Every Memorial Day weekend, the sound of the Harleys resonates in Washington, D.C., as they circle the city. Rolling Thunder has become an iconic part of somber Memorial Day remembrances across the city. There was, however, a very different rolling thunder that swept through Atlanta this weekend, as the Nationals pushed 22 runs across the plate at Turner Field over three days to steamroll the Braves.
The bats up and down the lineup took part, as clutch hit after clutch hit rained down...
While some have called catcher Matt Wieters the face of the franchise, chances are when you hear "Orioles," you think Adam Jones. The outfielder defied executive vice president Dan Duquette's general rule about waiting to negotiate deals until the offseason and was the recipient of the club's largest contract in a deal announced in a Sunday press conference. The vocal force of the team, Jones has emerged in Baltimore as more than just an outfielder.
On Saturday evening, MASNsports.com's...
Memorial Day weekend traditions abound in the Washington area. From tributes to America's fallen heroes at Arlington National Cemetery and other resting places to the rumble of Rolling Thunder motorcyclists honoring MIAs to parades, picnics, pool openings and beach vacations, we have our own ways of marking the unofficial start of summer.
Now, thanks to the Nationals' surprising play this season, we have a new one: watching meaningful baseball.
Until now, this was usually the weekend when...
Most Orioles fans can name the last time that the team had a winning season: 1997. Fewer can name the first time that the team had a winning season: 1960.
Baseball came to Baltimore in 1954; it wasn't until six years later that winning baseball arrived in town. While the 1957 Orioles finished an even 76-76, the Birds totaled more wins, 89, than losses, 65 for the first time in 1960.
The 1960 team featured American League Manager of the Year Paul Richards, Rookie of the Year Ron Hansen and...
I usually use this space to delve into something that's caught my eye in the previous week of Nationals baseball. I try to examine whatever that might be using statistics, either the boxcar stats that come in the daily paper (you still read box scores, right?), or advanced stats, which really aren't all that advanced (it's still add, subtract, multiply and divide, just using some concepts you might not have thought about too much).
But this week, I'm going to forget the statistics and...
As we all know, veteran Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts returned to competitive baseball last night as he played three innings for the Double-A Bowie Baysox last night.
Roberts is playing for the Baysox as part of a rehabilitation assignment. He's missed much of the past two seasons dealing with post-concussion syndrome issues and other injuries.
His Wednesday night was pretty mundane, as he walked in both his plate appearances and made some routine plays in the field.
No matter what...
The argument can be made that Tuesday night's 5-2 conquest of the division rival Philadelphia Phillies, solidified by a two-RBI triple off the bat of Bryce Harper, was one of the most enjoyable for Nationals fans so far this season. The Nationals have beaten the Phillies six straight time, the first time in a 43-year franchise history that the Expos/Nationals have done so.
The same argument can be made for Washington's 9-3 win on Sunday versus the regional rival Baltimore Orioles in which...
Brian Roberts is a great Oriole. This much is beyond dispute. Great on the field, obviously, but as importantly, he's been a great presence on the team. Excepting the one obvious blemish on his record (and we don't need to go deep into that, right?) he's basically been a model player. Good in the community, by all accounts good in the clubhouse and seemingly just a good guy. Can't ask for much more than that.
The great lament of his career is that he spent his prime on some of the worst...
Given the debut strategy taken with Stephen Strasburg in 2010, not many people thought going into this year that 19-year-old Bryce Harper would end playing at least 100 games in 2012. Now, barring injury, it seems almost a lock that the club's starting outfielder will surpass that mark, making him just the 18th player in Major League Baseball history to play 100 or more games as a teenager.
Among those 18 players, Harper is currently on pace to have one of the best seasons ever. Below I've...
The Orioles are winning and new executive vice president Dan Duquette and his team are getting their fair share of credit for restoring some hope to a moribund franchise. They surely deserve it, as they were directly responsible for bringing starting pitchers Jason Hammel and Wei-Yin Chen to Baltimore, as well as relievers Matt Lindstrom and Luis Ayala, who have helped to anchor a rejuvenated bullpen.
But Duquette did not have to blow up this team to achieve this early-season success. Former...
Watching the Orioles-Nationals series play out over such a gorgeous weekend, with so much fine young talent on both sides of the diamond, it was hard not to project into it something more than just another interleague squabble. With Baltimore sitting comfortably atop the American League East and Washington still within hailing distance of the top of the National League East, well, sweet dreams are made of this.
On Sunday afternoon, it looked at first as if the Orioles might be the only real...
With great wins and exciting baseball, it may seem easy for many to focus on the positives. However, the other day I received a tweet that asked what was going wrong with the Orioles' defense.
The Battle of the Beltways behind them, the Orioles have emerged from the weekend tied with the Dodgers for the most wins in baseball. The Birds also lead the majors in home runs with 64. However, there is one glaring statistic that the Orioles should not be so proud of: leading the league in errors...
At 19 years, 211 days old, Bryce Harper wasn't even old enough to buy a beer to celebrate his first major league home run this week. The more than 400-foot blast off San Diego's Tim Stauffer, in Harper's 15th major league game and 54th at-bat, not only added to his lore but evoked memories of another vaunted prospect's first homer, almost 41 years earlier.
Like Harper, Jeff Burroughs was the first overall pick in the amateur draft when the Washington Senators selected him in 1969. And like...
Of course you know that the Orioles are playing well above average so far during the 2012 season. But did you notice that it's been an above-average season for Eutaw Street home runs, as well? Batters have hit an average of three Eutaw Street home runs per season since Camden Yards opened in 1992; four such homers have already been hit this year.
Eric Thames of the Blue Jays got things started on April 24. He was followed just four days later by the Orioles' Chris Davis on April 28. Thanks...
The Orioles are fast approaching the quarter-pole of the 2012 season, and I'm sure many fans are asking themselves these questions:
Are the Orioles for real? Can they keep this up? Or are they pulling the wool over our eyes, and will the team that we've seen for the last 14 years make an appearance?
Right now, I'd say they are for real. I am still having a hard time believing it.
The Orioles are winning games that would not have won in the past, plus they are getting excellent starting...