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David Huzzard: Slow start has Marlins fishing for answers

April 22, 2015, 6:13pm

It's still very early in the baseball season, too early to count any team out or call into question anyone's spring training predictions, but the Marlins have the worst record in baseball and could be on the verge of changing managers. One of the main reasons for this is that Marlins starting pitching is not very good. They came into Wednesday's action sporting a 5.30 ERA, with Dan Haren their best starting pitcher so far. If people weren't so enamored with the Marlins outfield and paid...

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Marty Niland: A veteran club like the Nats shouldn't be playing like this

April 26, 2015, 6:36pm

Nationals

Marty Niland: A veteran club like the Nats shouldn't be playing like this

There are many ways to break out of a losing streak. A good way to extend one, however, is to make silly plays, something the Nationals have gotten good at during their current five-game skid. Let's review the fun, shall we? On Wednesday, after the Nats rally to tie the Cardinals at 5-5 with a five-run third, Bryce Harper, representing the go-ahead run, gets himself picked off first with Ryan Zimmerman at the plate looking for his third hit of the night. The Cards take the lead in their next...

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Zach Wilt: Still early in the marathon that is 162 games

April 22, 2015, 6:56pm

Orioles

Zach Wilt: Still early in the marathon that is 162 games

The Orioles have dropped three straight and fallen below .500 at 7-8 after Wednesday night's 4-2 loss in Toronto. They're 1-3 against the Blue Jays this season and 2-4 on their current road trip with Chris Tillman going tonight in the finale. The Birds have been outscored 24-9 during their current three-game skid and have committed eight errors over their last five contests. O's starters have gone 5 1/3 innings or less in their last six games. Are you panicked yet? Have I gotten you all...

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Matthew Taylor: Revisiting a date ripe with significance

April 24, 2015, 5:03am

Orioles

Matthew Taylor: Revisiting a date ripe with significance

Thursday night's Orioles game, a 7-6 loss to Toronto that extended the team's losing streak to four games, isn't much worth remembering. April 23 didn't turn out so well for the O's in 2015, so let's look back to a more memorable game that fell on the same date. Today's guest post revisits the Orioles' 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on April 23, 1969. One reason that 1969 game is significant is that it featured the two pitchers who would tie for the Cy Young Award at the end of the...

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Rachel Levitin: Seeing what Escobar is all about

April 22, 2015, 5:33am

Nationals

Rachel Levitin: Seeing what Escobar is all about

When the Nationals announced that right-handed reliever Tyler Clippard was traded to the Oakland Athletics for infielder Yunel Escobar in January, the public opinion was that folks were sad to see Clippard go. Teammates and fans alike were not ready to see their beloved eighth inning reliever (whose use of the song "Peaches" will always make this particular Nats baseball observer smile) trade in red, white, and blue for green and gold. But now that the 2015 season is a few weeks old, it's...

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Domenic Vadala: Ol' blue needs more common sense, better grasp of unwritten rules

April 21, 2015, 7:14pm

Orioles

Domenic Vadala: Ol' blue needs more common sense, better grasp of unwritten rules

We all saw what occurred with Ubaldo Jimenez on Friday night in Boston. I'll be very honest - my initial thought was that I didn't recall the last time (if ever) I had seen a pitcher thrown out of a game totally cold. No warning, no history of trouble, nothing. When the reports of the hard slide at second base started circulating, my personal opinion was that was a copout. In saying that, I mean that any hit batsman by an Orioles pitcher might have culminated in an ejection. Having said that,...

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Matt of Matt's Bats: Rafael Martin's long and winding road

April 21, 2015, 5:23am

Nationals

Matt of Matt's Bats: Rafael Martin's long and winding road

We are barely into the third week of baseball, but there is already a heartwarming story about one of the players on the Nationals, Rafael Martin. Martin's story is like something out of a rock and roll ballad. Martin almost let go of his dream of becoming a professional baseball player, but held on tightly, kept working hard and now he's a pitcher for the Nationals. Rafael Martin Romero was born on May 16, 1984, in San Fernando, Calif. That makes him about 31. He attended Jurupa Valley High...

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Matt Kremnitzer: Britton working toward dominance

April 21, 2015, 4:47am

Orioles

Matt Kremnitzer: Britton working toward dominance

In his first full year exclusively as a reliever in 2014, Zach Britton provided the Orioles with nearly everything they could have asked for. After Tommy Hunter flamed out as the team's closer (and was placed on the disabled list in late May), Britton seized control of the closer's role and never looked back. He posted a 1.65 ERA (and 3.13 FIP) in 76 1/3 innings, finished with a phenomenal groundball percentage of 75.3 (highest among all major league pitchers with at least 20 innings by a...

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Andrew Stetka: Sink or swim for Kevin Gausman

April 20, 2015, 4:59am

Orioles

Andrew Stetka: Sink or swim for Kevin Gausman

There were a ton of very important storylines entering the season for the Orioles, and two weeks in, not a whole lot has been solved or changed. The biggest one in my mind was the rotation, but it has quite a few tentacles to it. The first is how the overall performance of the unit will compare to last year, which I think many can agree was strong down the stretch. There's no doubt that a dropoff is expected among this group. The more obvious question was the simple fact that there are six...

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Marty Niland: Welcome back, Mr. Span

April 20, 2015, 4:44am

Nationals

Two weeks into the 2015 season, the Nationals lineup as it was envisioned at the start of spring training is beginning to take shape. The most recent addition - and the most welcome so far - was the return of leadoff man and center fielder Denard Span on Sunday. With all due respect to Michael A. Taylor and Yunel Escobar, the man who should have been named the most valuable Nat of 2014 has been restored to his rightful place. Span missed almost all of spring training and the first 12 games of...

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Matthew Taylor: On 40th birthday, a surprise return to innocence

April 17, 2015, 5:57am

Orioles

Matthew Taylor: On 40th birthday, a surprise return to innocence

I celebrated my birthday in the Frank Robinson Suite at Camden Yards last weekend. It was an atypical setting for my family - you usually need binoculars to locate us in the upper reaches of the stadium - but this was a milestone occasion. I'm not afraid to tell you that I turned 40 this month. In baseball terms, I'd be in the twilight of my career; regardless, Jesse Orosco would still call me kid in the clubhouse. Age is relative. The surprise trip to Camden Yards culminated three days of...

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David Huzzard: Nats' early-season bullpen struggles can be fixed

April 16, 2015, 6:36am

Nationals

David Huzzard: Nats' early-season bullpen struggles can be fixed

The Nationals' 3-6 record is not the fast start that fans wanted and experts expected, and the early struggles have been three-pronged. The offense took the first five games off, the defense has had issues catching and throwing the ball, and the bullpen has given away leads. Of the three, the offense has already started to turn with Jayson Werth off the disabled list, and Ryan Zimmerman and Bryce Harper's bats coming to life. The Nats' fielders are better players than they've shown so far...

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Zach Wilt: Free swinging serves Jones well in sizzling homestand

April 16, 2015, 6:17am

Orioles

Zach Wilt: Free swinging serves Jones well in sizzling homestand

When I sat on my couch last Wednesday to write my first piece of the season for MASNsports.com, Adam Jones had just one hit in his first 11 at-bats of the season. He was slashing a cool .091/.167/.182. So I instead focused my attention on Alejandro De Aza and the top of the order. In baseball, a lot can change in a week. The Orioles wrapped up their first homestand of 2015 and Jones absolutely raked in all six games. Against the Blue Jays, Jones collected seven hits in 10 at-bats and his first...

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Rachel Levitin: Nationals still searching for rhythm and momentum

April 15, 2015, 5:58am

Nationals

If spring training is the warm-up for the start of the season, I think it's safe to say April is the warm-up for the rest of baseball's marathon run from spring to fall. The Nationals are 2-6 to start their 2015 run and there have already been mumblings from various sources around Twitter and otherwise that have people begging the question: Is it time to start worrying? Let's just put this out there now and put that to rest: No, it's not time to start worrying. To be honest, I feel like...

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Domenic Vadala: What's more important, spending or spending wisely?

April 15, 2015, 5:43am

Orioles

Domenic Vadala: What's more important, spending or spending wisely?

We can't lend too much analysis to the first week-plus of games in the major leagues, given the fact that it's the first week. The fact that the 2014 Orioles started 1-4 should remind us of that. Furthermore, keep in mind that the 2014 O's hovered around a few games of .500 for the first two months or so of last season. And we all know how that ended. That said, on Monday night Orioles fans were forced to see one of their biggest weapons from 2014 turned on them in Andrew Miller. Yankees...

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Matt of Matt's Bats: Despite issues in field and at plate, Nats should come around

April 14, 2015, 5:01am

Nationals

Matt of Matt's Bats: Despite issues in field and at plate, Nats should come around

The Nationals have played seven games so far and have an unimpressive record of 2-5. When everyone is excited for baseball season to begin and expectations are so high that this team could win the division and even go to the World Series, it's disappointing that there have been so many sloppy plays and bad losses. However, there are also bright spots that people may not be noticing. Let's start by looking at what's going wrong, because that's what people are talking about. If Ian Desmond...

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Matt Kremnitzer: Should fans be concerned about the Webb trade?

April 14, 2015, 5:59am

Orioles

Matt Kremnitzer: Should fans be concerned about the Webb trade?

Last week, the Orioles were finally able to deal Ryan Webb, shipping him to the Dodgers along with catcher Brian Ward and the team's competitive balance draft pick (No. 74 overall) in exchange for right-handed reliever Ben Rowen and catcher Chris O'Brien. The Dodgers agreed to pick up the tab on the rest of Webb's $2.75 million contract, and then yesterday, they released him. The clear takeaway for the Dodgers is this: They really wanted the Orioles' draft pick and the extra draft pool...

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Matt of Matt's Bats: The Nationals through the eyes of a 10-year-old

April 08, 2015, 4:31pm

Nationals

Hello, Nationals fans! Aren't you happy baseball is back? My name is Matt, a 10-year-old kid from the D.C. suburbs. I am a huge Nats fan, so I am so excited to be writing for MASNsports.com this season. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the readers who may not know me. In July 2012, I started a blog called Matt's Bats, which you can find here. I started writing Matt's Bats because I became a huge fan of baseball after going to my first Nationals game in 2009. When I...

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Marty Niland: Three reasons Nats fans should remain optimistic

April 13, 2015, 4:59am

Nationals

Marty Niland: Three reasons Nats fans should remain optimistic

Repeat after me: "It's still early. ... It's a marathon, not a sprint. ... Nobody ever won a pennant in April. ... Three of our best hitters haven't played yet." Can we think of any other worn-out clichÃ©s to perk up the spirits of Nationals fans expecting more after a 2-4 first week? There are probably plenty. Quite a few have appeared on Nats message boards and discussion groups this year, almost as many as the number of posts pointing out mistakes the Washington fielders, hitters,...

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Andrew Stetka: Reflecting on Ubaldo Jimenez's strong start

April 13, 2015, 4:51am

Orioles

Andrew Stetka: Reflecting on Ubaldo Jimenez's strong start

The strongest start of the first five games of the season by an Orioles starter was turned in by the most unlikely of sources. Ubaldo Jimenez tossed an absolute gem of a game on Saturday night in a 7-1 win over the Blue Jays. He gave the Orioles everything they wanted. It's exactly the kind of performance they expected when they signed him to a big contract before last season. We've been watching Jimenez develop some new tendencies while on the mound since last September, and it seems to be...