The Orioles today announced that Adrienne Roberson has been named the club's new public address announcer, the first female voice in franchise history. She is the fourth active female PA announcer in Major League Baseball, joining Renel Brooks-Moon (San Francisco Giants), Marysol Castro (New York Mets), and Amelia Schimmel (Oakland Athletics). "This is a dream come true, and I am honored to be the next voice of Oriole Park at Camden Yards," said Roberson. "To be able to cultivate my...

It's been a while since the Nationals opened a season with a reliable bullpen. How long? Try five years. Way back in 2016, if anyone can remember ancient history, Dusty Baker's relief corps enjoyed a dominant April. That group ended the season's opening month with a 2.53 ERA and 1.03 WHIP, led by Jonathan Papelbon's eight saves, Shawn Kelley's 0.00 ERA and contributions from the likes of Blake Treinen, Matt Belisle, Oliver Pérez and Yusmeiro Petit. Yeah, things have changed just a bit...

If we use the stat OPS - on-base plus slugging - the 2020 Orioles look a lot better than the 2021 club. And it's not very close. Counting all batters - qualifiers and non-qualifiers - the 2020 Orioles had six players with an OPS of .800 or better and two at .900 plus. And another player at .791. This year's club has just two players at .800 or above through 18 games and just four players on the entire club at .704 or above. Yep, only four players at .704 or above. Yikes. Last year's club had...

The Orioles are back to work tonight, moving past multiple breaks in the schedule this week and beginning a stretch of seven games in a row at home and six straight on the West Coast. A pause in the middle would have made more sense, but the Orioles play when they're told. The weekend starters are unsettled. Jorge López goes tonight, but the Orioles are TBD for the next two games. Dean Kremer was optioned, but left-hander John Means should be starting Saturday on an extra days' rest. Matt...

Today, the Washington Nationals and first baseman Josh Bell announced the start of Josh Bell's Book Club, a monthly book club for adults focused on self-improvement. Each month throughout the 2021 season, Josh will lead an hour-long, virtual discussion about a book that he has selected to feature in the club. Josh has purposefully chosen books for the club that offer concepts, mindsets, and inspiration for being and becoming better people, reflected in the tagline for the program: "Books....

To suggest the Nationals' season to date has been anything but a disappointment would be inaccurate and a far too rosy view of the situation. Between injuries, pitching blowups, struggling regulars and some really ugly games, there have been a lot of negative developments already in the last 2 1/2 weeks. And yet, when you consider all that has befallen this team in such a short amount of time, and the stiff competition it has faced through the season's first 16 games, it's not unreasonable...

So the Orioles have played about 11 percent of the 2021 season. That is a sample, but a small one. Can we make any judgments from that? We can, but you run the risk of being wrong. Well, that's never stopped us before. At 8-10, the Orioles are playing .444 baseball. That is better than their .417 win percentage from last year when they were 25-35. A team playing at a win percentage of .444 for a full season would go 72-90. That is probably better than many projected. And maybe better than...

Max Scherzer still has it, thank you very much. And the Nationals bullpen still has some intestinal fortitude, in case you were wondering. On a cold, windy late afternoon in which their offense asked them to make one early run hold up, Scherzer and three Nats relievers did just that, eking out a 1-0 victory over the Cardinals by the skin of their teeth to capture their second series in a week from St. Louis. "We'd like to win by more," Scherzer said on Zoom afterward. "But hey, sometimes...

The Orioles closed out their road trip yesterday with the bullpen tossing 3 1/3 scoreless innings. One inherited runner crossed the plate in a 3-0 loss to the Marlins. Relievers began the day with a 3.55 ERA that ranked sixth in the American League and eighth in the majors. Opponents were batting .228. They left Miami with the ERA down to 3.38. Cole Sulser was responsible for the inherited runner scoring on Adam Duvall's two-out single, but he hasn't allowed a run of his own in 4 1/3 innings...

Orioles catcher Pedro Severino and manager Brandon Hyde gave rookie pitcher Bruce Zimmermann the same encouraging, and perhaps consoling, pat on the backside today - in rapid succession as if rehearsed - after he handed over the baseball and turned toward the dugout. Zimmermann sat on the bench expressionless in the fifth inning, staring straight ahead, as captured by the MASN cameras. He could have been thinking about the elevated fastball that Jesús Aguilar lined into left-center field for...