Aníbal Sánchez will start Game 3 of the National League Division Series tonight, giving Max Scherzer an extra day to recover from his relief appearance before the Nationals ace likely starts Game 4 against the Dodgers on Monday. The Nationals had delayed making a decision on tonight's starter, wanting to see how Scherzer felt in the wake of his dominant, 14-pitch relief outing in Game 2 on Friday night. Originally announced as their Game 3 starter, Scherzer instead will be held back and...

Sometime late in 2003, a mean man decided I should no longer work as sports director at WBAL Radio and that I should exit stage right. So I did, not knowing what might come next. For a few years, it was broadcasting play-by-play on the radio for both the short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds and the Florida State Seminoles. I treasure the memories of working for both teams. So it was a bit jarring last night to learn of the passing of former Orioles catcher Andy Etchebarren at 76. Etch was...

The bizarre and unexpected story of Orioles infielder Hanser Alberto includes how he's first-time eligible for arbitration. And how that's actually an interesting development. Alberto made $578,000 this season and you can say he earned it. Lost and reclaimed via waivers in spring training, Alberto appeared in 139 games with the Orioles and that alone is a stunner. He wasn't supposed to beat out veteran Alcides Escobar for a utility infield job until he did. Jack Reinheimer and Zach Vincej...

The Nationals spent most of their Saturday in the sky, electing to get a full night's sleep in Los Angeles following their intense Game 2 win over the Dodgers and take a charter flight that wasn't scheduled to arrive back in Washington until after 8 p.m. It gave them plenty of time to think back to all the critical moments in Friday night's game at Dodger Stadium, all the moves that worked to even up the National League Division Series at one game apiece. It also gave them plenty of time to...

"Just have fun." It's almost as common a phrase as the "go 1-0 today" you pretty much hear every game day from Nationals manager Davey Martinez. And really the "fun" is more or less just relaxing at the plate, relaxing on the mound. But can you have fun before 53,086 at Dodger Stadium in the most important game of the year, after the Nationals had scored zero runs in the series opener? In the playoffs? Against a 106-win team that has been to back-to-back World Series? Easier said than...

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals have pitched 26 innings of postseason baseball so far this week, all of them high-stress, high-stakes innings, with one game officially must-win and another game ostensibly must-win. Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin have pitched 21 of those 26 innings. Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle have pitched another three. That's 24 of 26 innings, a staggering 92.3 percent, manned by those five key members of the staff, the five best members of the staff. "I...

LOS ANGELES - How much did the Nationals believe they needed to win Game 2 of the National League Division Series tonight? Enough to start Stephen Strasburg three days after he threw three innings of relief in the NL wild card game. And that wasn't even the biggest gamble Davey Martinez took this evening. No, Martinez felt victory tonight was so critical, he sent Game 3 starter Max Scherzer to the mound for the bottom of the eighth inning with his team leading by two runs. You think the Nats...

In an entry earlier this week I pointed out that the 2019 Orioles featured a league-average offense in the second half of the season. They hit better as the year went on. Today let's look at Major League Baseball and American League rankings in some stat categories for the entire year. In 2019 the Orioles produced these numbers: * 4.50 runs per game (22nd in MLB, 11th in AL) and MLB average was 4.83.* .246 batting average (tied for 20th in MLB, tied for 12th in AL) and MLB average was .252.*...

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals know they played loose all season, enjoying the moment even when they at times struggled. And they know they didn't play loose during Thursday night's 6-0 shutout loss to the Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Division Series. How, then, do they rediscover that essential mindset tonight while facing an even more pressure packed scenario, desperately trying to avoid falling behind 2-0 in the best-of-five series? Maybe a reappearance of the infamous camels from...

LOS ANGELES - If the Nationals are going to win tonight and even up this best-of-five series, they're going to have to score runs. That sounds like a "no, duh" statement, but it's a simple fact. They were shut out Thursday night in Game 1, and they really didn't hit much at all in their wild card win Tuesday night. They just need to find a way to put more runners on base, and then find a way to get as many of those runners as possible across the plate. That won't be an easy task against...