NEW YORK - Patrick Corbin pitched well enough in his season debut to earn the win. He did not get the win. Patrick Corbin again pitched well enough in his second start of the season to earn the win. Again he did not get the win. One of these days, Corbin will be rewarded for his efforts. Until then, all the Nationals left-hander can do is keep putting his team in position to win and hope the rest of the squad fulfills its duty. "We have confidence in our team," Corbin said Saturday after...

NEW YORK - The sight of Wilmer Difo rounding the bases, slapping his hands together in excitement, the crowd of 35,156 at Citi Field booing after the Nationals' backup shortstop gave his team a two-run lead with an upper-deck home run in the top of the eighth, should have brought joy to anyone rooting for the visitors in this afternoon's contest with the Mets. And yet nobody would fault anybody for reacting to Difo's surprise blast with feelings of nausea. Why? Because it merely meant the...

After starting the season 4-1 followed by back-to-back losses to Toronto and the New York Yankees, the Orioles host New York again tonight. It's game two of a three-game series and seven-game homestand to begin the home schedule. In Thursday's home opener, New York bashed four homers in an 8-4 win. The Orioles led 4-1 in the fifth inning, but the Yankees scored the game's final seven runs. They hit a pair of three-run homers off the Baltimore bullpen as Gleyber Torres connected off Mike...

Dan Straily will begin his Orioles career in the bullpen before he's deemed ready to enter the starting rotation. It shouldn't take long, and his inclusion will give the club five starters and slam the brakes on the opener experiment. "He's a guy who eats innings, has a really good slider, knows how to pitch, just a competitor and so we're really excited to have him," said manager Brandon Hyde. "We're going to work him into (starting). He hasn't pitched in a competitive situation in a...

Right-hander Dan Straily's addition to the Orioles will no doubt be welcomed throughout the clubhouse, and maybe most by a bullpen that has been extremely busy through the first seven games. Manager Brandon Hyde said Straily may initially make some bullpen appearances, but he's headed for the rotation as soon as he's stretched out enough for that. Straily, 30, went 5-6 with a 4.12 ERA for Miami last year. Over his past three seasons he has worked to a 4.03 ERA over 495 1/3 innings with an...

NEW YORK - There isn't much you can definitively say about a baseball season after only seven games, but here's one point that appears safe to say even at this super-early juncture: Every single National League East game - perhaps except for those involving the Marlins - is going to be an absolute grind in 2019. It's April 6 and already the Nationals have played seven games against the Mets and Phillies, and every single one has felt like a late-September showdown with postseason berths on...

New Orioles pitcher Dan Straily met with manager Brandon Hyde this afternoon and fielded questions form the media for about four minutes in front of his locker, his eagerness to pitch evident after signing a one-year deal yesterday. "The Orioles called me right away," he said. "They said, 'Here's our offer for you. If this is something you're interested in let us know,' so it materialized pretty quickly once we kind of had that going. "For me, I was more interested in starting games...

Chris Davis and Rio Ruiz are out of the Orioles lineup for tonight's game against the Yankees, who are starting left-hander J.A. Happ. Hanser Alberto is playing third base. Trey Mancini is at first base and Joey Rickard is in right and batting second. Dwight Smith Jr. moves down to fifth. Cedric Mullins is in the lineup versus a lefty, batting ninth as the center fielder. Richie Martin moves up to eighth. Pedro Severino is catching. Dylan Bundy is facing the Yankees again after allowing three...

NEW YORK - If the season was two or three weeks old, perhaps Davey Martinez would construct his lineup based on trends instead of track records. But the season is only one week old, and so for now, the Nationals manager is going to put his faith in track records over trends. The trends suggest Victor Robles shouldn't be hitting ninth and Brian Dozier shouldn't be batting second. But with only six games of evidence to make decisions on, Martinez believes the right path right now is to stick...

NEW YORK - And we're back. It's been a very odd schedule to begin this season, with three days off already. But now the Nationals finally get into a consistent routine, with five consecutive game days beginning this afternoon at Citi Field. The Nats will look to make it three in a row and get over the .500 mark for the first time this season. They'll have Patrick Corbin on the mound to make his second start, each of them against the Mets. The new lefty was solid his debut Sunday afternoon, a...