The common refrain emanating from the Nationals clubhouse over the last several weeks has been one of optimism. As bad as things have gone, they to a man insist there's still time to salvage this season. Really, what else are they supposed to say? Nobody's going to publicly give up on Memorial Day weekend. And if you're a professional athlete, you have to believe anything is possible. It's the only way to be successful in that line of work. But we try to deal in facts here, and the simple...

So the Orioles had chances to win a couple of games in the series with the New York Yankees, but they went 0-4. They've now lost six in a row and take a 15-35 record into their game in Colorado tonight. As the losses mount, some fans in Birdland are venting, but to me, it appears a large segment of Birdland expected exactly this. They knew rebuilding would be painful in the won-loss column and they actually get it. They want to see some positives and they have and they are not yet getting too...

While I'm not aware of any scientific studies on the topic, I'm certain that most pitchers love to hit. Or think that they can. You'll stumble across a few exceptions, much like the haters trying to get out of the batter's box. Former Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen is 7-for-98 with 42 strikeouts and he comes by it honestly. He'd rather step on broken glass in his bare feet than step to the plate. John Means would walk on broken glass to get to it. OK, that might be an exaggeration, but...

Down to their final six outs to avoid a four-game sweep, the Orioles bat came to life today. They tied the game. But that just led to another frustrating loss when right-hander Mychal Givens walked in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth. The New York Yankees won 6-5 to complete a four-game sweep and improve to 7-0 this year at Camden Yards and to 10-2 versus the Orioles with nine straight wins. They've won 12 in a row in Baltimore dating to last year. Givens came on in the ninth after the...

The Orioles had to believe that today would be different. They rallied for four runs in the eighth inning to tie the game, the last three coming on Renato Núñez's homer, the ball jumping off a resuscitated bat. Gleyber Torres and Gary Sánchez came off the bench in the ninth and settled for a walk and single, respectively. That's tame stuff. But that's how the Orioles began to drift toward another loss and a four-game sweep. Mychal Givens also walked DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Hicks to...

NEW YORK - The Nationals came to Flushing at the start of the week believing they had an opportunity to get their season back on track with a four-game series against a Mets club in complete disarray and with a manager in danger of being fired. They left town this afternoon having been swept in embarrassing fashion, having fallen to depths this franchise hasn't experienced in nine years and with serious questions about the status of their own embattled manager, who let all of his frustrations...

Like most of their peers, students at the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy are counting down the days until summer vacation begins. When the weather warms up and the days until the end of school grow shorter, kids tend to get restless. How best to combat this development? How about a surprise visit from a former president? On Wednesday, the scholar-athletes at the Youth Baseball Academy were celebrating the end of the school year when President Barack Obama stopped by. Obama enjoyed...

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said he expects outfielder Keon Broxton to join the club Friday in Colorado, which will require a corresponding roster move. A position player is more likely to be removed with the Orioles trying to compensate for a lack of pitching depth. Hyde repeated that Stevie Wilkerson will stay busy. Broxton's arrival won't impact his roster spot or bury him on the bench. "They're all going to play," Hyde said. "Stevie's going to play. I think Trey (Mancini) has had...

The Orioles need a win this afternoon to avoid getting swept in a series for the fifth time this year. The first four have come twice against New York and twice against Minnesota. The Orioles lost three straight at Camden Yards to the Yankees from April 4-7. They were swept in a doubleheader, which technically counts as a series, on May 15 at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles are 3-10-2 in 15 series this year, going 1-5-1 at home and 2-5-1 on the road. Today they are trying to break a five-game...

NEW YORK - There's only one regular member of the Nationals lineup still on the injured list, but it looks like he might be there a while longer. Ryan Zimmerman, who had been progressing in his rehab from plantar fasciitis, has backed off after feeling pain in his right foot while attempting to run in recent days. Davey Martinez stopped short of referring to it as a setback. "No, just the normal soreness," the manager said. "We told him to back off. He's been getting extensive treatment on...