TORONTO - Orioles manager Buck Showalter once again left Chris Davis out of the starting lineup tonight as the Orioles face Toronto lefty J.A. Happ. Davis is batting .152/.232/.232 with four doubles, four homers and 15 RBIs. While he is batting just .174 (4-for-23) against Happ for his career, Davis obviously isn't hitting anyone right now. His last homer was May 9, and in that 22-game stretch since then, he has just two RBIs. Davis right now is just showing no signs or progress of any kind....

The two biggest Nationals fans of the Capitals' Stanley Cup run over these last few weeks have undoubtedly been starting pitcher Max Scherzer and manager Davey Martinez. Scherzer, who led the "Let's Go Caps!" cheer alongside teammate Ryan Zimmerman prior to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals on Monday in D.C., said he was so thrilled to see them finally push through and win the title. "It's unbelievable," Scherzer said. "Just to see the city, the fans and the team themselves. What...

Adam Eaton was back at Nationals Park this afternoon. And all signs point to the outfielder being in the Nationals lineup Saturday afternoon. Eligible to come off the 60-day disabled list today, Eaton remained inactive as he went through a full pregame workout with his teammates before tonight's series opener against the Giants. But manager Davey Martinez strongly suggested the transaction will happen within the next 18 hours, provided Eaton emerged from the workout in good shape. "He is...

TORONTO - Orioles reliever Darren O'Day rejoined the club today after spending a few days with the Single-A Frederick Keys and pitching twice at Woodbridge, Va., against the Washington Nationals' Potomac farm team. O'Day has been on the disabled list, retroactive to May 6, with a hyperextended right elbow. When he pitched for the Keys on Tuesday, he walked three batters, got just two outs and saw all three runs score on a grand slam after he left the game. But last night, he pitched a...

The offensive funk that followed Chris Davis into the 2018 season won't leave him. It's wrapped around him like a scarf. Davis went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts last night in Toronto and is batting .152/.232/.232 with four doubles, four home runs, 15 RBIs and nine runs scored in 220 plate appearances. He's drawn 19 walks and struck out 81 times. The Orioles are facing a left-hander tonight, J.A. Happ, as their series continues in Toronto and Davis is on the bench. Trey Mancini moves to...

So, there's a sporting event taking place tonight in Washington. It's not as big as some other sporting events that have been going on in town of late. But it's not bad, either, with the first-place Nationals hosting the Giants in the opener of a three-game weekend series, one that could feature a cameo appearance by Lord Stanley himself at some point. Stephen Strasburg gets the ball for tonight's game, and surprisingly it's his first start against the Giants in two years. He'll have the...

TORONTO - After blowing a lead in the ninth and losing in the 10th last night, the Orioles return to Rogers Centre tonight looking to bounce back with a win against the Toronto Blue Jays. It's the second game of a four-game series. The Orioles (19-42) will have 100 games remaining after this one. Last night they fell short in a bid for a season-high three-game road winning streak. They have lost eight of 10, 10 of 14 and 14 of the last 20 games. Toronto began this series having lost seven of...

Playing the "on pace for" game is dangerous for any sports fan. A team that reels off a bunch of wins early could be on pace for one of the best seasons ever. Remember the Dodgers last season? They had a 44-7 stretch that went from June to August and put them on a pace to win more games than any team in history. They finished 2017 12 wins shy of 116. Sure, it was a good season, but it wasn't what we were all expecting. We see this type of stuff all the time when hitters get hot at the plate....

Maybe we can set aside for the moment the fact that manager Buck Showalter gambled and lost, pitching Brad Brach three days in a row. And also leaving him in too long when he was struggling. If we could put aside a blown three-run lead in the ninth and the latest gut-punch loss we can realize that something pretty neat happened last night at Rogers Centre. The Orioles sent out a rookie battery of catcher Austin Wynns, drafted in round 10 in 2013 out of Fresno State and pitcher David Hess,...

I really didn't have much of an opinion of Washington as a sports town before I moved here in 2001. I knew the Redskins had won three Super Bowls and were the biggest deal in this city. I knew the Capitals made the playoffs most years and had been swept by the Red Wings in the 1998 Stanley Cup Final. To be honest, I didn't know much about the Bullets/Wizards. And I knew that with no baseball team in the District, a lot of people were fans of the Orioles, a model franchise for decades that was...