LOS ANGELES - The fateful bottom of the eighth - specifically Yasmani Grandal's towering, game-changing, three-run homer off Tanner Roark - will show up in every highlight reel late tonight and into tomorrow. And certainly it deserves that treatment, because it was the obvious difference in the Dodgers' 3-2 victory over the Nationals. But the less obvious difference in this game, the overriding factor that left Roark in position to lose the game on one swing, came during the previous 7 1/2...

Ubaldo Jimenez has gone from demoted starter to potential stopper. In case you've forgotten, baseball is a funny game. Jimenez retired one Toronto batter on June 12 and was sent to the bullpen, where he made one appearance against the Blue Jays that also was unacceptable. Five runs and four hits in 2 1/3 innings. Two walks and two home runs. Nothing about the outing spelled relief. Get him away from the Blue Jays. Get him back into the rotation, at least temporarily while the Padres are in...

The Orioles' trek to Texas and back has resulted so far in two losses the last two days - two losses in games where the Orioles held three-run leads. Tonight, they went to the seventh ahead of last-place San Diego 6-3. But they saw the Padres score the game's next seven runs to win 10-7. O's closer Zach Britton was asked if the tough travel back and forth to Texas contributed to tonight's loss. "I mean, that's an easy excuse," Britton said. "But baseball is a tough grind, our schedule...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter announced that Ubaldo Jimenez will start Wednesday night against the Padres at Camden Yards. The decision was made following tonight's game. Odrisamer Despaigne recorded the final out in the top of the ninth to officially eliminate him from consideration. Left-hander Brian Duensing remains a candidate to go on the disabled list with a sore elbow, and Showalter indicated that the Orioles could recall someone on Wednesday who hasn't been down the minimum 10...

The Padres came to Camden Yards with a last-place record but with an offense that was showing signs of life this month. The Orioles got a good look at it tonight. The Padres scored four runs in the top of the seventh against the O's bullpen to rally past the Orioles 10-7 at Camden Yards. The O's have lost back-to-back games to fall to 40-30. They held a three-run lead in each of those games. But with the Red Sox also losing, the O's maintain a one-game lead atop the American League East. On...

LOS ANGELES - It took Bryce Harper 2 1/2 months to hit his first opposite-field homer of the season. It took him only five days to hit his second. Harper took Scott Kazmir deep to left field in the top of the first inning tonight at Dodger Stadium, giving the Nationals an early 1-0 lead with yet another encouraging sign the once-slumping MVP is getting his stroke back. Harper went the other way on Kazmir's 2-1 pitch, sending it beyond left fielder Howie Kendrick's leap and beyond the fence....

Say cheese! We're giving fans the chance to meet Adam Jones and have your photo taken with him at Dempsey's Brew Pub & Restaurant this Friday! This event is completely free, but you must be following us on Twitter to enter! We've released a virtual ticket on Twitter, and you must show it in order to get in line for the event. You can start to line up at 2:30 p.m., and the photo shoot kicks off at 3 p.m. The first 75 people in line at Dempsey's are guaranteed a FREE photo with Adam that...

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals don't know yet if Stephen Strasburg will be able to make his next scheduled start, but they don't intend to wait til the last minute to make a decision the way they did Monday night when they scratched the right-hander about 90 minutes before first pitch with an upper back strain. For now, the Nationals are hoping Strasburg will be able to go Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee, slotting back into his original spot in the rotation. But for that to happen, they'll likely...

I've arrived at Camden Yards, appreciative that the 38-minute rain delay allowed me to take my usual seat in the press box before first pitch. My 12:15 p.m. flight out of Raleigh, N.C. was cancelled "due to weather." Except that it would have arrived in Baltimore while the sun was out. Purchasing a rental car and driving here was sound in theory, except that multiple accidents in Northern Virginia turned I-95 into a parking lot and the trip into a seven-hour excursion from hell. The airline...

With the Orioles adding right-handed reliever Oliver Drake to their roster today, manager Buck Showalter said one challenge for Drake in the past at the big league level has been the ability to pitch multiple innings. "You'd like to have the people you bring up be able to pitch multiple innings," Showalter said. "And when Ollie is taking 20 to 30 pitches to get through an inning, you can't do that. And he has been much more efficient with that. That was a point of emphasis for him when he...