Manager Dusty Baker appears to be going with the closer-by-committee approach as the team waits for the return of closer Jonathan Papelbon. In last night's late game against the Padres, Tanner Roark gave Baker six innings, allowing four runs. Blake Treinen arrived in the seventh and was able to get out of the frame. Treinen pitched around a hit and a walk with two strikeouts. Felipe Rivero somehow managed to fight through the eighth. Despite being unable to throw strikes, he was able to strike...

We hope you've stayed hungry because the Fan Challenge is back! We're already salivating at this year's challenge: Can you prepare a better ballpark-themed menu item than Adam Jones? Maybe you have a famous recipe for nachos that will make us weak in the knees, a sandwich that will have us licking every last drop of sauce off our fingers or a burger that makes all others taste like utter disappointment. Whatever it is, it's time to whip up your best dish and show us what you're made of!...

I promised my dad, as he laid on what could have been his death bed some 18 months ago, that we would do the Father's Day Catch on the Field if he survived his cardiac arrest. I wrote about it back then. This Sunday, I'll make good on that promise as my dad and I will join several other fathers and sons with stories of their own to have a catch at Camden Yards. Dad got a second chance at life. Now I have a chance to make it right with what would have been a missed opportunity. I've...

Manager: John Gibbons (9th season) Record: 38-31 Last 10 games: 7-3 Who to watch: LF Michael Saunders (.307, 67 hits), 3B Josh Donaldson (.276, 16 HR, 43 RBIs), DH Edwin Encarnacion (18 HR, 61 RBIs), RHP Aaron Sanchez (6-1, 3.38 ERA), RHP Marcus Stroman (6-2, 4.76 ERA), RHP Roberto Osuna (1.84 ERA, 13 saves) Season series vs. Orioles: 4-3 Pitching probables: June 17: RHP Aaron Sanchez vs. RHP Mike Wright, 7:05 p.m., MASNJune 18: RHP R.A. Dickey vs. RHP Yovani Gallardo, 4:05 p.m., MASNJune 19:...

The Nationals have been waiting for Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon to start hitting like Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon again. With each passing day, it looks like both stars are finding their way back to their old selves. Harper and Rendon each played a key role in last night's 8-5 win in San Diego, but it was more than the mere production they contributed (Harper homered and drove in three runs, Rendon also homered). It was the manner in which they produced that was particularly striking,...

The home run has become such a big part of the Nationals' offensive attack, they're even managing to hit them in bunches in one of baseball's most spacious ballparks. With three more homers tonight, the Nationals outslugged the Padres 8-5, fazed not one bit by the expanded dimensions at Petco Park. Bryce Harper and Wilson Ramos hit back-to-back opposite-field shots in the top of the third. Anthony Rendon added a solo blast in the sixth, raising the Nats' season total to 91 homers, tops in...

As the Orioles head home coming off a big series win in Boston, they will be greeted by another big series with the hard-charging Toronto Blue Jays. The American League East is now a three-team race, with the Orioles (38-27) leading the Red Sox (37-28) by one game and the Jays (38-31) by two games. The Blue Jays match the Orioles in the win column, but are four back in the loss column. For all the talk about how good Boston's offense is and how its young players have come on, and they have,...

BOSTON - Another road trip is in the books, with the Orioles going a combined 3-4 in Toronto and Boston. They've escaped hotel life again, but not their division. The Blue Jays are back after taking three of four games at Rogers Centre. This isn't the suggested method for lowering a rotation's ERA, though Tyler Wilson let some air leak out last night. (Not a euphemism. Still talking about the staff ERA.) Mike Wright gets another shot at them after allowing four runs and six hits in five...

Drafted by Atlanta in the 26th round of the 1967 draft, Dusty Baker played eight seasons with the Braves and 19 total in the majors before he started coaching and began his second career in the game. Twenty-one seasons in as a major league manager, Baker has seen some things. He's got stories, and he's willing to share them, which he does on an almost-daily basis, dipping into his personal history with some of the all-time greats to explain his thinking or offer anecdotes or explanations for...

"One Man's Meat" by E.B. White is a piece of literary history. It reflects on a time when words mattered and writing was an art to be treasured. Is it anymore? White was an essayist, poet, writer and an editor at the finest magazines this country has ever had: the New Yorker, Harpers's Magazine and The Atlantic Monthly. I often pick his works up as a reminder of the power of language when used with care. I also pick it up after reading to the kids his classic, "Charlottes' Web." Usually...