With an ERA that ranks in the top 10 in the National League and an FIP that is top 20, Gio Gonzalez has looked really good this season. But he's not the good, old Gonzalez of 2013, who placed third in Cy Young voting and led the league in strikeouts/nine innings. He is pitching to contact more this season, striking out and walking fewer batters. He's on pace for a K/9 rate of 7.5 and walks/nine innings rate of 2.6, both career lows, well below career rates of 8.8 and 2.6, respectively. His...

Orioles reliever Mychal Givens pitched his latest solid outing on Sunday against Detroit. He threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts and is now 2-0 with an ERA of 2.25 over 15 games. "Just trying to bounce back each time, just take one pitch at a time. Trying to get ahead and stay ahead and put the pressure on the hitters," Givens said. After allowing three runs over his first two outings, he has given up just one earned run over 14 innings in his past 13 appearances. The...

NEW YORK - As the at-bats continue to be squandered and runners continue to be left on base, it becomes more and more appropriate to question what the Nationals can do to try to inject some life into a lineup that too often early this season has been anemic. Dusty Baker has tried to tweak his batting order. He swapped Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman. He swapped Jayson Werth and Anthony Rendon. That hasn't made much difference so far. Ben Revere came back from an oblique strain, replacing the...

NEW YORK - There are three conventional ways to score runs in baseball. You can string together several hits in an inning. You can try to manufacture with small ball. Or you can hit the ball out of the park. The Nationals proved adept at none of the three tonight. The Mets proved adept only at the latter. And that was this game in a nutshell: a 2-0 New York victory made possible by two solo homers off an otherwise dominant Max Scherzer, combined with no real offensive attack by Washington...

Orioles lefty reliever Brian Matusz had allowed four runs in his first six appearances this season. Tonight he allowed four runs in just 1 2/3 innings as the Orioles got routed 10-0 by Seattle. It was the O's largest shutout loss since a 11-0 defeat against Houston on July 31, 2013 at Camden Yards. It was their largest shutout loss versus Seattle since 11-0 on May 20, 2004. Called on to face lefty hitting Kyle Seager with two on in the fifth inning, Matusz allowed a three-run homer on an 0-2...

The Orioles have two serious pitching issues and no easy solution. Ubaldo Jimenez is carrying a 5.60 ERA in 45 innings. You need a kidney belt when hauling that kind of weight. He's been charged with 10 earned runs (11 total) and 14 hits and walked eight batters in his last two starts covering 9 1/3 innings. That's bad no matter the quality of your math skills. Fans calling for the Orioles to DFA Jimenez need to understand that he's also quite good periodically and he's still owed the rest...

The Orioles didn't pitch tonight and they didn't hit. If not for the fielding, including a spectacular running, leaping catch by Joey Rickard in right field that ended with him slamming against the wall, the night would have been a total loss. Fortunately for the Orioles, this game only counts as one, no matter how ugly. Ubaldo Jimenez was charged with six runs in 4 1/3 innings, and Brian Matusz let two inherited runners score and four of his own in 1 2/3 innings. Mariners left-hander Wade...

Coming into tonight, O's starting pitchers had put together a solid run to help the team move 10 games over .500. But that run did not continue. Allowing four or more runs for the third time in his last four starts, Ubaldo Jimenez got knocked out with one out in the fifth as the Seattle Mariners routed the Orioles 10-0 to start a three-game series. Following Jimenez to the mound, lefty reliever Brian Matusz could not stop the Mariners from scoring. He gave up five runs and two homers over 1...

NEW YORK - Max Scherzer was good. Not 20-strikeout good. But more than good enough to win most nights. Just not on nights when Noah Syndergaard is this good. Syndergaard tossed seven scoreless innings, striking out 10 without issuing any walks and outdueling Scherzer, whose two solo homers allowed proved the difference in the Nationals' 2-0 loss to the Mets in the first matchup of 2016 between the National League East's last two champions. The opener of this series, which also featured Daniel...

NEW YORK - Max Scherzer is striking out opposing hitters again. Unfortunately, he's also giving up home runs again. Scherzer's return to the mound following his historic 20-strikeout performance last week has looked awfully familiar so far. Through three innings, he has struck out four, but Curtis Granderson's leadoff homer in the first and Michael Conforto's solo homer in the third have left the right-hander and the Nationals in a 2-0 hole. Granderson pounced on Scherzer's very first...