It's been a dreary couple of weeks in D.C., but here's some good news: The skies are supposed to clear later this afternoon and there may even be a bit of sunshine when the Nationals take the field at 7:05 p.m. for the opener of their weekend series with the Marlins. This is a four-games-in-three-days series, with a day-night doubleheader tomorrow to make up the game that was rained out way back in the season's first week. The Nationals haven't yet announced who's pitching when tomorrow,...

The Orioles didn't make many changes to their lineup for tonight's game against the Tigers. Matt Wieters is behind the plate instead of Caleb Joseph. Wieters also will catch on Saturday. Joey Rickard, Adam Jones and Mark Trumbo comprise the outfield again and Pedro Alvarez is the designated hitter. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, last night marked the first Orioles victory after trailing by at least five runs in the sixth inning or later since May 10, 2013. Mike Pelfrey also started...

We are currently witnessing the most powerful era in Orioles history. It is not only that this year's team is sending baseballs flying out of the ballpark in bunches before the temperature even heats up. Baltimore's power surge has run for five seasons now after a relative drought of home runs in the early 2000s. It is a period that rivals any stretch in team history. The Orioles have had at least one player with 30 home runs in every decade of their post-St. Louis Browns existence. It has...

Think what you will about the decision the Washington Nationals made back in 2012, when they shut down a then-24-year-old Stephen Strasburg late in the season, as planned from the start that year, but the decision GM Mike Rizzo and the front office made played a part in the 27-year-old signing a seven-year extension with the team that drafted him with the No.1 overall pick of the 2009 Draft. They also came within a strike of the 2012 NLCS without him, of course. But the Nats' choice to shut...

The more he continues to play well at an incredibly high level, it seems the more Orioles players are getting questions about Manny Machado. What has been behind his great season, they are being asked. A couple of Machado's teammates fielded such questions yesterday including outfielder Mark Trumbo. He played with Mike Trout, now he plays with Manny. What impresses him so far about Machado? "He takes care of what he needs to take care of," Trumbo said. "He's got a nice routine and he knows...

While doing a little research leading up to tonight's Orioles-Tigers game, I took special interest in two statistics that shall be highlighted here. Chris Tillman has surrendered only one home run this season. Justin Verlander has never lost at Camden Yards. Rays third baseman Evan Longoria homered off Tillman in the first inning of an April 8 game at Camden Yards, which continued his pattern of dominance. He's hit seven off Tillman in 54 career at-bats. No one else has taken Tillman deep...

It got lost in the shuffle easily Wednesday night amid Max Scherzer's 20 strikeouts, Jordan Zimmermann's return to Washington and Bryce Harper's one-game suspension, but Daniel Murphy's torrid start to the season hit yet another high-water mark. With a 3-for-4 night in the Nationals' 3-2 win over the Tigers, Murphy raised his batting average to .409. Yes, that's .409. A number that is no small accomplishment. Of course there's way too much baseball left to start thinking about Murphy...

The Orioles rallied from five runs down to win tonight and they did it without hitting a single home run. Pedro Alvarez, whose single tied the game 5-5 in the seventh, said no one should be surprised by that. The Orioles won by hitting 10 singles, a double and a triple and by going 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position. "I mean this is a team that is perfectly capable of scoring runs without hitting home runs," Alvarez said. "Obviously everyone likes to see home runs, but this is a team...

So much for hitting back-to-back home runs and outmuscling the opposition. The Orioles took a shorter route to victory tonight, collecting 10 singles among their 12 hits and rallying past the Tigers 7-5 at Camden Yards. They were down 5-0 heading to the bottom of the sixth, where they scored twice to set up the decisive seventh. Nine batters, five singles, a triple and five runs. The Tigers' bullpen imploded again. The Orioles hit 12 home runs in their last three games, but they used a...

On a night they got a poor outing from their starting pitcher, did not hit a home run and fell behind by five runs, the Orioles still won. They ran their win streak to five games tonight beating the Detroit Tigers 7-5 in the series and homestand opener at Camden Yards. Trailing 5-0, the Orioles scored twice in the sixth and then added five runs in the seventh to rally to victory. They improved to 21-12 and are a season-high nine games over .500. The Orioles have outscored their opponents 37-15...