SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles played five scoreless innings today in their intrasquad game, the only hit an infield single by Ryan Flaherty. Flaherty sent a sharp ground ball up the middle that slammed off reliever Chaz Roe's foot. He also walked in two plate appearances. Henry Urrutia walked twice for the home team. Rule 5 pick Joey Rickard struck out twice, reached on an error by shortstop Ozzie Martinez and stole second base. Chance Sisco was hit on the shoulder by an Andy Oliver pitch, but...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Players Association leader Tony Clark is making the rounds again this spring, his latest stop coming this morning at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. He's headed to Bradenton later today to address the Pirates. The collective bargaining agreement ends on Dec. 1, which places greater importance on Clark's visits. Hot topics this morning included the qualifying offer, which players want to see eliminated. The Dexter Fowler fiasco, which Clark blamed on the "race to be...

VIERA, Fla. - It's a lazy Saturday morning here at Nationals camp, the doldrums of spring training starting to set in. Everyone is heading over to the back fields now for another full-squad workout, featuring the usual live BP sessions, defensive drills, etc. The biggest news of the morning so far: Danny Espinosa shaved his beard. Given how big it had grown, it might well have taken two hours to do it. You'll be happy to know (or perhaps horrified to know) that Danny had his official...

VIERA, Fla. - Spring training has now officially been underway for more than a week, and though more than five weeks still remain until opening day, enough has taken place here in Viera to start getting a sense of how the 2016 Nationals look. Dusty Baker (along with his coaching staff) has begun to put his stamp on this franchise. Bryce Harper has forgiven Jonathan Papelbon and proclaimed he won't put any limits on himself, even in the wake of an MVP performance. Ryan Zimmerman reported...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Let's sort of play ball. We've reached the point in spring training when the Orioles will hold intrasquad games over the next two days. It's a controlled environment, with strict pitch counts and rules that are looser than my pants on Thanksgiving. Manager Buck Showalter can order the stoppage of innings, no matter the number of outs, or he can instruct his pitcher to stay on the mound after the third one. He may create situations for his players, taking workout drills to a...

Trey Mancini, the Orioles' 2015 minor league Player of the Year, has been a solid hitter since the day the Orioles drafted him in round eight of the 2013 draft. Mancini hit .328 that first pro season in 2013, earning team MVP honors for short-season Single-A Aberdeen. Since then, he has also hit .300 or better at Single-A Delmarva, Single-A Frederick and Double-A Bowie. But it was when his power increased, joining his solid bat for average, that he took his game to another level last year. A...

VIERA, Fla. - Some odds and ends to wrap up the work week at Nationals spring training ... * We had a rare, star-studded matchup in live batting practice this morning, with Max Scherzer on the mound to face a group of hitters that included Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman. That sort of thing doesn't happen very often. (I recall a last-minute session last spring that pitted Harper against Stephen Strasburg, but that's about the only other showdown of this caliber I can remember taking place...

VIERA, Fla. - It was a seemingly innocuous play, a simple dive to field a hard bouncer to his left. Anthony Rendon made the play, snagging Alberto Callaspo's chopper and firing a one-hopper to first to nail the Braves infielder. The sparse crowd at Space Coast Stadium applauded. Who could have known at the time that last March 9 play would have such lasting consequences for Rendon, and perhaps the Nationals as a whole? "Just bad luck," Rendon said this week, recalling the incident. What at...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Yovani Gallardo will throw his first bullpen session with the Orioles on Saturday. The intrasquad game on Saturday has been moved to 12:30 p.m. on the Camden Yards replica field. It's open to the public. Same as the workouts. The pitchers listed for the game include Zach Britton, Brian Matusz, Parker Bridwell, Mychal Givens and Andy Oliver for one team, and Ubaldo Jimenez, Odrisamer Despaigne, Chaz Roe, Dale Thayer and Andrew Triggs for the other team. The Sunday intrasquad...

With spring training workouts in full swing (see what I did there?), the Ed Smith Stadium complex has been buzzing this week. The same cannot be said for the Orioles in the Twittersphere. You shouldn't take that as a red flag, however. Obviously, it's more important what the players are doing on the field rather than off it, especially in these very early stages of the 2016 season. But one Oriole we can always count on to be the voice of the team is the face of the franchise, the leader, the...