Chris Davis led the American League in strikeout rate in 2014, and he leads the league again in 2015, with the whiffs coming even more frequently. But along with his 50 strikeouts, he is batting .246 with eight homers and 21 RBIs. He is slugging .509 with an .821 OPS. Through Wednesday's games, he was tied for sixth in the league in homers and tied for 12th in RBIs. I asked Orioles manager Buck Showalter if the strikeouts were more acceptable because they are coming with a decent level of...

SAN DIEGO - The Nationals enter tonight's contest against the Padres having won 12 of their last 15 games and five consecutive series. After a day off, catcher Wilson Ramos returns to the lineup riding a major league-best and career-high 15-game hitting streak. During the stretch, Ramos is batting .390 (23-for-59) with four doubles, eight RBIs and six runs scored. Right-hander Doug Fister is on his own run, having not allowed a walk in the last 17 2/3 innings. He brings a 2-1 record with a...

The Triple-A Norfolk squad has the best record of the Orioles' full-season minor league affiliates at 19-14. The Tides beat Scranton 3-1 on Wednesday afternoon when Dariel Alvarez hit a two-run homer in the eighth to break a 1-1 tie. Norfolk completed a 5-1 homestand with that win, and has won three straight series. The Tides' pitching has been outstanding this year, and Norfolk's 2.48 team ERA ranks second in the 14-team International League behind Buffalo at 2.37. Right-hander Mike Wright,...

The Orioles are in the process of setting up an appointment for pitcher Hunter Harvey to receive a second opinion on his right elbow. Harvey underwent an MRI yesterday in Baltimore after being examined by team orthopedist Dr. Michael Jacobs. The Orioles have determined that Harvey has a strained flexor mass and shut him down indefinitely. Executive vice president Dan Duquette said the club will arrange an appointment next week with Dr. James Andrews in his Pensacola, Fla. office. The Orioles...

Off the field, at least to the media, Nationals rookie Michael A. Taylor portrays a shy demeanor. On the field, the 23-year old plays the game loudly and without fear. Consider some of these moments in his early 40-game career. He wasted no time collecting his first career homer as it came in his major league debut last August on the road at Citi Field. Then, with Denard Span out at the start of this year, Taylor was given the honor of filling the leadoff role and being the Nats' first batter...

I kind of feel for Alex Ovechkin this morning. He made a guarantee statement after the Capitals lost a heartbreaking Game 6 to the New York Rangers in the NHL Playoffs. After such a loss, Ovechkin was bold enough to predict the Capitals would go to New York Wednesday night and topple the first-seed Rangers in Game 7. They almost did it, forcing the Rangers into overtime before falling 2-1. He did everything he could to will the win, scoring the only goal of the game for the Capitals in giving...

After batting .293 in 20 games for the Orioles last season after they acquired him Aug. 30, outfielder Alejandro De Aza got off to a fast start this year. He hit safely in his first six games of the season, batting .333. But his bat soon trailed off and he came into last night's game batting just .211 for the year, and just .122 (5-for-41) over his last 12 games. But De Aza's bat finally got going a bit in last night's 6-1 win over Toronto. He went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI...

Baseball has a funny way of balancing things out over the course of 162 games. The thing I've learned in my years of watching is that a team is never as good as it looks during a lengthy winning streak and never as bad as it looks during a losing skid. It's easy to think that your team is going to win 100 games when they're going good or lose 100 when they've dropped a few in a row. Both extremes are incredibly rare. The Orioles have been one of the best defensive teams over the past few...

Having lost an off-day later this month to a doubleheader against the White Sox, the Orioles will savor today's break in the schedule before focusing on a weekend series against the Angels at Camden Yards. I'm not sure how long it will take for the shock to wear off that they're playing a team outside the American League East. One against the White Sox and two against the Mets. That's the complete list. Asked last night if he's glad to be venturing away from the division, manager Buck...

By many metrics, the Nationals' starting staff is the best in the majors, the offense is scoring 4.77 runs a game and if one wants to find a weakness with this team, one might point to the bullpen. The Nationals bullpen isn't statistically bad by ERA, FIP or fWAR, but it has blown the third-most saves in the majors and has blinked first in several tie games. The Nats have struggled to find a replacement for Tyler Clippard with Casey Janssen on the disabled list, and don't even ask what...