Tuesday night was a tough one for Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals. He did his best to try and push through the night against the Miami Marlins but, three innings in, that was it for the night. Strasburg's right shoulder blade discomfort caused the early exit, but created an opportunity for left-landed reliever Sammy Solis, a recent call-up. The southpaw has pitched five scoreless innings in two major league appearances since being called up and manager Matt Williams was impressed by how...

Every Major League Baseball season is different, and there are no ifs, ands, or buts about that. However, I would submit that if there's one thing that has kind of marred the first month of this year, it's been injuries. This is true regarding the Orioles, and it's true of other teams. If anything, the Orioles are probably luckier than most teams in that J.J. Hardy and Ryan Flaherty are currently doing rehab assignments, where some teams are starting to get bitten by the bug now. As we've...

Trailing 2-1 with one out in the seventh and two runners on, Nationals manager Matt Williams sent Jayson Werth to the on-deck circle to wave a bat around last night. But Williams had no intention of using Werth, who was given the night off, to hit in the critical spot. The idea was to keep Marlins right-hander Nick Masset on the mound. So after rookie Michael A. Taylor, Werth's replacement in left field, grounded out, Williams called the 35-year old back to the dugout as lefty Clint Robinson...

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg lasted only three innings before discomfort underneath his right shoulder blade forced him to leave the an eventual 2-1 loss to the Marlins. "It's just something that's been lingering, and I just felt it more and more," Strasburg said after the game. "I feel like it was something, I feel like I could've gone through it. But at this point in the season, you just want to get it right and not alter your mechanics too much. I think that's the big thing....

The Nationals lost a tough 2-1 decision to the Marlins on Tuesday night, and were only able to squeeze out three hits on the night. The Nationals went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. In the ninth, the Nationals got a potential rally off to a good start against Marlins late inning specialist Steve Cishek. Thanks to a base hit by Wilson Ramos and a fielding error, the Nationals had men on first and second with no one out. In a critical moment, Dan Uggla...

NEW YORK - Ubaldo Jimenez gets his turn at batting tonight in the finale of a two-game interleague series between the Orioles at Mets at Citi Field. Jimenez is a career .113 hitter in 10 major league seasons, going 31-for-274 with nine RBIs, 17 walks and 94 strikeouts. He batted .045 (3-for-67) in 2008, .220 (13-for-59) in 2009 and .104 (8-for-77) in 2010. He'll try to recapture that 2009 magic tonight. He'll also try to produce the rotation's eighth consecutive quality start. Jimenez is 2-3...

We are seeing the ups and downs of the season. The Orioles lost last night to fall to 12-12 and they are back at .500 for the eighth time this year. Remember when they were scoring all those runs? They got 18 against Boston, eight against Chicago and had 59 over a nine-game stretch. Now they have scored just 10 runs over the last four games. The pitching of Tampa Bay and the Mets' Bartolo Colon had something to do with that. Colon last night became the first pitcher to beat a team (the...

NEW YORK - Bud Norris gave the Orioles a chance to win tonight, as manager Buck Showalter pointed out following tonight's 3-2 loss to the Mets at Citi Field. He just couldn't match veteran right-hander Bartolo Colon, who became the first pitcher to beat a team with seven different organizations. Colon carried a shutout into the eighth inning before Manny Machado homered. He struck out nine batters and didn't issue a walk, leaving his total at one in 40 1/3 innings. "Just what he's been...

Less than three weeks from his 42nd birthday, right-hander Bartolo Colon showed again tonight that he can still get batters out from both sides of the plate and from both leagues, as well. Colon gave up just one run over 7 2/3 innings, pitching the New York Mets to a 3-2 win over the Orioles to start the two-game series at Citi Field. The Orioles fall to 12-12 for the season and to 2-7 in series-opening games. The Orioles have lost seven in a row to the Mets dating back to 2010, and are 9-20 in...

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg left Tuesday's game after pitching three innings. Strasburg was noticeably uncomfortable at several points during his 64-pitch effort, and had a prolonged discussion with pitching coach Steve McCatty after the second inning. In the second, MASN cameras showed Strasburg wincing after throwing a pitch to Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon, which drew a visit from manager Matt Williams, McCatty and head athletic trainer Lee Kuntz. But after a brief conversation,...