Manager: Ryne Sandberg, second year Record: 64-75 Last 10 games: 7-3 Who to watch: RF Marlon Byrd (.266/.314/.463, 24 doubles, 25 HR, 78 RBIs); 1B Ryan Howard (.224/.308/.379, 20 HR, 87 RBIs); LHP Cole Hamels (8-6, 2.50 ERA, 1.15 WHIP); RHP Jerome Williams (3-0, 2.03 ERA, 1.01 WHIP) Season series vs. Nats: 8-8, 56 runs scored, 72 runs allowed Pitching probables Sept. 5: Jerome Williams vs. Stephen Strasburg, 7 p.m., MASN HD Sept. 6: A.J. Burnett vs. Tanner Roark, 4 p.m., MASN HD Sept. 7: Cole...

The Nationals' minor league teams are in the middle of the playoffs. The Single-A Potomac Nationals advanced to the Mills Cup championship series with a 4-3 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats. The P-Nats swept the best-of-three series 2-0. It is their second straight appearance in the Mills Cup final. Last year, the P-Nats lost to Salem. Salem is facing Myrtle Beach in the other half of the draw. The winner of that matchup faces Potomac on Friday in game one of the championship series. Isaac...

Veteran Washington Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche was dealing with a lower back issue that kept him out of the lineup for Tuesday afternoon's game. Tyler Moore started at first base in the series finale in Los Angeles on Wednesday, but as the game went on, LaRoche's bat was needed, so Nats skipper Matt Williams turned to the 34-year-old middle-of-the-order bat after Bryce Harper singled with one down in the ninth and the Nationals trailing 2-0. LaRoche went 0-for-9 with three strikeouts...

Manager: Joe Maddon, ninth year Record: 67-74 Last 10 games: 3-7 Who to watch: 3B Evan Longoria (.255/.325/.397, 22 doubles, 18 HR, 81 RBIs); 2B Ben Zobrist (.273/.357/.404, 31 doubles, 9 HR, 44 RBIs, 74 R); RHP Alex Cobb (9-7, 2.98 ERA, 1.17 WHIP); LHP Drew Smyly (9-10, 3.31 ERA, 1.17 WHIP) Season series vs. O's: 5-11, 51 runs scored, 71 runs allowed Pitching probables Sept. 5: Alex Cobb vs. Wei-Yin Chen, 7 p.m., MASN2 HD Sept. 6: Drew Smyly vs. Kevin Gausman, 1 p.m., FOX Sept. 7: Jeremy...

So that homestand went OK, right? The Orioles went 9-2 over the last 11 games at Camden Yards. If the Yankees had any hope of catching the Orioles, most of it should be gone by now. The Orioles took three of four from Minnesota and swept three from Cincinnati. They outscored their opponents 67-38 on the homestand and scored nine runs or more four times. Nick Hundley capped the Orioles' six-run first inning last night with a three-run homer to left. The O's catcher talked about the club's...

Tonight, the Orioles concluded a 9-2 homestand, the first time they've gone 9-2 or better on a homestand of at least 11 games since going 10-2 from June 22 to July 1, 1979. Although Jonathan Schoop didn't send one to the bullpen, the second baseman homered for the third game in a row in the Orioles' 9-7 win over Cincinnati tonight. How good of a run is he on right now? "It's really good, especially when we win, too," Schoop said. "If you hit a home run and we lose, if you go 0-for-4...

Orioles reliever Darren O'Day can relate to how right fielder Nick Markakis felt in 2012. Markakis, in turn, can relate to how catcher Matt Wieters and third baseman Manny Machado feel in 2014. It's a connection they wish had never started and didn't stretch this far. Wieters and Machado underwent season-ending surgeries this year, making them spectators in the playoffs. Assuming that the Orioles don't suffer a monumental collapse, of course. Markakis has been there, done that. Anyone...

The Orioles' magic number is down to 15. I'll keep going. Three straight winning seasons, which hasn't happened in Baltimore since 1992-94. They're 25 games above .500 and have won nine of 11 following tonight's 9-7 victory over the Reds. The sweep at Wrigley Field seems so long ago and so unimportant. Here's Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who took a question about J.J. Hardy's latest clutch hit and turned it into a defensive roll call: "Clutch hit and defensively. Probably the...

Well, that was some homestand. The Orioles beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-7 tonight in a game that felt like they won twice. They took a 6-0 lead in the first inning, got tied up 7-7 in the seventh and then pulled out the 9-7 victory. J.J. Hardy's two-out two-run single in the seventh snapped the 7-7 tie and provided the winning margin. Hardy is batting .385 this year with runners in scoring position and two outs. Earlier, the Orioles bashed three more homers and Chris Tillman extended his...

I'm trying to resist posting that the Reds sprung a Leake in the first inning. I'm trying... The Orioles scored six runs off Reds starter Mike Leake, with Nelson Cruz and Nick Hundley hitting home runs, and players circling the bases as kids are allowed to do as a postgame promotion. Leake faced nine batters and threw 34 pitches. Forget his shoulder. He needed to ice his neck after watching his pitches sail into the night. All the runs scored with two outs. To recap: Nick Markakis led...