The day after the Nationals clinched the division, they put out a lineup that was more Triple-A Syracuse than it was Washington and it was a sign of things to come. Post clinch baseball is weird. A couple of days later, with the Nationals going for a four game sweep of the Marlins, and Stephen Strasburg through seven innings with a pitch count in the 80's, Craig Stammen entered for the eighth and disposed closer Rafael Soriano for the ninth. Post clinch baseball is somewhere between spring...

Nelson Cruz's career year couldn't have come at a better time. The Orioles slugger will likely finish the season with the Major League lead in home runs, assuming Jose Abreu doesn't go on an absolute tear. He currently sits at 40 homers, seven more than his previous career-high in 2009 and his 108 RBIs are also more than he's ever driven in, he finished with 90 in 2012. Cruz has totaled more doubles and taken more free passes this year than he had in any of his previous nine seasons in the...

With the Orioles' win on Wednesday in New York, the American League East champion has won 95 or more games for 14 consecutive seasons, dating back to 2001. No other division comes even close to that. On another note, this year will be the first time since 1993 that neither the Yankees or Red Sox will be in the postseason. That will come as music to the ears of some Orioles fans. As we get into next week, and the national media begins to focus solely on the playoff teams, some may portray the...

NEW YORK - We've reached the final home game of Derek Jeter's career unless rain causes a postponement tonight and Major League Baseball decides to mess with the Orioles again by giving them another scheduling nightmare. Always room for one more, right? "Jeter's last home game. How long do you think we'll be here if there's rain?" manager Buck Showalter asked. "Get comfortable." I can't imagine that the game would be moved to Monday unless there are playoff implications such as...

Tonight's Nationals-Mets game scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m. at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., has been postponed due to inclement weather. The team will play a split doubleheader on Thursday, September 25 with tonight's make-up game beginning at 1:05 p.m. The regularly scheduled game will begin at 7:05 p.m. All gates for the second game will open 1.5 hours after the last out of the 1:05 p.m. game or 6:00 p.m., whichever is later.* The two games against the Mets on Thursday will...

The Nationals postponed Wednesday night's game because of rain. The game has been rescheduled as part of a split doubleheader on Thursday with the first game at 1:05 p.m. and the second game at 7:05 p.m. Blake Treinen will start Game 1 and Gio Gonzalez will start Game 2. Taylor Hill and Doug Fister will be the starters Friday. Stephen Strasburg starts Saturday and Jordan Zimmermann will start Sunday. In terms of the order for the postseason, it has not been officially announced, but this...

NEW YORK - The Orioles posted their 95th victory today, the most since the 1997 team won 98 games. They're 43-2 in their last 45 games when scoring four runs or more. The Orioles have totaled 14 runs and 32 hits since the one-hitter on Monday night. Don't poke the bear. They didn't need any home runs today. So much for being unable to play small ball or come up with timely hits that don't clear the fence. With today's win, the Orioles improved to 13-5 against the Yankees this season and...

Manager Matt Williams installed Ryan Zimmerman in the No. 2 spot in the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Mets. He will play left field. It is his second start since returning from a severe right hamstring strain. "We're going to bubble wrap him as much as possible," Williams said. "I'd like to see him get 5 ABs and hit a couple of doubles and score from second and do all the things he needs to do to be able to feel good about it." Williams said they will check on Zimmerman even...

The Orioles finally made Shane Greene feel blue. He went 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in his first two starts against them this year and took a 3-0 lead into the fourth inning today. Then the Orioles knocked him out of the game during a six-run, seven-hit inning where they sent 11 batters to the plate on the way to beating the Yankees 9-5 this afternoon. Held to one hit and shut out in the series opener on Monday, the Orioles produced 14 runs on 32 hits in winning the last two games at Yankee...

As expected, Nationals center fielder Denard Span is getting today off. And as expected, Ryan Zimmerman is back in the lineup. Span will rest tonight after banging and scraping his knee on the warning track while making a sliding catch last night. That will free up a spot for Zimmerman to return to the lineup after getting the last three days off. Zimmerman will play left field tonight, and Bryce Harper will slide over and play center. Gio Gonzalez will make what's scheduled to be his last...