Tanner Roark will get the ball today for his 31st start of the season, and should he happen to work 7 2/3 or more innings, he'll top the 200-inning mark for the 2014 campaign, a milestone for many pitchers. Roark has posted a 2.85 ERA this season, which only ranks 17th among qualified major league starters. No big deal. He has an ERA-plus (which is adjusted to the pitcher's ballpark, where a league-average mark is 100) of 131, eighth-best in the National League. Decent, I guess. His...

Manager: Terry Collins, fourth year Record: 76-80 Last 10 games: 5-5 Who to watch: 1B Lucas Duda (.254/.354/.479, 26 doubles, 28 HR, 86 RBIs); 2B Daniel Murphy (.295/.339/.410, 35 doubles, 9 HR, 55 RBIs); LHP Jon Niese (9-11, 3.50 ERA, 1.29 WHIP); RHP Bartolo Colon (14-12, 4.02 ERA, 1.21 WHIP) Season series vs. Nats: 3-13, 43 runs scored, 84 runs allowed Pitching probables Sept. 23: Bartolo Colon vs. Tanner Roark, 7 p.m., MASN2 HD Sept. 24: Dillon Gee vs. Gio Gonzalez, 7 p.m., MASN HD Sept....

In 2007, I was where you are. I voraciously read about the Orioles and participated on message boards. My thoughts and discussions about baseball were largely limited to reacting to written pieces or the dizzying pace at the old Baltimore Sun Orioles forum. Perhaps different from you, I was becoming more and more a message board hero armed with a set of sabermetric concepts, but without much understanding of the underlying data science. As I became aware of my path to be an internet...

When discussing left-handed relievers, are Jerry Blevins and Xavier Cedeno battling for one playoff roster spot? Should they be? Blevins has been with the team the whole season. He started off well. But recently, he has had some rough outings, especially the Sept. 10 appearance against the Braves at Nationals Park. Blevins allowed three earned runs on two hits and a walk in just one-third of an inning. The Nationals lost that game 6-2. They lost only two of the next 11 games. Blevins has...

Do the Orioles have a problem at third base? Well, yes, in the sense that they don't have Manny Machado and the player that was replacing him, Chris Davis, has been suspended. The club is a bit down the depth chart at the position. Bringing further concern to the fanbase is the poor defensive play we are seeing at the hot corner. Ryan Flaherty's error last night at third led to two unearned runs. O's third basemen have made four errors in the last four games. Both Jimmy Paredes and Kelly...

NEW YORK - The Orioles lost two out of three games to the Red Sox to conclude the home portion of their regular season schedule, and they dropped the series opener to the Yankees last night. That's not typically how the American League East has treated the Orioles this season. Quite the opposite. The division used to give the Orioles wet willies and hang their underwear from a flag pole. It used to push them in the girls bathroom and hold the door shut. #HighSchoolFlashbacks The Orioles...

NEW YORK - The Yankees scored five runs tonight. The Orioles had three baserunners. It's easy to figure out which team was victorious. The Orioles were held to one hit, J.J. Hardy's single in the fifth inning, in a 5-0 loss at Yankee Stadium. Michael Pineda retired 22 of 24 batters, and the Orioles lost for the third time in their last four games. Wei-Yin Chen allowed four runs (two earned) in six innings. He's scheduled to start again on Saturday, which lines him up to pitch Game 2 of...

Micheal Pineda was on tonight and that meant the Orioles' offense was off. The New York right-hander retired 22 of the 24 batters he faced as the Yankees beat the Orioles 5-0 on a one-hitter in the opener of a four-game series. With the loss the Orioles are 93-63 with six games to play in the regular season. This ends any longshot hopes at a 100-win season. The Orioles have lost three of four since they went through a stretch with 10 wins in 11 games. With the Detroit Tigers loss tonight...

NEW YORK - Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen needed only seven pitches tonight to retire the Yankees in order in the first inning. Now, he needs an Orioles rally after giving up two runs in the third. Both runs were unearned after Ryan Flaherty's throwing error to start the inning. Jose Pirela, making his major league debut, tripled to left-center field, and he scored on Derek Jeter's bouncer to short. Pirela is the 57th player used by the Yankees, setting a franchise record for the most in a...

NEW YORK - Orioles manager Buck Showalter hasn't passed along his rotation for the Division Series, but he confirmed that he's going to use four starters. Showalter joked that the Game 1 starter is obvious. It's going to be Chris Tillman. I believe that Wei-Yin Chen will start Game 2, followed by Miguel Gonzalez in Game 3 and Bud Norris in Game 4. However, changes are possible depending on the opponent. Nothing is official or etched in stone. Showalter has his rotation lined up for the...