Two losses in a row for the Nationals? Not concerned. This road trip has still been a rousing success. Travel from San Francisco to St. Louis and then back to the diamond did not result in a win thanks to the outstanding pitching of Lance Lynn. The Cardinals right-hander has given up an important postseason home run to the Nats in a relief role, but has done a great job against them as a starter. OK, I got that call a couple of weeks ago on Nats Insider (every Sunday 90 minutes prior to...

ST. LOUIS - Sixteen days ago, on May 29, Jordan Zimmermann woke up the owner of a 4.07 ERA. Not awful by any means, but not the type of number we expect to see next to Zimmermann's name on a stat sheet. He had just gotten a no-decision in a Nationals loss to the Marlins the previous night, allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits over just five innings. It was his third start in six outings that went shorter than six innings. To that point, Zimmermann had a 1.46 WHIP, and had notched...

After Bud Norris pitched eight scoreless innings Monday night against Boston, a lot of the postgame talk was how effective the right-hander's changeup was that night. Norris gave up just three hits in that win. After he gave up a leadoff single to start the game, he retired the next 13 Red Sox hitters. He was rolling. Even though Norris estimates he threw just 12 or 15 changeups out of 98 pitches, the pitch gives him another weapon in his arsenal. "It is something I've always worked on,"...

We had an unusual occurrence last night at Camden Yards. Nick Markakis didn't get a hit. We also had a rain delay, which has become as common as finding peanut shells under the seats. You have a better chance of seeing a bull roaming the streets of Baltimore than a game played without rain. And I wouldn't steer you wrong. Sorry if I'm milking this story. Markakis still needs two more hits to tie Ken Singleton for sixth place on the Orioles' all-time list with 1,455. Here's the top...

ST. LOUIS - Jordan Zimmermann threw a 76-pitch complete game tonight, the fewest pitches thrown by a Nationals pitcher in a regulation complete game in team history. He allowed one run on three hits. He walked just one batter and struck out five. Yet, Zimmermann goes down as the losing pitcher tonight, after Lance Lynn and Trevor Rosenthal combined to blank the Nats on just two hits. This game lasted just 2 hours, 3 minutes thanks to the duel gems thrown by Zimmermann and Lynn. Zimmermann's...

After pitching to an ERA of 7.04 over his last five starts and coming off an outing in which he got just seven outs, Ubaldo Jimenez felt like he took a step forward tonight. "Yeah, I had a really tough game before this one so this is a good sign," he said after the Orioles' 4-0 loss. "I was able to be there for the team and forget about my last start. "Was able to hang in there for the team and at least get a quality start. I still had a lot of walks and still need to work on that. But I...

Ubaldo Jimenez appeared to be headed toward another early exit tonight. Nine Toronto batters faced in two innings. Three walks. A two-run homer from Juan Francisco. Fans already booing as he walked off the mound. In serious need of a quality start, Jimenez retired nine in a row and made it through the sixth with only two runs against him, but the Orioles failed to offer any offensive support in a 4-0 loss before 44,031 at Camden Yards. Jimenez lasted only 2 1/3 innings in his previous start....

The Orioles got another quality start tonight and a decent outing from Ubaldo Jimenez, but they could not back him with any offense and lost 4-0 to Toronto in front of the season's fourth sellout of 44,031 at Camden Yards. The Orioles got shut out for the sixth time on the year and second time in the last four games. Toronto starter Drew Hutchison pitched well against the Orioles for the third time in three starts this year. He gave up six hits over seven innings to improve to 5-4 with an...

Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams had been on the disabled list since May 28 with a strained left calf. In his first six career games against the Nationals when healthy, he had at least one hit in each contest and batted .391. Facing one of the Nationals' hottest hurlers, Adams announced his return with authority in his first at-bat. Adams crushed the first pitch he saw from Jordan Zimmermann in the second inning, sending it over the right-center field wall and the Cardinals led 1-0. The...

Orioles pitchers worked 43 consecutive innings without giving up a home run until Toronto's Juan Francisco deposited an Ubaldo Jimenez fastball into the home bullpen at Camden Yards tonight in the top of the second inning. The Orioles already are down 2-0 and Jimenez already is hearing the boos from a frustrated crowd. Jimenez had allowed only two home runs over his last four starts and three in his last nine. Jimenez walked five batters in 2 1/3 innings in his previous start against the...