Orioles third baseman Manny Machado will try to maintain his hot streak tonight in the conclusion of a two-game home series against the Nationals. Machado is 12-for-21 (.571) with two doubles, two home runs and three RBIs in four games since returning from his suspension. He's batting .312 in 31 games since June 1. Machado continues to bat seventh. Steve Pearce is in left field and hitting second. For the Orioles Nick Markakis RF Steve Pearce LF Adam Jones CF Nelson Cruz DH Chris Davis...

The Battle of the Beltway series concludes tonight at Camden Yards with a scrap between southpaws. The Orioles are sending Wei-Yin Chen to the mound, and the Nationals are countering with red-hot Gio Gonzalez. Chen is 3-4 with a 4.89 ERA in eight career interleague starts, and 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in two starts against Washington. He's allowed eight earned runs in 9 1/3 innings. Chen has surrendered three earned runs or fewer in six of his last seven outings this season, though he's...

This season's Battle of the Beltways kicked off on Monday in D.C. A lot of Orioles fans made the trip south to make sure there was a lot of orange at Nationals Park. On Wednesday, the battle made its way up 295 to Camden Yards. While there were Nationals fans in the stands, Baltimore fans represented to keep the Yard orange. We had Kevin Stanfield take a trip to Eutaw Street to find out how much of a rivalry exists between the Nationals and Orioles. Do you think it's a rivalry?

Do you cry at the end of "Field of Dreams"? Yeah, me, too. When Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, and his dad have a catch in that Iowa cornfield, it gets to me. Every. Damn. Time. That film and that reaction are the focuses of a new "This is SportsCenter" spot on ESPN, starring Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper - as you've never seen him before. No spoiler here, no description of his interaction with ESPN anchors Hannah Storm, John Anderson and Bram Weinstein. The spot is entitled...

The Nationals won last night. The Braves didn't. As a result, the Nats find themselves alone in first place in the National League East as of this morning, a game up on Atlanta with two games in hand. The Nats have now won eight of their last 10. They've won 12 of their last 17. And they're continuing to build some momentum as the All-Star break approaches. "That's where we want to be," Jayson Werth said, after slugging his ninth homer of the season in last night's 6-2 Nationals win...

With the news that the Nationals are looking for a young shortstop to be included in a deadline deal, the Ian Desmond contract situation has come back into the news. Desmond is scheduled to be a free agent at the end of the 2015 season, and over the last three years, he's been one of the Nationals' best offensive players. In fact, if we rank all Nationals from 2005 to present by fWAR, Desmond is the second-best Nationals position player, behind only Ryan Zimmerman. Desmond's rise up these...

Make no mistake about it, with the American League East wide open for the taking, I fully expect that the Orioles will be aggressive at the trade deadline. Despite falling 6-2 to the Nationals on Wednesday night, the O's still find themselves in first place in the American League East, 2 1/2 games ahead of the free-falling Toronto Blue Jays, who have lost six of seven games. The defending world champion Boston Red Sox are now 11 games below .500 and in last place, the Tampa Bay Rays appear to...

Maybe the Nationals have the Orioles right where they want them - at Camden Yards. It's a place where the Orioles win 51 percent of their games as opposed to the road where they win 58 percent. They also score fewer runs at home as we've detailed here often this year. Actually, the Orioles have not hit much in the last two games, save for one inning where they exploded for six runs. They have scored four runs in the other 19 innings in the last two games against the Nationals. Now tonight...

The non-waiver trade deadline is three weeks away, but it's never too soon to open up the discussion. The Orioles are in the market for pitching - a starter and a reliever. I've heard that a late-inning bullpen arm is especially high on the list, someone who can assist in a set-up role. Maybe handle some of the closing duties if Zach Britton is unavailable. The interesting part to me is how the Orioles would create room in the rotation and bullpen. Talking to folks in the organization, the...

Nationals right fielder Jayson Werth had a double and a home run in a 6-2 victory over the Orioles on Wednesday night. His homer was one of three solo shots by the Nationals in support of Doug Fister, who improved to 52-52 in his career, the first time he has been at the .500 mark since 2010. "Warm night, balls flying, small ball park, good to give Doug some run support and he's great to play defense behind," Werth said. "He works fast. To give him some runs and let him do his thing. It was...