The first round of All-Star voting has been released by Major League Baseball, and Matt Wieters leads all American League catchers despite being on the disabled list. Wieters has garnered 540,258 votes as he vies for his third career Midsummer Classic selection (2011-12) and first career starting assignment. Wieters, who's batting .308 with five home runs and 18 RBI, would join Terry Kennedy (1987) as the only catchers in team history to earn a fan-elected start. New York's Brian McCann, a...

The Orioles Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds affiliate is on a real hot streak right now. After a doubleheader sweep of first-place Hagerstown on Monday, the Shorebirds are now 29-21. The Shorebirds produced a pair of comeback victories in that doubleheader. Delmarva erased a 6-0 deficit, coming up with a 7-6 walkoff win with three runs in the seventh in the opener. In the nightcap, Drew Dosch launched a tie-breaking home run in the sixth. Jimmy Yacabonis shut the door for his league-leading 12th...

Tyler Clippard's start to the season was about as unceremonious and odious as they come: Through 6 2/3 innings over seven appearances through April 11, the typically steadfast Nationals reliever scuffled through two home runs, a blown save, a 5.40 ERA and a minus-1.18 RE24. This had many shaking their heads in disbelief, calling for his demotion or at least questioning whether four consecutive seasons of at least 70 innings of relief had finally caught up with the hurler. Victims to small...

Where to start with O's heroes in that comeback win over Milwaukee? Nick Hundley made an error in the bottom of the ninth and drove in the winning run in the top of the 10th. Nick Markakis doubled in the tying run with two outs in the ninth. J.J. Hardy had three hits and scored the winning run in the 10th. Brad Brach got out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth and Zach Britton got out of a jam in the 10th. Delmon Young had a key hit in the ninth. But don't forget the kid. Jonathan Schoop...

The comparisons between the 2012 and 2014 Orioles are becoming more difficult to ignore. I'm not predicting playoffs - the rotation remains a concern following Chris Tillman's latest struggle yesterday in Milwaukee, and catcher Matt Wieters may need surgery on his right elbow - but the Orioles are winning the close games and in extra innings. The bullpen, despite its revolving door, ranks among the American League leaders in ERA at 3.47 in 163 2/3 innings. Any of this sound familiar? The...

You can choose to look at the Nationals' recent slump in one of two ways. No. 1: Of the Nats' last six losses, five have been by a single run, indicating that they're very much in these ballgames. No. 2: That the Nats have now dropped five of their last six contests, and it's largely because their offense has struggled mightily of late. I have a feeling most fans currently have the second mindset, given that the Nats have now dropped back below .500 and sit in third place in the...

The mystery that is Chris Tillman and his struggles continued today at Milwaukee. But despite that, the Orioles picked up an impressive comeback win today, beating the first-place Brewers 7-6 in 10 innings. The Orioles went to the top of the ninth down 6-4 and had two outs and none on when they rallied against Francisco Rodriguez, who was an Oriole last year. Jonathan Schoop's solo homer, his second of the game, made it 6-5. A Delmon Young single and Nick Markakis' game-tying double to...

Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche played his first home game since coming off the disabled list and delivered a two-run homer to cut the Marlins' lead to 3-2. But the Nationals were unable to get anything else going and settled for three hits, leaving four men on base. "Feels great to be back, no doubt," LaRoche said. "I had to sit there and watch for two weeks. Great to come back, frustrating game today. I felt we didn't give ourselves a ton of opportunities. Not sloppy. We didn't...

Former Orioles reliever Francisco Rodriguez was 17-for-18 in save opportunities for the Brewers as he entered today's game at Miller Park in the top of the ninth inning. One out away from going 18-for-19, Rodriguez gave up a solo home run to Jonathan Schoop, a pinch-hit single to Delmon Young and a game-tying double to Nick Markakis. Baseball is a funny game. Schoop hadn't homered since May 7. Now, he's registered the first multi-homer game of his career with this shot. A real funny...

The Nationals have lost five of their last six. Four of those losses have been by one run. It's not like they're getting blown out. They're just not getting the job done in tight ballgames as of late. This afternoon, it was a 3-2 loss to the Marlins that bumped the Nats back below .500 at 25-26. Adam LaRoche crushed a two-run homer into the second deck in right in his second game back off the disabled list and Tanner Roark allowed just three runs over seven strong innings, but the Nats...