The Orioles haven't posted their lineup for tonight's game in Toronto. Once they do, it's not expected to include outfielder Steve Pearce among the reserves. Barring a drastic change in plans, Pearce will be designated for assignment to make room for left-hander T.J. McFarland on the 25-man roster. The Orioles would temporarily go with a 13-man pitching staff to aid their bullpen, which was used extensively in Boston. One other way to make room for McFarland would have been to place...

The Washington Nationals today recalled right-handed reliever Aaron Barrett from Syracuse of the Triple-A International League and optioned left-handed reliever Xavier Cedeno to Syracuse. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. In two appearances since being optioned to Triple-A on April 12, Barrett, 26, collected two saves and did not allow a run in 2.1 innings pitched. He surrendered just two hits, walked one and struck out two. ...

As promised, it didn't take too long before Aaron Barrett was brought back from the minors and rejoined the Nationals. Barrett was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse this afternoon, with left-handed reliever Xavier Cedeno being optioned to Syracuse to make room for Barrett on the 25-man roster. The 26-year-old Barrett got off to a great start with the Nats in his first taste of the big leagues, throwing 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and two walks and striking out six. He...

The Orioles made it out of Fenway Park with a split of a four-game series. Now, they've got to figure out a way to win at Rogers Centre, where they've lost every season series since 2005. Remember when they went 1-8 in 2009 and 0-9 in 2010? Good times. The Orioles have won the last two season series against the Blue Jays, going 10-9 last year. So, they have that going for them, which is nice. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey presents a special challenge tonight, but he's 1-3 with a 6.26 ERA in...

After mentioning the Orioles rotation and quality starts in this morning's entry, here is an even closer look at how the club's starting staff is doing so far. Right now, the Orioles are tied for ninth in the American League in average innings pitched per start: 6.3 - Kansas City 6.2 - Los Angeles 6.1 - New York, Oakland 6.0 - Detroit 5.9 - Chicago, Boston, Texas 5.7 - Orioles, Minnesota 5.6 - Tampa Bay 5.5 - Cleveland, Toronto, Seattle, Houston Ranking O's starters by innings per...

It's been a decidedly dismal start to the season for the Nationals defensively. They find themselves in sole possession of last place in the National League in terms of team fielding percentage, while also leading the NL in errors with 22 after last night's series opener against the Angels. This total would have been higher were it not for a scoring change of Yadier Molina's liner at Jayson Werth in Thursday's 8-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals -- a ball Werth either lost in the lights...

There has been a storyline that has been trumpeted a bit on air and in the media that has not actually been true. You often hear about the club being proficient at fielding and this centering on their ability to avoid errors. At the time of this writing (after a particularly gruesome Sunday), the Orioles had the second-fewest errors in baseball. Only the Houston Astros had less. On the surface, this looks great. On the surface, our old friend Henry Chadwick (the guy who invented the box...

Right-hander Tanner Roark did everything he could possibly do to keep the Nationals in the game and continue his home dominance. Roark went 6 2/3 innings and scattered seven hits, allowing no runs with two walks, one intentional, and five strikeouts. He was a workhorse with 105 pitches, 63 for strikes. There is something about Roark at Nationals Park. He has allowed one earned run in 26 innings at home for a 0.35 ERA. Roark said the home numbers are good, of course, but more important to him is...

Over the last four years, few late-inning relievers have been as consistently impressive as Tyler Clippard. Since the start of the 2011 season, Clippard has posted a 2.64 ERA and a 0.964 WHIP, struck out 10.3 batters per nine innings and allowed just a touch over a home run per nine. Right now, however, Clippard's going through a tough stretch. He's allowed at least one run in five of his 11 appearances this season, has a 1.45 WHIP and for whatever reason has struggled to post the clean,...

Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond committed two errors in the Angels' decisive four-run rally in the eighth inning, leading to a 4-2 loss Monday night. Desmond's first error occurred when he bobbled a grounder near the bag at second which allowed Albert Pujols to reach base. With two outs, pinch-hitter Raul Ibanez slapped a game-changing three-run double, and Desmond picked up another error on an errant throw. "I feel bad, obviously, but what are going to do? keep on playing, I guess,"...