It's one thing to watch opening day on your TV or hear play by play on the radio, but there's nothing like taking it in at the yard. On Monday, the Orioles hosted a sellout crowd of 46,685 fans at Camden Yards, as the Birds opened their season against the Red Sox. All of the anticipation built up from a cold winter made for an electric atmosphere that helped propel the the O's to a 2-1 victory. We captured some of the energy from opening day for you to experience in the video below. While...

WOODBRIDGE, Va. - Left-hander Brett Mooneyham cruised to an outstanding start last season for low Single-A Hagerstown. But when he got called up to high Single-A Potomac late in the season, he struggled a bit with his mechanics. With the Suns, Mooneyham was 10-3 with a 1.94 ERA in 17 starts with 79 strikeouts in 93 innings, and 41 walks. For the P-Nats, the 6-foot-5, 235-lb., Stanford product went 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA in three starts over 11 1/3 innings with only six strikeouts and 13...

And so the marathon begins. The 162-game grind that die-hard baseball fans know all too well. Spring is here, too (for the most part), and the Nationals are back at it again. While it's easy to get bogged down in statistics and numbers from seasons past, I prefer looking at the game through a different lens. It's like Paul Dickson once wrote, "beyond the statistics, there are countless fascinating anthropological aspects of baseball." Those are the stories that spark my interest most and...

To start the season off right, we wanted to give away a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to a lucky Nationals fan. We asked MASN Nationals followers to tweet out why they should throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Nats Park on April 5. We saw hundreds of creative tweets tagged with #masnFirstPitch. By the time the contest wrapped up, we selected early frontrunner Will as our winner. The 13-year-old Nats fan will take the mound during the home opener, having the same honor as many famous...

NEW YORK - It appears the Nationals will be without Wilson Ramos for a matter of weeks, as the injury bug has indeed bit the 26-year-old catcher yet again. According to a Washington Post report, Ramos will undergo hamate bone surgery on his left hand, a procedure that will knock Ramos from the Nats' lineup for 4-8 weeks. Update: In his weekly appearance on 106.7 The Fan, the Nats' flagship radio station, manager Matt Williams confirmed that Ramos will need surgery, and said the team expects...

Red Sox slugger David Ortiz made it through the first game of the 2014 season without having to face Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz. What are the chances that he makes it two in a row? Ortiz is 1-for-20 with 12 strikeouts against Matusz. They're bound to meet again - if not tonight or this series, maybe in Boston later this month. Matusz pitched to one batter on opening day and retired A.J. Pierzynski on an 0-2 changeup to strand two runners in the eighth inning. Pierzynski bounced to the...

The Boston Red Sox sure can make a starting pitcher work. Chris Tillman needed 104 pitches to get through five innings on opening day as Boston hitters kept fouling off pitches and escalating his pitch count. He threw 18 or more pitches every inning in that game. This will be something to watch closely tonight as Ubaldo Jimenez makes his Orioles debut. While Jimenez had a big 2013 with Cleveland, and was a stunning 6-5 with an ERA of 1.82 in 13 starts after the All-Star break, he can often...

The Orioles and City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young today announced the revamped fourth annual President's Cup. This year, the annual tournament will be replaced with a citywide Showcase game to be held on Saturday, April 5 at 1:00 p.m. at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The showcase will feature an East vs. West game featuring of public and private high school players from schools throughout Baltimore City. The change in format will allow students from diverse backgrounds greater...

FREDERICK, Md. - Featuring a team with 16 returning players and five of the Orioles' top 30 prospects according to Baseball America, the Single-A Frederick Keys open a new season in the Carolina League on Thursday night at Lynchburg. The five top 30 players on the Keys are shortstop Adrian Marin (No. 12), pitcher Parker Bridwell (No. 19), pitcher Branden Kline (No. 20), pitcher Mychal Givens (No. 23) and outfielder Glynn Davis (No. 30). The Keys' new manager is Luis Pujols. He managed...

Baseball is back. Finally, all 30 major league clubs are playing meaningful baseball games. And how nice of Mother Nature to cooperate with us. The Orioles got their first win of the 2014 season on opening day, defeating the defending World Champions, the Boston Red Sox. With all of the hype surrounding opening day, you may have missed some stories from other media outlets. Keep reading for more. * Last week, I included a column from the New York Times' Tyler Kepner. His love for the Orioles...