PHILADELPHIA - While there was minimal pushing and shoving in the top of the fifth inning when benches cleared between the Nationals and Phillies, and while the game went on without further incident, tonight's Denard Span-Cliff Lee spat might be something to keep in mind the next 18 times these teams play each other in 2014. Bad blood can build quickly between division rivals. Span came up in the fifth with runners at second and third and one out. He stepped into the batter's box and started...

The Orioles have dug out of two holes, one much more meaningful than the other. They began the year 1-4 and their starting pitching ERA at that point was 7.56. Now, at 15-12, the Orioles are 14-8 since that 1-4 start, and last night they got the best outing of the year from Ubaldo Jimenez. They are also now a plus-2 in run differential. Digging out of that hole is less important, of course, than the won-loss record. With a three-game win streak in which they've outscored their opponents by...

PHILADELPHIA - Another comeback win. Make that nine on the season. The Nationals trailed 3-0 after one inning of play when Jayson Werth's dropped fly ball in foul territory kept the inning alive for Marlon Byrd's three-run shot. They scored one in the third on Tyler Moore's homer to get on the board. They brought across another in the fifth on Denard Span's RBI groundout. (More on that later.) Then came the eighth, when the Nats had five straight hits off Phillies relievers to open the...

Nationals right-hander Doug Fister (lat strain) completed 3 2/3 innings for Double-A Harrisburg Friday night at Reading in his second rehab start. Harrisburg defeated Reading 9-4. Fister worked a "very strong first two" innings according to Reading Phillies broadcaster Steve Degler. He allowed two hits, two runs, three walks and struck out five, firing 76 pitches, 46 for strikes. Fister threw 25 pitches in the fourth inning. He went 1-for-2 at the plate with a single. Degler said Fister...

The Orioles signed Ubaldo Jimenez and Nelson Cruz to contracts totaling $58 million dollars before the season and tonight those players made that look like a good investment. Jimenez had a strong game on the mound to pick up his first Orioles win and Cruz crushed a long two-run homer as the Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins 3-0 to open a three-game series. Jimenez was sharp from the start with his split-finger fastball and all his pitches looked to be working. He had five strikeouts over the...

Orioles catcher Matt Wieters is on a serious roll. Wieters has now registered six multi-hit games in the last seven, going 13-for-30 with three doubles, two homers and eight RBIs in that stretch. His run-scoring double in the fourth inning tonight, a shot off the fence in center field, scored Nelson Cruz for a 1-0 lead over the Twins at Target Field. Cruz led off with a double, but Twins left fielder Jason Kubel played the ball like a live grenade. You may remember that the Orioles had...

The Phillies took a quick 3-0 lead against Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals, with ex-Nat Marlon Byrd crushing a three-run homer in the first inning. All three runs were unearned by virtue of an error charged to right fielder Jayson Werth, who couldn't come up with a foul pop off Byrd's bat in the tricky corner at Citizens Bank Park for the third out, prolonging the at-bat. It was a tough call to make on a tough play, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it changed at some point. Tyler...

Kevin Gausman just confirmed that his MRI today revealed he has pneumonia, not an intercostal strain. Gausman, the Orioles' second-ranked prospect by Baseball America, was placed on the minor league disabled list earlier today because of the illness. Coughing certainly caused him to feel pain in that area, also leading him to have trouble breathing overnight Wednesday. Gausman said he was sick about 2 1/2 weeks ago and recently felt better, but then the cough returned. The 23-year-old spoke...

Wilson Ramos caught three innings in an extended spring training game today in Viera, Fla., hitting two homers and a double. But the strong showing may not sway the Nationals from taking the more patient and conservative course in his rehabilitation from surgery to remove the hamate bone from his left hand. "We'll see how he does tomorrow," manager Matt Williams said before the Nationals opened a three-game weekend series at Citizens Bank Park against the Phillies. "He's scheduled to catch...

Even with a starting staff that has not produced many quality starts or pitched enough innings so far this season, even having played parts of the year without three key members of the infield and dealing with some crazy weather and travel, the Orioles still could emerge atop the American League East standings at the end of tonight. That would be a nice rebound from a 1-4 start. The 14-12 Orioles begin play tonight a half-game behind first-place New York in the AL East. Will this be the...