BOWIE, Md. - Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will get the start on opening night Thursday at Prince George's Stadium as the Bowie Baysox begin their 22nd season as the Orioles' Double-A affiliate. The Baysox, managed by Gary Kendall, start the year with a seven-game homestand against Harrisburg and Richmond. Bowie also begins the year with a starting rotation featuring three of the Orioles' top 11 prospects, according to Baseball America. Rodriguez (O's No. 3 prospect) starts Thursday and...

The Orioles announced today that the club will continue the Birdland Passport program, designed to reward fans who visit Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the Orioles' local minor league affiliates. All five minor league affiliates - the Norfolk Tides, Bowie Baysox, Frederick Keys, Delmarva Shorebirds, and Aberdeen IronBirds - will continue to participate in the program. "America's most family-friendly and affordable sports entertainment option available today is baseball," said Greg Bader,...

First baseman Adam LaRoche battled through 152 games in 2013 for the Nationals, but would be the first to admit he wasn't 100 percent healthy the entire season. Whether it was his elbow or attempting to maintain his weight, LaRoche struggled with his consistency at the plate. His .237 batting average was the lowest in his career in a season where he played at least 150 games. His previous low was .259 in 141 games for the Braves in 2005. LaRoche went through surgery to remove loose bodies...

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...