The Washington Nationals today named outfielder Billy Burns Minor League Player of the Year and right-handed pitcher Taylor Jordan Minor League Pitcher of the Year. The club also named second baseman Tony Renda the recipient of the inaugural Bob Boone Award. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Player Development Bob Boone, Director of Player Development Doug Harris and Director of Minor League Operations Mark...

When the Orioles acquired Bud Norris on July 31, Jason Hammel went on the disabled list with a right flexor mass strain. Now, several weeks later, Norris is having his scheduled start tonight skipped due to elbow inflammation and Hammel is taking his spot this evening at Toronto. He's not excited how it happened, but is looking forward to his latest chance to pitch as an O's starter. "Definitely. It was disappointing to go on the DL," Hammel said. "Bud came in and filled in very well and...

When Stan Kasten was the Washington Nationals' president, before the former Atlanta Braves president left the nation's capital and became president and co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he shared an anecdote with reporters about a phone call from retired, legendary Braves manager Bobby Cox, who had called him after watching Ross Detwiler pitch. "This is unbelieveable, this is the exact way we did it." Cox told Kasten, referring to the rotation Atlanta assembled featuring Tom Glavine,...

Believe it or not, the Nationals will open their last homestand of the 2013 regular season tonight. The final stretch is here, all right. Sixteen games are all that remain on the Nationals' schedule. Ten of those 16 are at home, then the Nats will head on the road for their final six contests of the season. Over the last few weeks, the Nats have started to heat up. They've won 23 of their last 32 games, going from a team that was six games under .500 to one that is currently a season-high...

Trenton Thunder scored five runs in the third inning in a 11-4 win over the Harrisburg Senators at Metro Bank Park. The Thunder clinched the Eastern League Championship three games to none. Nathan Karns pitched just 2 2/3 innings, allowing a run-scoring triple by Tyler Austin in the third. Seven batters reached in a row to highlight Trenton's big inning. Justin Bloxom had an RBI single and Jeff Howell added a two-run single. Harrisburg struggled with runners in scoring position, going...

That loss felt like it had finality to it. With 16 games to go, are the Orioles done? Words like heartbreaking, disappointing, even devastating come to mind after last night's 6-5 loss. It was the quietest I've heard that clubhouse in the last two seasons. The players seemed down and how could they not be. The math still works for the Orioles to get in the playoffs, but they've now lost series to Boston, New York (twice) and Cleveland since the start of their last road trip on Aug. 27....

The Orioles are 77-69 and 11 games out of first place in their division. The Nationals are 77-69 and 11 games out of first place in their division. Did anyone see this coming a few weeks ago? The Nats are in second place. The Orioles have dropped to fourth, but they're only 2 1/2 games back in the wild card chase. I write "only" in comparison to the Nats. Make no mistake, the Orioles are losing ground and running out of time. They're also running out of healthy pitchers. Bud Norris...

In the quiet of the Orioles clubhouse, Jim Johnson was asked what went wrong in the ninth inning tonight. "PFPs (pitcher's fielding practice). The bunt play back to me," Johnson said. "Being aggressive trying to get the lead out. The ball slips and it kind of started the whole inning." After Brendan Ryan singled leading off the ninth of the 5-5 tie, Johnson threw wildly to second on a bunt play to put two men on. Later, his wild pitch scored the go-ahead run in the 6-5 Yankees win. "I...

The Orioles have fallen 2 1/2 games behind the Rays in the wild card race after tonight's 6-5 loss to the Yankees at Camden Yards. They trailed 5-1, battled back to tie the game and lost it in the ninth when Jim Johnson gave up a leadoff single, committed a throwing error and uncorked a wild pitch. According to ESPN's Jayson Stark, Johnson had never allowed a run to score on a wild pitch until tonight. Left fielder Alfonso Soriano robbed Manny Machado of a home run in the eighth before...

The Orioles won't win the division this year, but on this day in 1969, they clinched the first American League East title. After a loss to Washington by the defending World Series champion Detroit Tigers gave them the division, the O's went out and beat Cleveland 10-5 for good measure, their seventh win in what would become a season-best eight-game winning streak. The win extended the O's division lead to 18 1/2 with 17 games remaining. Baseball had no divisions - only a 10-team AL and a...