It's September again. And Baltimore, let's agree, is a great autumn city. It's harsh in the depths of summer and winter, but fall is our reward for enduring both. This is a place for when things get just cold enough for a sweater at night. That's when we're at our best. In terms of sports, "at our best" in fall also meant, for many years, "the Ravens are back." But we're in year two now of the September experiment, when the Orioles remain relevant even as the NFL settles in to...

PHILADELPHIA - Like his manager, left-hander Gio Gonzalez realizes that tonight's 9-6 Nationals win wasn't too pretty. But that doesn't bother him too much. "A win doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to be a win," Gonzalez said. "At the end of the day, it's just one of the things. We turn the page, move forward and hopefully tomorrow will be a different game. It'll be something a little more smoother." Gonzalez might have picked up his ninth win of the season, and the box score...

PHILADELPHIA - A win is a win is a win. This win was just not one you'll see replayed on MASN's "Nationals Classics" or used as part of a defensive drills tutorial anytime soon. The Nationals beat the Phillies 9-6 tonight at Citizens Bank Park in a game that saw the two teams combine to throw 347 pitches, just 54 percent of which were strikes. Six Phillies pitchers combined to walk nine batters. The Nats made three errors, the Phillies one. The Nats had two runs score on bases-loaded...

The Orioles offense can't seem to get on a roll at the moment, and the Orioles can't seem to get on a roll, either. It has now been almost a month since the Orioles had a three-game win streak. Last night's loss at Cleveland stopped that from happening for the first time since Aug. 6-9 - and that was 23 games ago. The Orioles were shut out at New York on Saturday, but then scored 14 runs over the next two games. They were shut out last night until Nate McLouth's homer in the ninth. The...

Is there a more unsettled and fluid rotation among contenders than the one belonging to the Orioles? Seriously, I'm asking here. And I'm not taking injuries into account. Miguel Gonzalez is healthy, but he's being pushed back to Thursday night against the White Sox at Camden Yards. Manager Buck Showalter has always handled him with care, to the point where he's on a wacky schedule. Gonzalez started on Aug. 20, pitched twice in relief and made his next start on Aug. 30 in New York,...

PHILADELPHIA - We're now in game 138 on the Nationals schedule this season. This could qualify as the sloppiest game we've seen all year. Through six innings, we saw four errors, four wild pitches, a balk, a hit-batter and 11 walks surrendered. The Nats held a 7-2 lead. Then they led 7-5. Gio Gonzalez allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings, only one of which was earned. Errors by Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper in the bottom of the sixth helped three Phillies runs score, and Ryan Mattheus needed...

ABERDEEN, Md. - After throwing 57 pitches over four innings tonight at short-season Single-A Aberdeen, Orioles pitcher Jason Hammel pronounced himself ready to return to the big leagues. "I'd say I'm ready," Hammel said after his outing. "I don't exactly know what the plan is for the next couple of days. But I've done my work and they've taken good care of me. I feel healthy and ready to go when they want me." Hammel had a very sharp first two innings tonight, getting six quick outs...

Chris Tillman has held the Indians to one run over five innings tonight. What he can't do so far is enjoy a lead. Indians starter Ubaldo Jimenez is shutting out the Orioles over six innings. He left the bases loaded in the sixth, allowing a single to Manny Machado and walking Chris Davis and Matt Wieters. Michael Morse, who singled in his first at-bat tonight, bounced to the mound to end the threat. He's 3-for-7 in two games with the Orioles. Morse was a career .350 hitter with the bases...

PHILADELPHIA - If Wilson Ramos is worn out from having started 12 straight games, he sure isn't showing it. Ramos smoked a three-run homer to deep right-center field in the second inning, giving the Nationals a 3-0 lead over the Phillies. It was a bomb from Ramos, who took a 1-0 fastball from Phillies righty Ethan Martin and drove it over the scoreboard in right-center, one of the deepest parts of the park. It's the 10th homer of the season for Ramos, who is now up to 37 RBIs on the...

ABERDEEN, Md. - Making a rehab start tonight for the short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds, O's right-hander Jason Hammel has pitched two 1-2-3 innings against the Lowell Spinners, a Red Sox farm club. Hammel has gotten four groundouts and two flyouts on just 17 pitches, throwing 10 for strikes with his fastball sitting mostly at 93 mph. Hammel is expected to go about five innings and around 65 pitches in this game. Wearing a No. 49 home Aberdeen jersey, Hammel got off to a strong start...