Davey Johnson is feeling much more spry today than he did Sunday, when he spent the final two innings of the Nationals' win over the Phillies on a training table with back pain. Johnson got a couple of shots in his back yesterday to numb the affected area and then an injection of cortisone, and that seems to have done the trick. The 70-year-old skipper was all smiles and even said he might be closing in on throwing batting practice sometime soon, a goal of his from earlier in the...

Chris Davis has had a string of big hits on this current road trip that have been MVP-like. They have come in big spots and produced very big runs for the Orioles. Tuesday at San Diego: An RBI double in the eighth inning for a 3-1 lead. Wednesday at San Diego: A three-run homer in the eighth for a 6-3 lead. Friday at San Francisco: A two-run double in the 10th for a 4-2 lead. Saturday at San Francisco: A 466-foot solo homer in the 8th pulls O's within 3-2. Monday at Arizona: A solo homer in...

Orioles right-hander Miguel Gonzalez is facing the Diamondbacks for the first time tonight. In 12 career outings when starting against an opponent for the first time, Gonzalez is 6-4 with a 4.67 ERA and the Orioles are 7-5 in those games. Gonzalez is 11-5 with a 3.18 ERA in 23 career outings against an opponent he's faced in the past, and the Orioles are 16-7 in those 23 games. The Orioles are 5-11 in games when Matt Wieters hits a home run. They're .500 or better when every other player...

The Nationals' lineup against Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner does not feature Bryce Harper. Scott Hairston will play left field and hit eighth tonight, with Harper getting the day off. We can assume that the reason for Harper's absence is his struggles against left-handed pitching this season. Harper has hit just .172/.270/.276 against southpaws in 2013, while Hairston has a career .268 batting average and .817 OPS against lefties. Bumgarner is holding lefties to a .150 average and...

Lucas Giolito is starting to pile up consistent starts. The Gulf Coast Nationals right-hander pitched five more scoreless innings today, allowing two hits, two walks and striking out five, with one wild pitch. He faced 18 batters, inducing four groundouts and four flyouts. The GCL Nats won the game 2-1, but Giolito did not factor into the decision. The GCL Nats are now 40-6 (.870), the best record at any level of professional baseball. He has now allowed only one earned run in 14 straight...

Anyone know the significance of today's date in Orioles history? I'm sure it will be discussed later in the MASN booth. On Aug. 13, 1969, Jim Palmer tossed a no-hitter to defeat the Athletics 8-0 at Memorial Stadium. He walked six, including Reggie Jackson three times, and struck out eight while improving to 11-2 with a 1.77 ERA. I look at that record and ERA and just shake my head. Amazing. Palmer helped his own cause with two hits, including a double, and an RBI. Brooks Robinson belted...

Going into the bottom of the eighth last night, Troy Patton had allowed just one homer since May 28 and Wil Nieves had not homered in 126 at-bats all year. Of course, Nieves homered as Arizona took a 6-5 lead. But then, with a gritty rally, the Orioles tied it in the ninth. But Darren O'Day, who had not allowed an earned run in 41 of 53 appearances this year faced Adam Eaton, who had no homers this year in 76 at-bats. Eaton homered to win it. Of course he did. For those of you that...

Stephen Strasburg's complete-game shutout on Sunday was an exclamation point at the end of a weekend statement that the Nationals have found their sense of pride. It was the best game of Strasburg's young career. He has said many times that he wants to go deeper into seasons, deeper into games and it doesn't get much deeper than a complete-game shutout. Coming at the end of the weekend sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies, it emphasized Davey Johnson's assertion that the team needed to play...

It's becoming increasingly more difficult to not compare the 2013 Orioles to their 2012 squad. I can't promise that I won't do this every week for the rest of this season. As of Aug. 13, the Orioles find themselves five games back of the first-place Red Sox in the AL East with their 65-53 record. On this date a season ago, the Orioles were also in third place in the division with a 62-53 record, six games behind the leading Yankees. While drawing these comparisons, I began to ponder Buck...

The Nationals welcome the San Francisco Giants to town today for the first of three games at Nats Park. Let's just call it the Battle of the Underachievers. These two teams rival the Angels and maybe the Blue Jays in the most disappointing department this season, with the Giants in last place in the National League West, sitting 13 games under .500, and the Nats still three games under .500 even after their sweep of the Phillies this weekend. Two tough lefties will take the mound tonight in...