Among the theories out there about why O's relief pitcher Pedro Strop has struggled this season is that he pitched often in the World Baseball Classic. Strop pitched six times in a 13-day span between March 7-19 for the Dominican Republic in the tourney and he pitched very well. He went 6 2/3 innings, allowing just three hits and no runs with no walks and seven strikeouts. Now he has an ERA of 5.79 with the Orioles, has struggled to throw consistent strikes, walking nine over 11 innings, and...

Tonight's Tigers-Nationals game has been postponed due to inclement weather and will be made up Thursday at 4:05 p.m. It's not currently raining here at Nationals Park, but a strong cell is supposed to come through the D.C. area tonight. Rather than starting tonight's game and having both teams use their starting pitcher only to then go into a delay, the game has been pre-emptively called. Both the Nationals and Tigers had an off-day scheduled for Thursday, so that day was an easy choice...

Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts is flying to Dallas on Wednesday to visit with a knee specialist after an attempt to take light batting practice in Sarasota didn't produce the desired results. Roberts will be examined by Dr. Daniel Cooper, who previously worked with Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria. Roberts remains on the 15-day disabled list after suffering the injury during the third game of the regular season at Tropicana Field. It's classified as a hamstring injury, but...

The most anonymous and yet most important people in baseball have made the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The hall is recognizing the work of scouts in a two-year display that opened last week. In an age when advanced statistics such as BABIP and WAR take center stage in player evaluation, the old-time scout, the guy that puts 50,000 miles a year on a car looking for potential big-league talent, is being recognized. "It's about time,'' says Dan Jennings, vice president of player...

Providing the rain now pelting Camden Yards lets up - and there's always a window, as we know - here is the Orioles lineup for tonight's opener of a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals. Nate McLouth LF Manny Machado 3B Nick Markakis RF Adam Jones CF Chris Davis 1B Matt Wieters C J.J. Hardy SS Ryan Flaherty 2B Nolan Reimold DH RHP Wei-Yin Chen Also, Miguel Gonzalez reports that the blister on his right thumb that forced him out of Friday's game after only six innings has...

The tarp is on the field at Nationals Park and the raindrops are coming down sideways at a pretty rapid rate. I have absolutely no inside information on whether tonight's game will be played. Reporters just scan the forecast on Weather.com like the rest of you. But I can tell you that the forecast doesn't look great. That's about the extent of my meteorology knowledge for the time being. I'll obviously keep everyone posted with the latest updates once I hear anything. If tonight's game...

Like the 2012 Orioles, the 2013 Kansas City Royals are looking to bring winning baseball back to their city while ending a long playoff drought. The Royals' last playoff appearance was in 1985, when they won the World Series, and their last winning season was in 2003. They went 72-90 last season. But even after a tough 2-1 loss to the White Sox on Monday, the Royals bring a 17-11 record to Camden Yards tonight to begin a three-game series. Right now, the Royals are closer to first place than...

In-park voting for the 2013 Major League Baseball All-Star Game begins tonight at Oriole Park, and the Orioles have launched a ballpark "Vote Orange Rewards Program" to encourage fans to vote to make sure the team is well-represented at the Midsummer Classic. Fans who complete as few as 50 paper ballots and submit them by the sixth inning will be eligible to win an autographed photo at each home game and have their name displayed on the center field video board as the "Voter of the Game."...

At the risk of continuing the conversation about Bryce Harper's ejection for yet another day and annoying the heck out of those who want to move on, here's a view of the incident that I hadn't yet seen. This view shows Harper as he "slammed" his bat and helmet to the ground. I put "slammed" in quotes because that's the term that third base umpire John Hirschbeck used when explaining his decision to eject Harper after the game. "I was actually just being nice," Hirschbeck told a...

Potomac Nationals right-hander