The Orioles are going with their standard lineup tonight against a right-hander. In this case, it's Toronto Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Nate McLouth is leading off and playing left field. Nick Markakis drops down to third. Ryan Flaherty is the second baseman, and Nolan Reimold is the designated hitter. For the Orioles 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 Miguel Gonzalez...

The Orioles will add pitcher Josh Stinson to the 25-man roster on Wednesday, and he's expected to start that day against the Toronto Blue Jays. I'm told that manager Buck Showalter hasn't made a final decision on his starter, but Stinson's arrival would seem to signal that he's taking the mound in the last game of the homestand. Freddy Garcia is listed as tonight's starter for Triple-A Norfolk, which eliminates him from consideration unless he's a late scratch. Left-hander Zach...

It seems there's been a bit of a power outage in D.C. over the last couple weeks. The Nationals, a team that on paper has a balanced, skilled lineup with a nice mix of guys who reach base at a high clip and can mash the ball out of the park, have seen their bats go quiet recently, to the surprise to some of the guys in the clubhouse. "We're not getting the big hits," Adam LaRoche said. "A lot of quick innings. Not a ton of baserunners. And five or six guys that aren't swinging the bat...

He's back. R.A. Dickey and his confounding knuckleball will present the latest challenge for the Orioles, who don't care to dance with his signature pitch. They couldn't keep up the last time he faced them in a June 18 interleague game with the Mets. Dickey tossed a one-hit shutout in a 5-0 victory. Dickey struck out a career high 13 batters while improving to 11-1 with a 2.00 ERA. Wilson Betemit had the only hit against him, with two outs in the fifth inning. Jake Arrieta also carried a...

It's a good thing the Orioles are playing well early on in games against the AL East because they sure seem to play a lot of games against AL East opponents right now. In fact, this series with Toronto will end a stretch where the Orioles have opened the season playing 15 of their first 21 games against teams from the division. Their 2-1, walk-off win over Toronto Monday night improved the O's record to 8-5 in the East. They have back-to-back walk off wins in division games after Matt...

Dan Haren was asked after tonight's game whether he viewed his outing - in which he allowed three runs on six hits over five-plus innings - as a step in the right direction after failing to reach the sixth inning in any of his previous three starts. "Not really," Haren said. "I want more out of myself than five innings, giving up three runs and (Craig) Stammen bailing me out of that jam. I've been around for 10 years. I'm used to throwing seven, eight innings every time. I've thrown 200...

Monday's 3-2 setback to the Cardinals was the Nationals' second straight loss and seventh in their last 10 games. But shortstop Ian Desmond saw something in the tough defeat, which he believes the team can use to build on for their next game. "We played a much better game," Desmond said. "This was one of our better games of the year. We played good. That one ball just drops in. We are close. That was a good sign." Desmond was up in a critical situation with men on second and third base...

Pete Kozma, the Cardinals' shortstop who delivered a knockout blow to the Nationals in Game 5 of their Division Series in October, returned to a chorus of booing Monday night at Nationals Park. Afterward, he said getting booed was a first. Given what he did against the Nationals last season, including a key two-run single in the Cardinals' 9-7 comeback win in Game 5 of the NLDS, Kozma is becoming to D.C. baseball fans what another shortstop, Bucky Dent, is to the Red Sox. The light-hitting...

After pitching a total of 14 innings over his first three starts, Chris Tillman needed to start getting deeper into games and he did that tonight in the Orioles' 2-1 win over Toronto. Tillman didn't get a decision, but gave his team a strong start, allowing just four hits and one run over 6 2/3 innings to lower his ERA from 7.07 to 5.23. "He had all of his pitches working," catcher Matt Wieters said. "He had four pitches he could throw for strikes. We really didn't even break out the...

As Davey Johnson sat down in front of reporters for his postgame press conference tonight, he let out a deep sigh. The Nationals are now 10-9 on the season after tonight's 3-2 loss to the Cardinals. They're treading water at the moment, searching for signs that they're making progress and on the way to snapping out of this funk to open the 2013 season. Dan Haren failed to retire a batter in the sixth inning for the fourth straight start but, compared to his previous three outings, tonight...