NEW YORK - Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen is shutting out the New York Yankees on two hits over the first four innings, which is the good news. Chen is receiving the usual run support, which his the bad news. The game is scoreless in the fifth inning, with four Orioles hits going to waste against Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda. Chen hasn't picked up a win in his last nine regular season starts, going 0-5 with a 4.36 ERA in 53 2/3 innings. The Orioles have totaled 15 runs in those nine starts while...

So the Orioles have returned to ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" for the first time since 2008. The announcers have had a few nice things to say about the club already in the early innings and they've had plenty of praise as well as some good stories already about Buck Showalter. In March, on a media conference call, ESPN's three "Sunday Night Baseball" broadcasters all talked favorably about the Orioles. Here were the comments: Play-by-play broadcaster Dan Shulman: "I think all three...

The Yankees start right-hander Hiroki Kuroda against the Orioles tonight in the series finale. He has faced the O's three times in his career, counting the playoffs, all from last season, and has pitched seven innings or more each time. In two regular season starts last year, he went 1-1 with a 2.93 ERA and then faced the Orioles in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, allowing just five hits and two earned runs over 8 1/3 innings. In his last nine starts against the AL East, he is...

NEW YORK - Orioles manager Buck Showalter found out about first baseman/outfielder Conor Jackson's retirement today during a text exchange with Triple-A Norfolk manager Ron Johnson. "He loved being with the organization and all that, but he's at the stage of his life where it wasn't something he wanted to continue to do," Showalter said. "I know a little bit more than that, but that's something that should come from Conor. He's just at the stage of his life where he wanted to move on...

It's never a good thing when the only real positive news coming out of a game from one team's perspective is that a player who got hit by a pitch isn't seriously injured. But that's about all the positive news I have for Nationals fans after this afternoon's 9-0 loss to the Braves, a game that caps off Atlanta's three-game sweep. That, and there's 150 games left to go. Danny Espinosa needed to leave today's game after four innings because of a sore right wrist, the result of getting...

The Nationals didn't play great baseball over the last three days. They got outscored by the Braves 18-5, were outhit 29-16 and made four errors, and Atlanta turned those numbers into a three-game sweep in the first battle this season between these two National League East rivals. Not surprisingly, however, the Nats are not concerned just yet. "It's just early," manager Davey Johnson said. "Things happen for the best. We should've won the first one. We were right there on the second...

NEW YORK - Triple-A Norfolk manager Ron Johnson said Conor Jackson's decision to retire today wasn't related to a physical ailment. "He just said at this point, his heart wasn't in it right now and that was it," Johnson said. "It wasn't a physical issue. He's been playing down here. It's just a personal decision he made and I've got a lot of respect for Conor Jackson." Johnson preferred to keep the rest of the conversation private. "I have a lot of respect for him as a player and...

NEW YORK - Nate McLouth is back in left field and atop the Orioles lineup tonight, and Nolan Reimold again is serving as the designated hitter. Pretty sure this lineup is the exact same as the one posted yesterday. 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 Wei-Yin Chen LHP For the Yankees: Brett Gardner CF Vernon Wells LF Robinson Cano 2B Kevin Youkilis 3B Ben Francisco...

This series has gone from bad to worse. After dropping the first two games of this three-game set against the rival Braves, each by two runs, the Nationals find themselves in a monster hole through 2 1/2 innings this afternoon. They trail 7-0 in the third inning. Gio Gonzalez has gotten smacked all over Nats Park by Braves hitters, allowing two homers and four extra-base hits overall. The Braves brought in three runs in the first inning and put up another crooked number in the third, with...

Yesterday was not a good day to listen to the sports talk shows in Baltimore. I generally listen when I can, and have hosted many shows over the years, but some of the comments about Adam Jones and the Orioles were overreactions and way over the top. When I was a guest with Ken Weinman on his show this afternoon on 105.7 FM The Fan in Baltimore, he presented an interesting theory: He said in a town like Baltimore, with so many die-hard Ravens fans, that some fans are taking a football...