Has the day many Orioles fans have been hoping for finally arrived? Are the New York Yankees finally going to take a step back in the American League East? Have age and injuries finally caught up to this team? I am sticking to my opinion that I will believe the demise of the Yankees when I finally see it. This is a franchise that has averaged 97.5 wins the last four seasons and has made the playoffs in 17 of the last 18 seasons. But this time you can make a solid case that they could be in...

VIERA, Fla. - There isn't a stadium radar gun at Space Coast Stadium, but Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki said he was pretty sure Stephen Strasburg was throwing in the 95-97 mph range today in the right-hander's fourth start of spring. "Easy," Suzuki said, indicating Strasburg was bringing heat without using much effort. "So easy." Strasburg dominated through his first five innings of work today before struggling in the sixth. He retired just one of the five hitters he faced in the sixth,...

VIERA, Fla. - Outside of a Carlos Rivero RBI groundout and a Tyler Moore solo home run in the ninth inning, the Nationals were shut down today by a group of Braves hurlers led by Paul Maholm. Maholm held the Nats scoreless over five strong innings, striking out five, and the Nats fell to Atlanta 7-2. Had Stephen Strasburg been pulled after five innings, he would have finished with a dynamite stats line with a big zero in the run column. Because his pitch count was so low to that point,...

BRADENTON, Fla. - Well, it's not much of an update, but Nick Markakis had an MRI on his neck this afternoon and the Orioles will examine the results later tonight. The club isn't expected to pass along the results until Tuesday morning. Also, Zach Britton will take off three days and make Friday's start against the Boston Red Sox in Sarasota. Britton only went two innings today, and manager Buck Showalter wants to get him back on the mound and extend him. It worked today with Jake...

BRADENTON, Fla. - Left-hander Zach Britton gave up an RBI double to Josh Harrison in the bottom of the seventh inning to reduce the Orioles' lead to 3-1 over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jake Arrieta stepped outside the clubhouse while icing his right arm and met with reporters. Here's a sampling: On how he felt about his start: "Overall, I liked the outing. I started out very strong. I talked to Rick (Adair) about this a lot and we've continued to work, bullpen session after bullpen session,...

VIERA, Fla. - When I looked at Stephen Strasburg's stat line before today's game, I was surprised how inflated it was. Through his first three outings this spring, Strasburg had a 5.19 ERA, having allowed five runs in 8 2/3 innings, with 11 hits, three walks and 13 strikeouts. That's why spring stat lines mean almost nothing. Strasburg had been much better than his numbers had indicated this spring, and today, the in-game results started to match how good his stuff has been. Strasburg has...

BRADENTON, Fla. - You can't stop Lew Ford. You can only hope to contain him. Ford is 2-for-2 today with a single and home run, and the Orioles have taken a 2-0 lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates at McKechnie Field. Ford, re-signed to a minor league deal over the winter, is now 11-for-19 with two home runs this spring. The Orioles scored in the second inning on consecutive singles by Danny Valencia, Yamaico Navarro and LJ Hoes. Ford homered with one out in the third off Pirates left-hander...

VIERA, Fla. - In case you missed it over the weekend, former Nationals manager Manny Acta has joined ESPN as a bilingual analyst. Acta had the reins in D.C. from 2007-09 and spent the last three seasons as the manager of the Indians, compiling a record of 214-266. He has said that he hopes to get back into a big league dugout in the near future. The Nationals have an off-day tomorrow and then split-squad games on Wednesday. Jordan Zimmermann will get the start against the Mets here in...

BRADENTON, Fla. - Second baseman Brian Roberts remains convinced that he will be in the opening day lineup on April 2, his body holding up under every test this spring. "Everything's been great," he said this morning. "It's been nice to get out, play and just kind of be normal again and be like everybody else. We're having a good time and everybody seems to be playing well. We think that things are going in the right direction for everybody at this point." Roberts is the one under the...

BRADENTON, Fla. - Jason Hammel and Jair Jurrjens will be the starters for Tuesday morning's intrasquad game on the Camden Yards field at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. The game will last eight to 10 innings, weather permitting. Rain is in the forecast, which would force some pitchers to throw indoors. Nolan Reimold, Wilson Betemit and Taylor Teagarden will bat each inning. Betemit, who's 1-for-17 with a home run this spring, approached manager Buck Showalter with a request to play in the...