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Thoughts as the League Championship Series get started:
* The Orioles need a big-game, season-saving pitcher, ala the Yankees' CC Sabathia. The Orioles' pitching depth is nice, but a Sabathia-type pitcher would be ideal. Sabathia beat the Orioles twice in the Division Series, once with 120 pitches and another with 121. This offseason, the Orioles should sign Nate McLouth and renegotiate with Mark Reynolds - maybe two years and $11 million instead of picking up the one-year option. The...
I just got home from Nationals Park a few minutes ago, and wanted to post some quotes from Nats general manager Mike Rizzo before hitting the pillow for the next 3 1/2 weeks.
Before I share Rizzo's postgame comments, though, I wanted to say thank you to all of you who read my work here on MASNsports.com, commented, interacted with me on Twitter or in any way helped make this season so fun for me.
I joined the Nationals beat a couple weeks into spring training this year and had to play a bit...
Adam LaRoche has a $10 million mutual option for next season, which he's sure to decline in search of a more lucrative deal.
Edwin Jackson is set to become a free agent yet again.
The Nationals' 2012 season just ended, and ended in stunning fashion. But general manager Mike Rizzo and his staff have been preparing for the offseason for about three or four weeks, and soon enough, they'll need to decide how to proceed with both LaRoche and Jackson.
LaRoche says he hopes to be back with the...
Drew Storen stood in front of his locker wearing his grey undershirt with red sleeves.
He looked at the floor, paced around the Nationals clubhouse a bit, then came back to his locker. Veteran infielder Mark DeRosa walked over and gave Storen a hug and a few words of encouragement. Starter Gio Gonzalez followed, as did general manager Mike Rizzo.
Storen stared at the ground a bit more, playing at the carpet with his toes. Plastic sheets were pulled up above the lockers towards the ceiling. A...
As the St. Louis Cardinals celebrated the most improbable of comebacks in the Nationals Park infield, outfielder Jayson Werth knelt on the top step of the home dugout, his head bent in a cross between disappointment and disbelief. Behind him, stunned fans watched a celebration they never expected to see unfold, their plans to whoop it up after reaching the National League Division Series short-circuited.
For the seconds immediately following the Cardinals' 9-7 win over the Nationals early...
The Nationals' season came to a quick end in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the National League Division Series.
But if you look back at the past couple of seasons, there is no way this team would have had a chance to be one strike away from the National League Championship Series without the bat and glove of Adam LaRoche at first base.
LaRoche put up career numbers in 2012, smacking 33 homers and 100 RBIs in helping the Nationals to 98 regular season wins and a the National League East...
NEW YORK - The finality slowly hit me.
The Orioles are done playing in 2012. The thrill ride has ended, final destination a long, long way from where it was expected to be back in spring training.
Remember spring training? Top stories included the arrival of Dontrelle Willis and Ronny Paulino's car, a highly unexpected appearance by slugger-turned-agent Gary Sheffield (whose client, pitcher Josh Banks, never made it out of minor league camp), former Oriole Jason Johnson's highly unexpected...
Drew Storen was handed a 7-5 lead in the ninth inning, but the Nationals' 25-year-old closer allowed four runs to give the Cardinals a 9-7 lead heading to the bottom of the ninth.
Storen allowed a double to Carlos Beltran leading off the ninth, then retired the next two Cardinals hitters and got two strikes on Yadier Molina to bring the Nationals to within a strike of the National League Championship Series.
He then walked Molina and David Freese, loading the bases for Daniel Descalso....
It looked like Gio Gonzalez was on cruise control.
He'd faced just one over the minimum through the first three innings, had struck out four and was having no trouble pounding the zone with both his fastball and dazzling curve.
Then the Game 1 Gio Gonzalez returned.
We remember that Gio Gonzalez - the one who couldn't find the strike zone, handed out walks to anyone who was willing to take one and forced the Nationals' bullpen into action in the early innings.
Staked to a 6-0 lead after...
NEW YORK - The Orioles' inability to generate any semblance of an offense will most likely be the primary focus of the 2012 postseason.
They batted .187 in the American League Division Series, which negated the 2.52 ERA posted by their pitching staff.
"Nobody hit," said first baseman Mark Reynolds. "They didn't hit, we didn't hit. There was some really good pitching, I guess. Just couldn't get the big hit when we needed it tonight. It sucks, but we'll be back. We'll be...