ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Chris Tillman couldn't locate his fastball to right-handed hitters tonight, which Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria - a right-handed hitter who feasts on misplaced fastballs - could easily attest. Tillman served up two home runs to Longoria and another to Ryan Roberts in a 4-1 loss to the Rays. "I didn't make my pitches," Tillman said. "I was trying to go away on him with all of them and just couldn't locate the ball to my glove side. I left the ball up in the zone....

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Manager Buck Showalter had a few words for his players tonight before leaving the clubhouse to do his postgame interview on MASN and meet with reporters. "I told our guys how proud I am, and just to be associated with this bunch," he said following a 4-1 loss to the Rays that forced the Orioles onto the road for Friday night's wild card game. "They're a baseball-playing bunch of guys. They'll let it rip in Texas and it won't be from timidness. I can tell you...

The Washington Nationals Dream Foundation is excited to announce that The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation has committed $250,000 in support of the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy. In appreciation of this gift, the Marriott Foundation will be recognized as a Founding Partner of the Youth Baseball Academy and will receive naming rights for one of the facility's three new baseball fields. In addition, the Foundation will receive prominent recognition throughout the...

The Orioles needed a win tonight to gain a home playoff game in Friday's wild card round of the postseason. But they didn't get it, as Evan Longoria homered three times and Jeremy Hellickson was the third straight Rays starter to shut down the Orioles in Tampa's 4-1 victory. With the loss, the Orioles now must play on the road Friday night at Texas in the AL Wild Card game at 8:37 p.m. Eastern time. Yu Darvish is expected to start that game for Texas. The Orioles could possibly go with Joe...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The playoff picture became a lot clearer this afternoon with the Athletics completing their improbable run toward the American League West title. The A's have been in first place for one day - today. They fell behind, 5-1, and stormed back for a 12-5 win that pushed the Rangers into the wild card and a possible matchup with the Orioles. To review: If the Orioles and Yankees win tonight, the Orioles would host the Rangers in the one-game wild card. If the Orioles lose,...

Teddy Roosevelt winning the Presidents' Race was the highlight of the afternoon for many Nationals fans. Ryan Zimmerman does not fit into that group of people. "I am so glad Teddy won so we can stop talking about Teddy," an exasperated Zimmerman said after today's 5-1 Nats win. "People get more excited for a mascot race than a game." Zimmerman then gave a massive eye-roll and cranked the sarcasm meter to the limit. "Yes, I'm excited Teddy won," he said. "I'm ecstatic." Jayson...

The Phillies wrapped up a .500 season today with a loss to the Nationals. The year didn't go as the Phils had expected, as they relinquished the NL East crown and failed to record a winning record for the first time in 10 years. But Jimmy Rollins feels his team would have prevented the Nats from winning their first division title in team history if key guys on the Phillies' roster (Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Carlos Ruiz, Placido Polanco) had spent less time on the...

Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman hit his 25th homer of the season Wednesday in a 5-1 win over the Phillies, marking third time in his career he has it 25 or more homers in a season. He also hit 24 homers in 2007. He is a part of a Nationals team that has the most wins in major league baseball and has won its division. He said that is all nice, but the ultimate goal is a world championship. "It is quite an accomplishment," Zimmerman said. "Winning the division was a goal and now we...

So the Orioles need a Yankees loss tonight but yet New York will be facing Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka, who is 1-6 with a 7.68 ERA. In four September starts, Matsuzaka is 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA and batting average against of .400. So I'm sayin' there's a chance. By the way, Boston is 1-11 in its last 12 games and was outscored 19-7 in Baltimore and has been outscored 14-5 the last two nights in New York. The Yankees lead the season series 12-5 with the Red Sox and are 9-1 in their past 10...

With two outs in the top of the seventh inning, someone popped out of the Nationals' dugout, walked to the mound and got the ball from starter Edwin Jackson. That person wasn't manager Davey Johnson, but bench coach Randy Knorr. My first thought at the time was that Johnson was just having Knorr handle the managerial duties late in the game, given that it was the last day of the regular season. But when the Nationals' skipper wasn't out on the field for the postgame handshakes after the...