The voting for Most Valuable Oriole ended yesterday at noon, with members of the media who cover the team pressured into remembering to e-mail their ballot and not treat it like their BGE bill. This could be the narrowest margin of victory since I've been on the beat, and my first full season was 1997. I announced my choice on Sunday's edition of "O's Xtra" on MASN while sitting in front of the visiting dugout at Fenway Park and feeling a light mist against my back. The grounds crew was...

PHILADELPHIA - Ross Detwiler is usually pretty tough on himself after a poor outing. Tonight, given how close the Nationals are to clinching the National League East and how few starts he has left this season, Detwiler didn't hold back when asked about his performance in the Nationals' 6-3 loss to the Phillies. "It was embarrassing," a dejected Detwiler said after the game. The Nationals have watched the Phillies celebrate in person three times in the last five years. In both 2007 and...

PHILADELPHIA - The combination of the Nationals' loss to the Phillies and the Braves' dramatic walk-off win over the Marlins leaves Washington's lead in the NL East at four with eight games to go in the regular season. Your thoughts, Davey Johnson? "Just got to win tomorrow," the Nationals' skipper said. "We lost a battle today, we've got to win a battle tomorrow. Want to win the war." The Nats aren't panicking yet. They would've liked to keep pace with Atlanta today and cut into...

After a loss which featured a few bobbled balls in the field and the Orioles going 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, Adam Jones was asked if pennant race pressure was finally getting to the Orioles? "No, for what. Ain't nobody in here like that," Jones said. "We're still enjoying ourselves and still having fun. That is what we've been doing since the first day of spring training. It's a cool position to be in and we just have to come through, pretty much. We got shutout, but...

The Orioles are two games behind the Yankees in the American League East and could slip another half-game back if New York holds onto its 3-2 lead over the Twins. Update: The Twins beat the Yankees, 5-4. The Orioles remain 1 1/2 games back in the AL East. Manager Buck Showalter praised left-hander Joe Saunders for giving the Orioles "a chance to win." "We just couldn't do much with the bats, and the few opportunities that we had, we couldn't cash in," Showalter said following a 4-0...

The Toronto Blue Jays are taking a page out of the Orioles' book from last September and trying to play the role of spoiler. But it's the Orioles' party they are trying to throw cold water on. Toronto beat the Orioles 4-0 tonight to put a dent into the O's AL East title hopes. The Orioles fall to 88-67 on the year and were shutout for the ninth time. The Orioles began the day 1 1/2 games behind New York for the division lead and 1 1/2 games ahead of Oakland for the AL's top wild...

PHILADELPHIA - If you take out the third inning, Ross Detwiler had a pretty solid start. Excluding that one frame, Detwiler allowed just one run and three hits over four innings of work. The Phillies did a lot of damage in that third inning, though. Detwiler, who was a little out of sorts early on, walked the first two hitters he faced in the third, gave up an RBI single to Ryan Howard and then served up a three-run bomb to Carlos Ruiz. Four batters, four runs scored. That made it a 5-1...

The Blue Jays have collected seven hits off Joe Saunders in four innings. Maybe he should feel fortunate that they've only scored twice. Toronto leads, 2-0, in the top of the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Yan Gomes in the first inning and a two-out RBI double by Adeiny Hechavarria in the fourth. Saunders has thrown 60 pitches, 38 for strikes. Saunders caught a break in the first when Rajai Davis' grounder hit Gomes to end the inning. Davis is credited with a hit and Robert Andino, who...

PHILADELPHIA - Much was made of Davey Johnson's quote yesterday, saying that he plans on resting some of his starters once the Nationals clinch the NL East title. Johnson isn't there yet, though. So, he plans on using anyone and everyone necessary today against the Phillies, including reliever Christian Garcia, who dealt with some biceps tightness recently. "He's available. Everybody's available," Johnson said. "And everybody's going to be available tomorrow. ... They're all...

A Maryland native will be the starting pitcher against the Orioles tonight as the Blue Jays and Birds play Game 3 of this series at Camden Yards. Toronto lefty Aaron Laffey is from Cumberland, Maryland and was drafted in Round 16 out of Cumberland's Allegany High School by Cleveland in 2003. The Blue Jays are his fourth team and he's also been with the Indians, Mariners and Yankees. The 27-year-old Laffey, who spent some time this season at Triple-A, is 3-6 with a 4.80 ERA. His last three...