NEW YORK - My favorite quote from the Orioles' clubhouse tonight was provided by shortstop J.J. Hardy, whose RBI double in the top of the 13th inning broke a 2-2 tie and allowed the Orioles to avoid elimination in the American League Division Series. The Orioles were hitting .208 in the Division Series coming into tonight, and the bats went cold again after Nate McLouth's home run in the fifth inning. "I don't know what it is," Hardy said. "Maybe it's the pressure, maybe it's the...

NEW YORK - The Orioles and Yankees have met 22 times this season and split the games right down the middle. It seems appropriate that they'll play again Friday afternoon with the winner advancing to the American League Championship Series. First pitch for Game 5 of the Division Series is set for 5:07 p.m. in the Bronx. Here's the transcript from manager Buck Showalter's late-night session with the media: Q. After the game, it seemed like a couple of your players were exhausted that we...

When Ross Detwiler reached for his phone after tonight's game, he had 83 text messages waiting for him. Good thing he won't be needed to pitch for at least another few days. His fingers might be numb for a while if he plans on getting back to everyone. Detwiler took the mound tonight needing to pitch the game of his life. He did just that. He's had more impressive stat lines this season. But Detwiler's effort, given the circumstances, should put this outing up there on the list of best...

NEW YORK - Regulation can't hold these two teams. Darren O'Day induced a ground ball from pinch hitter Raul Ibanez to send Game 4 of the American League Division Series into extra innings. He also got rid of a royal pain for the Orioles. The Orioles are 16-3 in extras, with all three losses coming against the Yankees. They dropped two in April, and Ibanez hit a walk-off home run in the 12th last night. Jim Johnson and Pedro Strop are the only true relievers left in the Orioles' bullpen....

Needing a win to keep their season going and a run to end several games of offensive frustration, the Orioles got both tonight. J.J. Hardy's RBI double in the top of the 13th inning lifted the Orioles to a 2-1 win over the Yankees in Game 4 of the American League Division Series. The series is now tied 2-2 and the teams play the decisive Game 5 on Friday at 5:07 p.m. with the winner advancing to the American League Championship Series. As they came to bat in the 13th, the Orioles hadn't...

After a heartbreaking 8-0 loss in Game 3 of the National League Division Series to the Cardinals, the Nationals bounced back nicely for a 2-1 win in Game 4. Pitching has been the Achilles heel for the Nats all postseason, but starting pitcher Ross Detwiler provided some stability to the pitching staff. Though the Nats never had a hit with a runner in scoring position, Jayson Werth hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth with no outs. With the win, the Nationals forced a Game...

The Nationals, who didn't give the home fans much to cheer about in a Game 3 loss in the best-of-five National League Division Series on Wednesday, more than made up for that Thursday night. The crowd was smaller - only 44,392, just the third-largest in Nationals Park history - but it finally got a chance to erupt when Jayson Werth hit a walk-off homer into the Cardinals' bullpen in left field for a 2-1 Nationals victory. Werth noticed a distinct difference in the stands Wednesday afternoon...

What does Jayson Werth remember about his game-winning, walk-off home run off Lance Lynn in the bottom of the ninth inning, a homer which gave the Nationals new life in the best-of-five National League Division Series and let them play one more day? Not a whole lot. "It's almost like I blacked out," Werth said after the game. "A Will Ferrell moment." The pieces Werth does remember are brief flashes. The 2-2 curveball from the hard-throwing Cardinals reliever that bent just out of the...

I don't know where to begin. I'll get to quotes from the walk-off hero, the starting pitcher who threw the game of his life with the pressure of an entire organization on his shoulders and all the other guys who contributed in between. First, here's Davey Johnson. The Nationals skipper said both after last night's blowout loss and before today's must-win Game 4 that he had no reason to doubt that his team would come through in a big spot. They entered today's game confident despite the...

Before each game, Ian Desmond goes through a pregame drill that's part intense practice, part comfortable ritual. He grabs batting practice pitcher Julian Martinez, renowned as the best fungo hitter among the Nationals' field staff, and gets him to slap short pop flies to shallow left field. Just past third base. Along the left field line. To the no-man's land beyond shortstop and not quite into the beginning of left-center that's hard for anyone to cover. "I practice it every day,"...