For the second time in seven days, the Orioles will play a postseason game where their season will end with a loss. They won the first time Friday in Texas and must win tonight in Game 4 of the best-of-five American League Division Series. The team has been resilient and showed an amazing ability to bounce back all year and tonight is likely the toughest test of all. They have to beat the Yankees in Yankee Stadium to force a Game 5. The Yankees are not eliminated with a loss. Joe Saunders was...

Ross Detwiler chooses to forget his last outing. He lasted only 2 1/3 innings and gave up three earned runs on four hits with five walks. It was a loss. Who was it against? The St. Louis Cardinals. "I try not to remember that one," Detwiler said of his Sept. 30 start. "I am really going out there trying to throw strikes, trying to get ahead in the count. Make the hitters hit my pitch instead having to come after them 2-1 and 3-1 like I was the whole time." Which team does Detwiler need...

NEW YORK - Orioles manager Buck Showalter was asked tonight about the size of the knot in his stomach following a 3-2, 12-inning loss to the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. "I don't have no knot in my stomach," he replied. Why not? "Why not?" he replied. "Is that what I'm supposed to do? Is that what conventional thinking is? Well, they may. We don't live in that world. We're so impressed with all our guys tonight. Played a great game in a tough situation,...

NEW YORK - The Orioles had won 16 straight extra-inning games. They were 76-0 when leading after the seventh inning, including two playoff wins. Two streaks ended in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. "It's a tough loss, but we play again tomorrow and there's nothing this team is prepared more for than getting ready to go the next day after a tough loss," said catcher Matt Wieters, who was behind the plate when Raul Ibanez homered in the ninth and 12th innings. Ibanez...

NEW YORK - Left-hander Joe Saunders will take the ball again for the Orioles in a must-win situation. Manager Buck Showalter confirmed that Saunders will start Game 4 of the American League Division Series on Thursday, with the Orioles pushed to the brink of elimination after tonight's 3-2, 12-inning loss to the Yankees. Saunders also started the wild card game in Texas and allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings for his first postseason victory. Saunders is 3-1 with a 5.82 ERA in six career...

That was a stunning, stunning loss for the Orioles. Miguel Gonzalez pitched his heart out. Two rookies homered. They were two outs away from a win and they lost 3-2 in 12 innings as the Yankees take a 2-1 lead in the American League Division Series. The Yankees pinch-hit Raul Ibanez for Alex Rodriguez, a $29 million dollar player this year, and Ibanez homered in the ninth to tie the game and in the 12th to win it. Two swings, two homers, one devastating loss for Baltimore. Ibanez stepped in...

NEW YORK - We've moved to the top of the 12th inning at Yankee Stadium. Maybe the Orioles will bring their bats. The Orioles have one hit since Manny Machado's home run in the fifth inning, and it came from a player who wasn't in the starting lineup. Robert Andino, a defensive replacement for Ryan Flaherty, singled in the 10th and moved to second on Machado's sacrifice bunt. Nate McLouth lined into a double play to keep the score tied. Endy Chavez also entered the game as a defensive...

NEW YORK - I've had numerous people ask me via Twitter and the blog why Robert Andino isn't starting tonight. Manager Buck Showalter has been platooning him at second base, using him only against left-handed starters. And Showalter must have known that Ryan Flaherty was going to hit a home run. The guy's always one step ahead of everyone else. Flaherty broke a scoreless tie in the third inning tonight with a solo shot off Yankees right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, the ball clearing the short...

The National League Division Series shifted back to Washington D.C. for the first playoff baseball game in the District since 1933. Unfortunately for the Nationals, the Cardinals pummeled Edwin Jackson and the rest of the Washington staff for an 8-0 victory. While Nats Park was abuzz for the game, many of the writers chose to focus on someone who wasn't on the roster. That's right, you didn't think the Stephen Strasburg controversy was going to go away that easily, did you? Believe it or...

It's clear at this point what has to be done. "Kind of got our backs up against the wall now," Adam LaRoche said calmly after today's game. "It's a must-win tomorrow." The Nationals played great baseball for much of the regular season. They finished with the best record in the majors, earned the top seed in the National League and set themselves up for a long postseason run. Now, all of a sudden, that run is one game from being over. "It's the consistent storyline of the whole...