If the Orioles are going to be playing baseball next week, they're going to have to out-pitch the New York Yankees in the remaining two or three games of the American League Division Series. Despite the $116 million difference in the two team's payrolls, I'm confident that the Birds have the advantage when it comes to their arsenal of arms. Jim Johnson picked a tough time to have an off night, but the good news is that his rough outing was just that night. The Orioles' closer was charged...

ST. LOUIS - After three days in chilly Missouri, it's back to the DMV. I'm waiting at my gate for a 7:45 a.m. CT flight, which should get me back home just in time to shower, hop in my car and head to Nationals Park for today's optional workout and media availability. The Nats got home late last night and will take the field today, take some BP and get treatment on various bumps and bruises. We'll hear from Edwin Jackson after the workout, the guy who will get the ball for the Nats...

Jim Johnson loaded the bases with two outs in Friday night's wild card game before nailing down a 5-1 victory over the Texas Rangers. He allowed five runs, four earned, in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the American League Division Series, turning a 2-2 tie into a 7-2 loss to the New York Yankees. By Johnson's standards, I guess this qualified as a slump. The guy hadn't permitted a run in the regular season since Sept. 8. He had been scored upon once in 26 appearances going into the...

Here is a sampling of some comments tonight from a victorious Orioles clubhouse after the 3-2 win evened the American League Division Series at 1-1. Darren O'Day said he was confident in Jim Johnson: "I could tell last night he was going to be fine. A lot of guys would be feeling sorry for themselves. But I was in the training room after the game, joking with him about fantasy football. He laughed at my stupid jokes, which really aren't funny, so I knew he wasn't dwelling on it and he was...

Here's the transcript from manager Buck Showalter's media session following the Orioles' 3-2 win over the Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Division Series: Q. I know this is going to be a piercing look into the obvious, but how important was it to get out of here 1-1 instead of 0-2? SHOWALTER: "Well, you know, the math is you've got to win three or lose three, so I think ... you know what I'd be talking about if we weren't able to win. It's one win closer to winning three. We...

The Orioles won their first home playoff game since Oct. 8, 1997, exactly 15 years ago. Wei-Yin Chen played a prominent role tonight by holding the Yankees to one earned run in 6 1/3 innings in his first playoff start in the U.S. "He's been a solid starter throughout the year," said catcher Matt Wieters. "He's going to go out there and throw the ball the way he did tonight. He pitched plenty of big games over in Japan and Taiwan. You never know how it's going to translate, but when he...

There was no doubt that if the Orioles took a one-run lead to the ninth tonight that Jim Johnson would get the ball. You knew Buck Showalter would call on him and Johnson certainly wanted it to be that way. He wanted to be back on the mound tonight. "I did. To come back from a bad outing, usually you want the ball right away," Johnson said after he retired the top of the Yankees order on 12 pitches to save the O's 3-2 victory. "You don't want to sit on it for a day and have an off day. As...

Orioles majority owner Peter G. Angelos was a surprise visitor to the Orioles' clubhouse following tonight's 3-2 victory over the Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Division Series. Angelos was accompanied by his son, Louis, executive vice president Dan Duquette and Lou Kousouris, the club's vice president/special liaison to the chairman. He moved from locker to locker, shaking hands with players and congratulating them. Closer Jim Johnson presented Angelos with a baseball from his...

The Yankees and Orioles have now played 20 times in 2012 between the regular season and playoffs, and the series is deadlocked at 10 wins apiece. Neither team seems to be able to gain much of an upper hand. Yankees manager Joe Girardi has seen that continue in the American League Division Series, which now heads to New York with the teams knotted at 1-1 after Baltimore earned a 3-2 win in Monday's Game 2. "We get to go home and we've played very well at home, and we're going to have to...

Facing an 0-2 deficit in the American League Division Series with a loss tonight, the Orioles recieved a gutty effort from Wei-Yin Chen and a save from Jim Johnson as they beat the Yankees 3-2 in front of 48,187 to even the ALDS at 1-1. Pitching a night after giving up five runs in the ninth in Game 1, Johnson got Derek Jeter to ground out on the first pitch of the ninth. He then got Ichiro Suzuki on a ground out and Alex Rodriguez on a swinging strikeout to end it to send the towel-waving...