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...

The Nationals' starting pitching has had trouble getting off to quick starts in this series. Following Wednesday's 8-0 Game 3 win, the Cardinals have now scored nine runs in the second inning in three games and a total of 13 runs in the first four innings during the series. In that same span, the Nationals have tallied a total of two runs. Nationals starters have allowed 11 runs in 13 innings. The Cardinals' starters, by contrast, have gone 13 1/3 innings and surrendered a total of two...

It was a very quiet Nationals clubhouse following today's 8-0 loss to the Cardinals. It might take a few hours to get past this one, given the way the Nats were dominated in their home park in the much-anticipated first playoff game in D.C. in 79 years. Not only did the Nationals' pitchers fail to do much to contain a dangerous St. Louis offense, the Nats did nothing with the bats to help pick up the slack and overcome some rocky innings put up by Edwin Jackson, Craig Stammen, Christian...

Tonight's live blog: The Yankees host the Orioles tonight in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. This blog will be here throughout the game and I'll be looking for reader questions and comments. What are your thoughts on tonight's game? What is the key for an O's win? Will the offense break out?: The Orioles' offense may not be scoring a lot of runs lately, but a late-season trend that saw the club get some real solid pitching has carried over for the first three postseason...

NEW YORK - Manager Buck Showalter walked out of the interview room at Yankee Stadium this afternoon, and pitchers Joe Saunders and Chris Tillman took a seat at the head table. One of them will start Game 4 of the American League Division Series. It's just not public information at this hour. "We were kind of hoping you would tell us, because we don't know yet," Saunders said, bringing laughter from reporters. "Whoever it is, me or Chris, we're going to go out there and do our...

Nationals Park was packed, fans were five deep in some standing room sections and frenzied towel-waving rooters were announcing their presence with authority. Then, in the span of a couple of innings, the fervent enthusiasm was sucked right out of South Capitol Street, leaving a Nationals Park-record crowd of 45,017 mostly disappointed, dazed and silent in what became an 8-0 defeat in the pivotal third game of a best-of-five National League Divison Series. Before they could even get into the...