Today I come to raise a spectre. Not because I want to. Certainly not because anyone else wants me to (you surely don't). I do so, simply, because I must. To wit: What if the Orioles miss the playoffs? With seven games left the black and orange remain in a strong position. Despite two consecutive losses to the Blue Jays, they're still in this thing. The division title might be slipping away but the wild card is very much an option. The numbers, however, are not comfortable. A lot can and...

PHILADELPHIA - Things sure have gotten a bit more interesting within the last couple of weeks. Entering action Sept. 12, fresh off a three-game sweep of the Mets, the Nationals' lead over the Braves in the NL East was 8 1/2 games. Today, that lead is down to four games, the slimmest the division margin has been since Aug. 28. The Nationals have also now fallen into a tie with the Reds for the top seed in the National League. There are eight games left in the regular season. If the Nats...

Hey, Orioleland, don't panic over back-to-back losses. Yes, it's not a good thing, but when the Twins beat the Yankees after the Orioles had lost to Toronto last night, it kept the Birds within 1 1/2 games of the Yankees with seven to play. Yes, I'm saying there is still a chance. The O's lead for the top wild card spot was cut to a half-game over Oakland, but they remain 2 1/2 games ahead of the next closest team, the Angels, for a playoff berth. I think the large, large majority of...

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...