A lot has been made of rookie center fielder Bryce Harper's offense since the All-Star break, and how he had been struggling with off-speed pitches down in the zone. But recently, Harper has had four consecutive multi-hit games. In his last five games, he has nine hits, three homers and eight RBIs. His average has been raised to .256, after hitting .222 in July and .243 in August. And what about his defense in the outfield? He has made strides on defense with every chance and learned from...

NEW YORK - Chris Tillman is struggling with his command in the early innings, having thrown only 18 of his 34 pitches for strikes through the second. Tillman has walked two batters and thrown two wild pitches. Worse, he's also served up a two-run homer to Chris Dickerson that's given the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Dickerson is starting in center field because Curtis Granderson injured his right hamstring during yesterday's game. Dickerson didn't have a major league at-bat this season before...

Sitting down with Randy Knorr in the dugout late this morning, I told the Nationals' bench coach I'd like to talk about his team's issues with holding and throwing out runners. "Favorite topic," Knorr said sarcastically, a smile creeping across his face. This is a bit of a tired subject for Knorr, who has been preaching the importance of holding runners to Nationals pitchers and catchers this entire season with little success. Knorr, a former catcher who played parts of 11 seasons in the...

The series finale has arrived for the Orioles and Yankees. The Birds need a win to erase the memory of letting yesterday's game get away and to pull to within two games of first place in the AL East. Check back here on today's live blog often as I add notes, stats, facts and commentary throughout today's game. The readers can keep the dialogue going too, by leaving comments and/or questions on anything about the Orioles or the O's minors. Tillman's velo: This chart shows that Tillman's...

We're less than two hours away from first pitch and are still waiting for the Nationals to send out their lineup for today's game against the Cardinals. The holdup is almost certainly related to Jayson Werth, who was pulled from last night's game in the ninth inning due to a hamstring cramp. Werth didn't sound concerned about the hamstring after the game and said that he hoped to be able to play today. But with it being a day game after a night game and the Nats not wanting the hamstring...

NEW YORK - Robert Andino is starting at second base in today's series finale against the Yankees. So much for a platoon at second base. Andino is 2-for-5 lifetime against Yankees right-hander Phil Hughes. Omar Quintanilla is 1-for-4 with a home run, but he's mired in an 0-for-24 slump. For the Orioles: Nick Markakis RF J.J. Hardy SS Nate McLouth LF Adam Jones CF Matt Wieters C Mark Reynolds 1B Chris Davis DH Manny Machado 3B Robert Andino 2B Chris Tillman RHP Robinson Cano is 8-for-14...

NEW YORK - I'm heading to Yankee Stadium for the finale of this three-game series, with Chris Tillman looking to exorcise his Bronx demons. Or exercise them, if that's an easier task. Tillman has an 8.42 ERA in six career starts against the Yankees, and it jumps to 10.69 in four starts in New York. He surrendered five runs (four earned) and eight hits in five innings back on July 31. Tillman is 4-1 with a 2.96 ERA in five road starts this season. Maybe he can lean on that statistic for...

During a season in which the Orioles have shown the ability to bounce back well within a game or during a tough stretch, I would expect no less than for them to play well and have a good chance to win today at Yankee Stadium. While message boards and talk shows are good at rehashing and over-analyzing every aspect of a tough loss like yesterday's, the Orioles have shown the ability all year to move on after a game - both a good one and bad one. Buck Showalter talks about how his club is good...

As off of his game as Jordan Zimmermann was today, the Nationals still held a lead in the eighth inning and were five outs from their third straight win over the Cardinals. That didn't stop Zimmermann from putting the full blame for today's loss on his own shoulders. "I just felt like the offense did a great job. You've got to tip your cap to those guys," Zimmermann said. "They give you six runs, and you do all you can to keep the team in the game and you can't hold it down. So this...

Davey Johnson said after today's 10-9 loss to the Cardinals that Jayson Werth was pulled from the game in the ninth inning because of cramping. Werth later said the cramps were in his hamstring, and while he hasn't dealt with that type of a thing during a game in four or five years, he hopes to be able to play tomorrow. Werth and the rest of the Nationals' hitters did their job today, putting up nine runs and battling back to regain the lead in the sixth after the Cardinals had jumped on...