The past week has been as good a time as ever to reflect on the 2012 baseball season. The kids are back in school, Labor Day's next week, the dog days of summer are behind us, and we've got just over one month of baseball left. That's where everything stands. To break it down, the Nationals are four games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East standings and are still the best team in all of baseball record-wise despite their five consecutive losses. Might I also add that...

For the first time in a while, the Nationals wake up this morning no longer possessing the best record in baseball. That mark now belongs to the Reds. More importantly, however, Washington's lead in the National League East has been cut to four games thanks to yesterday's 9-0 shellacking at the hands of the Marlins and Atlanta's win over the Padres. No, it wasn't a banner day for the Nats yesterday. They made it through the game without Michael Morse or Ian Desmond aggravating their...

Over the last few games, Nate McLouth, at least for a few days, must be looking like the player that Pittsburgh Pirates fans saw for an entire season in 2008. That year, he batted .276 with a National League-leading 46 doubles along with 26 homers, 94 RBIs and an OPS of .853. He was an All-Star and Gold Glove winner that season. He was just 26 then and probably seemed like a future star. But fast forward to this year and McLouth's performance had fallen off to the point where he was released...

The magnetic lineup board outside the Orioles' clubhouse and across the hall from manager Buck Showalter's office contained only one name after last night's game against the White Sox. Joe Saunders was listed as tonight's starting pitcher. The batting order will remain blank until this afternoon. Saunders will be the 29th player to make his Orioles debut this season. Is that a lot? Once the Orioles sign Randy Wolf, the veteran left-hander who could show up at Camden Yards today and throw...

The Nationals have shut down a pitcher for the season. Well, this team only has six games remaining, plus a possible postseason run, but still. After reaching 129 innings between low Single-A Hagerstown and high Single-A Potomac, the Nationals don't want to push it with right-hander Alex Meyer and his season is done. At least with Potomac. Meyer could very easily be selected to pitch in the Arizona Fall League. He told me two weeks ago that his high innings count might be the reason he...

High Single-A Potomac got a big win in North Carolina Tuesday. The squad is now 1-16 in the Tar Heel State this season following a 4-1 win at Carolina. Matt Skole, Adrian Sanchez and Kevin Keyes had two hits apiece. Keyes hit his 20th homer of the season and added a double. Sanchez also had a double and scored two runs. But Skole's two RBIs are notable because he has reached 101 RBIs for the season. Skole joined teammate Jason Martinson (106 RBIs) and Tyler Moore (2010, 111 RBIs) as the only...

It's hard to watch the Orioles' success this year and not hearken back to the well-worn phrase that we, as fans, are fortunate to call our birthright: Orioles Magic. True, it's tinged with nostalgia, coming as it does from a bygone era. And equally true, it's often been uttered with tongue planted firmly in cheek over the past 14 years of losing. But it's a great phrase both because it's ours and because it works. When baseball is as much fun as this, a word like magic doesn't sound...

The Pirates released Erik Bedard today. Adam Jones hit the 100th home run of his major league career tonight, and Chris Tillman improved to 7-2 by shutting out the White Sox on one hit over seven innings. You see where I'm going here. "We're winning, we're playing good baseball," Jones said. "That's the most important part. Individual accolades, they're awesome, but we're winning." Jones mentioned on a postgame show that he was "on vacation." Is he back? "I booked the flight...

Buck Showalter moved above .500 as Orioles manager tonight, and his club moved 14 games above for the first time in seven years. The Orioles have won 16 of their last 22 games and 12 of their last 15 at home. Chris Tillman allowed one hit, the infield variety, over seven innings and improved to 7-2 with a 3.26 ERA. "He was really good," Showalter said after tonight's 6-0 win over the White Sox. "We're kind of getting to know him a little bit, too. Tilly's not conventional all the...

Chris Sale took the mound tonight at Camden Yards with a record of 15-4 and ERA of 2.65. He ranks tied for third in the American League in wins, fourth in ERA and eighth in strikeouts. He looked like he had some dominant stuff early in the game. But that was before Nick Markakis smoked a three-run double to center field in the bottom of the second to propel the red-hot Orioles to another win. They beat Chicago 6-0 in front of 12,814 at Camden Yards. The Orioles are now 14 games over .500 at...