Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals held a 2-1 lead over the Rockies entering the bottom of the sixth inning. Strasburg gave up a leadoff triple to Dexter Fowler. He then drilled Marco Scutaro in the head with a first-pitch, 95 mph fastball. After staying on the ground for a few seconds, Scutaro got up and talked things over with a trainer. He left the game, but appeared to be OK. The Nationals' lead wasn't OK. Immediately after hitting Scutaro, Strasburg grabbed his hat off his head. He...

The Orioles are winning and there have been a lot of heroes during this magic stretch of baseball - Adam Jones, Jason Hammel, Jim Johnson, Matt Wieters. The contributions of those players are obvious. But on any winning club, there are always unsung heroes. And my favorite unsung hero this season has been lefty reliever Troy Patton. But this isn't just about 2012. Truth be told, I have always been a Patton fan, ever since December 2007 when the Orioles acquired him from the Houston Astros...

Once again, I failed to grasp the concept of a quiet off-day. Nolan Reimold undergoes surgery for a herniated disc (and I'm going with "disc" instead of "disk" after numerous Internet searches), the latest All-Star vote totals are released and Miguel Tejada is released upon his request. Otherwise, nothing happened. When I think about how much time and energy were spent writing about Tejada and asking team officials about Tejada and checking the Triple-A Norfolk box scores each day for...

Stephen Strasburg (9-1, 2.46 ERA) will oppose Jeff Francis (0-1, 8.56 ERA) tonight at Coors Field. The difference in those stat lines jumps out at you just a bit, doesn't it? Francis' numbers this season aren't exactly what you'd call impressive, but the veteran lefty did allow just one earned run his last time out against the Phillies. The Rockies are currently working with a four-man rotation, and they're capping their starters' pitch counts at 75 in order to keep them fresh....

The Orioles just provided an update on outfielder Nolan Reimold, and the news is good. Reimold underwent a successful discectomy today at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He's resting comfortably. The procedure was performed by Dr. Ziya Gokaslan, Professor of Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery and Oncology at Hopkins. Dr. Gokaslan removed a herniated disc from Reimold's cervical spine that was pressing on a nerve, and he fused the vertebrae. Reimold is hoping to play again toward the end of the...

Manager Davey Johnson said on Saturday that Mark DeRosa was mere days away from returning to the Nationals after a lengthy absence due to a left oblique strain. The veteran infielder's return could end up being today. DeRosa's rehab assignment with Single-A Potomac has ended and the Nationals could decide to activate him before tonight's game at Colorado. If DeRosa is added to the 25-man roster today, Xavier Nady, Roger Bernadina and Tyler Moore are candidates to be dropped from the...

Remember when the Orioles came home for a series with Texas in early May with a 19-9 record and some people were disappointed that the first two games of that series drew a total of 23,201 fans on a Monday and Tuesday night? Well, the Orioles are doing a little better at the gate these days. In fact, Orioles' attendance is up an average of 6,721 fans per home game this year from the same point last year. O's attendance after 35 home dates: 2011: 709,284 for average of 20,265 2012: 944,521...

Adam Jones has dropped from fourth to fifth place among outfielders in voting for the American League's All-Star team. The Rangers' Nelson Cruz has passed him. The Blue Jays' Jose Bautista is third with 2,773,422 votes, followed by Cruz with 2,681,019 and Jones with 2,633,259. This is the final update provided by Major League Baseball before Sunday's selection show, which will air at 1 p.m. on TBS. Matt Wieters ranks third among catchers with 1,623,459 votes. The Rangers' Mike Napoli is...

Major League Baseball announced today via Twitter that the American League posted a 142-110 (.563) record in interleague play, winning the season series for the ninth consecutive year and 12th time in 16 years. The Orioles may want to switch leagues to avoid facing the Angels' C.J. Wilson and Jered Weaver the next two nights. A team with 17 runs in its last nine games will be severely challenged to get hot against those two arms. "They're trying to get it all back in one at-bat. It's...

Right-hander Cole Kimball continues to make his way back to the Nationals. The 26-year-old will start for the high Single-A Potomac Nationals tonight when they host Wilmington. Kimball, recovering from rotator cuff surgery last July, was 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA over 14 innings with the Nationals in 2011. He has appeared in two games so far at low Single-A Hagerstown and the Gulf Coast Nationals. During his rehab assignments, Kimball has gone two innings without allowing a run, with just two...