The view from mile post No. 61 is pretty significant for the Washington Nationals. Without the jinx police knocking on my keyboard door, here is the rundown of some powerful team statistics as to where the 38-23 Nationals stand heading into Friday's clash with the equally red-hot New York Yankees at Nationals Park. Both teams arrive with six-game winning streaks, the best in the majors. DAYDREAM ALERT: (Of course, pennants are not won on June 14, it has happened to the Nationals once before...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter doesn't have a set lineup, in part because of his roster's flexibility and in part because each day brings another injury that forces him to make adjustments on the fly. If any sort of pattern is developing, it involves first base and designated hitter, where Showalter is using Mark Reynolds and Chris Davis, respectively, when they're both in the lineup. Showalter believes that Davis is more comfortable at DH than Reynolds, and both players are swinging hot...

The Orioles' scouting staff and scouting director Gary Rajsich have been very busy lately. Not only did the club draft 40 players last week but the team has already come to contract terms with over 20 players, MASNsports.com has learned. The team has only officially announced the signings of six players but that is just because they wait until the contracts have been approved by Major League Baseball to officially announce the names. Many more have agreed and it's just a matter of time until...

Of the four rookies on the Nationals roster, one is getting enough attention and media coverage to make your head spin. You have an idea which one I'm referring to? I know, that's a clown question, bro. If you get into a conversation about the Nats these days, Bryce Harper is almost certainly the first name to come up. He finds his way into every Nationals highlight, dominates the social media landscape and is a hot topic among those who aren't even fans of the team that currently leads...

First baseman Chris Marrero had a nice debut with the Double-A Harrisburg Senators on Wednesday. Marrero went 2-for-3 with a double and run scored in game two of a double dip. Marrero is now batting .450 (9-for-20) with three doubles, one homer and four RBIs in seven minor league rehab games as he recovers from a torn left hamstring in winter ball. Reliever Ryan Mattheus pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowing no hits, no walks and striking out one. Mattheus is returning from plantar...

It has been an extraordinarily good week for the Orioles, as they have shone in interleague play, taking two out of three games from the Phillies and taking the first two in their series against the Pirates. The Orioles had struggled until the middle last week during a brutal stretch, but found a way to turn it on against Boston. As of now, they are 36-26 and trail the New York Yankees by a game in the American League East standings. The Orioles are off to their best start in many years, and...

If you use a pen on your calendar - assuming, of course, that you're not one of those tech-savvy folks who keeps all their appointments and events on a smart phone - I've got some news that's going to mean big scratched-out mark on a Saturday in July. The date in question is Saturday, July 14. That's when the Orioles are hosting the Tigers and the Jim Palmer statue is to be dedicated in the new center field picnic area (joining Frank Robinson's likeness, which was unveiled in April and...

The Orioles had a plan. Keep Jake Arrieta in the majors, but place him in the bullpen until he worked out his problems. Don't demote him to Triple-A, but don't keep running him out there every five days. That was before Brian Matusz stepped into the indoor batting cage Tuesday and tried to bunt. A ball deflected off his bat and smacked into his nose, causing manager Buck Showalter to push back the left-hander's next start until Friday and giving him the idea of letting Arrieta make his next...

Maybe he will now be in the rotation on a start-to-start basis, but after he pitched well last night against Pittsburgh, Jake Arrieta should stay in the rotation. Arrieta needed to pitch well and did in last night's 7-1 victory. Yes, the Pirates are the lowest-scoring team in the majors, but they put up six runs the night before and were 12-3 over their last 15 games when they arrived as a first-place team at Camden Yards. Arrieta struck out five of the first eight batters he faced on his...

Though Chris Davis has a history with broken-bat home runs, tonight's wood-shattering blast didn't come with any excuses. This one was legit. Davis said he's done it before, "but it was in a Cracker Jack park and basically just a wind-aided home run. The bat didn't blow up. It cracked. I've never done anything like that before. I'm just glad it left the ballpark and got a few more runs. "It's one of those crazy things. There's always crazy things gong on in this game. To be honest...