The Orioles have been involved in four consecutive shutouts, winning the first two in Atlanta behind Jason Hammel and Wei-Yin Chen, and losing the next two in New York. So when's the last time the Orioles were involved in a streak of four or more consecutive shutouts? Elias has the answer, which the Orioles' PR department obtained earlier today. The Orioles were involved in five straight shutouts to end the 1995 season, and they won all five games by scores of 5-0 on Sept. 26 at Toronto,...

The Orioles have been shut out in two straight games and they haven't homered in their last five, so manager Buck Showalter is making a few changes tonight. Nick Johnson is starting at first base and Ryan Flaherty is starting in left field, as Showalter goes heavy with left-handed hitters against Mets right-hander Dillon Gee. For the Orioles: Brian Roberts 2B J.J. Hardy SS Chris Davis RF Adam Jones CF Matt Wieters C Nick Johnson 1B Wilson Betemit 3B Ryan Flaherty LF Brian Matusz...

In his first major league start, Rays right-hander Chris Archer will get tossed right into a potentially volatile situation. After last night's GloveGate, tensions might be high tonight as the Nationals and Rays meet up in game two of this three-game series. Archer was called up from Triple-A to start tonight after Tampa Bay's original starter, Jeremy Hellickson, was scratched because of a shoulder injury. The 23-year-old Archer came over to the Rays in the Matt Garza deal, and has posted a...

Orioles reliever Matt Lindstrom pitched another inning today with the Gulf Coast League team in Sarasota. Used again as the starter, he allowed one run and two hits, walked none and struck out one. Lindstrom tossed a scoreless first inning on Monday. Lindstrom, on the disabled list with a slightly torn ligament in his right middle finger, is expected to continue his rehab assignment at Double-A Bowie. The Orioles are hopeful that he'll be activated before the All-Star break, which would...

So a Red Sox fan, a Yankees fan, a Cubs fan, a Dodgers fan and an Expos fan all walk into a bar ... sounds like the start of a really messed up baseball joke, right? For as odd as it may appear at first glance, that was my Monday night. Only all those fans actually had something in common, they were all Nats fans. too. Some called it cheating, others call it a sweet affair. But at the end of the day, it really all boils down to a love for the game of Major League Baseball by charging their fan...

Too bad nothing exciting went down in last night's 5-4 Nationals loss to the Rays. All we had was a Nats starter (a two-time 19-game winner, mind you) pitch his way firmly onto the rotation bubble, his competition for the No. 5 starting spot dominant in relief, a former Nationals pitcher get called out as a cheater by someone on his old team, and the Rays manager toss expletives in the direction of the other clubhouse. Just a nice, quiet little Tuesday night interleague game. For what it's...

Here is the question a lot of fans have been asking lately: Will the Orioles have enough starting pitching to continue their good season, to stay in contention to the end? Despite the O's pitching back-to-back shutouts over the weekend in Atlanta, their rotation ERA of 4.54 ranks just 10th in the AL and is behind the league average of 4.35. The Orioles got off to an excellent start with their starters this year and on May 5, they were 18-9 with a rotation ERA of 3.38. But in the 41 games...

Every year, as the trade deadline approaches, fans who are fortunate enough to find their team in contention get the luxury of engaging in a fun debate: Should our team be buyers? Should they, in other words, make a play for one or more guys who might take a group from pretty good to very good, possibly playoff good? Or should they stick with what they have and hope it's enough? As Orioles fans, we typically sit this out and instead engage in some deadline variation of "sell or do...

You've seen the quotes from the Rays' side about the Joel Peralta ejection due to illegal use of pine tar, courtesy of MASNsports.com's Pete Kerzel. Now let's hear from the Nationals. Manager Davey Johnson said postgame that he had gotten word from people within the organization that Peralta (who pitched for the Nats in 2010) is fond of putting pine tar in his glove, which can help create a better grip on the baseball during a hot night like tonight. "He pitched here. I don't think...

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon opened his postgame session with reporters after Tuesday night's 5-4 Rays victory over the Nationals - a game in which one of his relief pitchers, ex-Nat Joel Peralta, was ejected after umpires discovered pine tar in his glove - with a zinger that was equal parts tone-setter and a no-doubt-about-it retaliatory verbal punch at the losing team for what Maddon perceived as a breach of baseball etiquette. "Heads up," he warned reporters, wiping a clearly clean spot...