When is a sellout not a sellout? How about Saturday night, when the nationally televised Orioles-Nationals game drew 42,331 to Nationals Park? Despite exceeding the stadium's listed capacity of 41,487 (see page 122 of the team's 2012 media guide), the throng that saw the middle game of the first "Battle of the Beltways" inteleague series this season won't go down in the record books as a sellout. No, your grasp of basic mathematics hasn't failed you. I can assure you that 42,331 is...

When you fall behind 6-0, you're asking a lot of your offense. You're asking even more when that group has scored the third-fewest runs of any offense in baseball this year. The Nationals lost to the Orioles 6-5 tonight, marking their third-straight defeat and giving them just their third series loss of the season. It wasn't for a lack of effort. Ross Detwiler allowed six runs on nine hits over his five innings of work, and put his team in quite a hole. The Nats trailed 6-0 in the fifth...

It seems like the Orioles have had to come up with a big play or big hit in late innings to win a lot of recent games. Tonight, they came up with some big hits early, and then had to hold off the Nationals late in the game. Adam Jones and Nick Markakis homered again - this time each hit two-run shots - as the Orioles beat the Nats 6-5 tonight in front of 42,331 at Nats Park to take the first two games of this series. Ryan Zimmerman homered off Jim Johnson with two outs in the last of the...

WASHINGTON - This one wasn't easy, but the Orioles made sure that they'll leave Nationals Park with a series victory. The Orioles won again tonight, 6-4, with Jim Johnson picking up his 15th save in 15 tries this season, and his 23rd in 23 chances since last August, though it got a little tense near the end. The Orioles have won 19 of their last 26 games. They're still two games ahead of Tampa Bay in the American League East. The bullpen came up big again, giving the Orioles 3 1/3...

Ross Detwiler put the Nationals in a hole. They're slowly working their way out of it. The Orioles came through with six runs off Detwiler in just five innings, and jumped out to a 6-0 lead after four and a half. Detwiler allowed 10 baserunners in his time on the mound tonight (nine hits, one walk) and wasn't fooling anyone all outing. Two of those nine hits were two-run home runs, which came off the bats of Adam Jones and Nick Markakis. But the Nats are battling back, and now trail just...

WASHINGTON - Jason Hammel gave up his first run tonight when the Nationals strung together three consecutive two-out singles in the bottom of the fifth, the last one by Steve Lombardozzi. Orioles 6, Nationals 1. Four of the last five Nationals have hits against Hammel, including Ryan Zimmerman, who led off the sixth with a double. Five of the last six have reached base after Adam LaRoche followed with a walk. Hammel is trying to produce the rotation's fifth consecutive quality start, but...

WASHINGTON - It's become a tradition of sorts. The Orioles play a game, and Adam Jones hits a home run. And he hits them a long, long way. Jones crushed a Ross Detwiler pitch in the third inning for his 14th home run of the season, a two-run shot that extended the Orioles' lead to 4-0. Detwiler tried to blow a 93-mph fastball past him. Cha-ching! The Orioles are 12-1 when Jones homers. Coincidence? Jones has homered in four of his last five games. He didn't hit No. 14 last year until...

By now, you know that when Chien-Ming Wang returns from his rehab assignment, he's likely to slide into the Nationals' bullpen, with Ross Detwiler remaining in the rotation. That news was passed along by manager Davey Johnson, but general manager Mike Rizzo also discussed the decision this evening, saying Wang is completely healthy and nearly ready to return. "He's pitching today and we'll see how that works out, Rizzo said. "Probably at first, initially put him in the bullpen because...

Davey Johnson stood by Danny Espinosa through the second baseman's second-half slide last season and has done so through his rough start to the 2012 campaign, as well. But today, Johnson is giving Espinosa the day off. Why? Johnson has seen the 25-year-old start to get a bit frustrated recently, and didn't want him carrying that into tonight's game. A prime example of that frustration came last night. Espinosa twice failed to get a bunt down in a seventh-inning at-bat, then went ahead and...

WASHINGTON - Reliever Matt Lindstrom said he'll probably throw during the next homestand that begins Monday against the Boston Red Sox. Lindstrom, on the disabled list with a partial tear of a ligament in his right middle finger, will have a better idea of when he'll report to extended spring training once he picks up a ball. Lindstrom is eligible to come off the DL on May 26. "It won't take long," he said. Manager Buck Showalter told reporters that Mark Reynolds (oblique) is "just...