Even though he had just 24 at-bats in spring training after offseason abdominal surgery, Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis today pronounced himself fit and ready to go for this season. "Yeah, physically, I think I'm about as good as I can be right now. It's just a matter of going out and playing now. All the rehab and hard work in spring training is behind me and now I can focus on the season," Markakis said. "I feel close. There are some things where I can tell I had surgery. But I'm...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter won't keep his ninth-inning specialist a mystery. No need to wait until someone starts warming to figure out who's closing. Showalter confirmed today that Jim Johnson will be the closer. Johnson, who converted his final eight save chances last season, received the news in an unorthodox manner. "He texted me something about the baby and something else, and I said, 'Congratulations. And by the way, you're closing.' And he said, 'Yeah, I know,'" Showalter...

It wasn't just big hits and the clutch pitches that gave the Nationals a 2-1 opening day win over the Chicago Cubs. For the past six weeks, the team has focused on fundamentals - little things that translate to success or failure over the long haul. They came to fruition Thursday in Chicago, contributing to the Nats' first win and setting the stage for future success. Here are three little things that not only keyed the win, but should give Nats fans confidence that the team will come out on...

CHICAGO - I'm still not used to being in the Central time zone after living in the mid-Atlantic region my whole life. I wake up here and look at my phone, which says one time, then open my computer, which says another. Yesterday, I knew the game was a 2:20 p.m. start, but it didn't kick in that first pitch would actually be at 1:20 p.m. local time until I was getting ready to hop in the shower. It's that damn East Coast bias, getting in the way again. I'm guessing that your...

I was among the first paying customers to step inside Camden Yards, and I initially wasn't sold on the place. That's not the sort of thing you expect to read on opening day, particularly at the outset of the 20th anniversary season for "The Ballpark That Forever Changed Baseball," but to state otherwise would be dishonest. A little background is in order. The first game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards took place April 3, 1992, an exhibition contest versus the New York Mets, and the team...

Now the games count. No more words like "exhibition" or "intrasquad" or "simulated." I'm hoping to use "postseason" while I'm still in the business. The sun's shining but I'm not fooled. I'm taking a jacket to Camden Yards. My blood thinned out during those seven weeks in Sarasota. At least it's not snowing. We've seen it in the past on opening day. We saw Jake Arrieta start the home opener last year, but this one's different. It's the first of 162 games. It's truly the...

BOWIE, Md. - At a time when the Orioles brought what seemed like dozens and dozens of pitchers to major league camp this year, there was an omission that was somewhat glaring to me. The Orioles failed to provide a major league spring training invite to their 2011 minor league Pitcher of the Year, Tim Bascom. I'm not saying that Bascom is ready to make the O's staff right now or is ranked as one of the club's top prospects, but I felt he had done enough last year to warrant at least some...

Nationals top prospect Bryce Harper had a nice debut for the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs in a 7-4 loss to Rochester in the 2012 opener on a chilly Thursday afternoon in Syracuse, N.Y. Playing center field, Harper went 2-for-4 in his first game at the Triple-A level, smacking a double, a single and stealing a base. General manager Mike Rizzo said in an interview this week on 106.7 The Fan in D.C. that he would not place a bet on Harper remaining at the Triple-A level the entire season. Rizzo said...

BOWIE, Md. - For the second year in a row, Manny Machado made an impressive debut with a new team. The Orioles top-rated position prospect must have a flair for the dramatic. With everyone paying close attention to his first at-bat in the Double-A Eastern League Thursday night, he smoked a first-pitch fastball from Harrisburg's Patrick Gilliam over the wall in left-center in the second inning as Bowie beat the Senators 4-2 in front of 4,268 chilled fans on opening night. "How about that? He...

CHICAGO - One final note from Wrigley before I head out and do some damage over at Geno's East, which I hear is a fantastic Chicago-style pizza place: Let's not overlook the work turned in by Chad Tracy today. Tracy, who sat around in the Nationals' dugout for seven innings trying to stay warm, delivered a clutch two-out double in the eighth inning that eventually turned into the game-tying run when Ian Desmond singled in Brett Carroll, who pinch ran for Tracy. Here's a guy that a year...