NEW YORK - Brian Matusz won his first road game since Sept. 27, 2010 at Tampa Bay, snapping a seven-game losing streak away from home. Eleven different Orioles starters earned victories since his last triumph. Tonight's feat is more special to Matusz because of how it ties to manager Buck Showalter. "It couldn't be more exciting being Buck's 1,000th win," Showalter said. "Growing up, I was a huge Diamondbacks fan and Showalter was the manager there. Watched a lot of his games there....

Nationals fans welcomed their young phenom Bryce Harper to Nationals Park for his home debut Tuesday in the 5-1 setback to the Arizona Diamondbacks. When announced for his first at-bat, Harper got a large roar from the partisan 22,675 in attendance. He struck out in his first battle with D-backs starter Trevor Cahill, but still got another rousing applause from the hometown fans as he walked back to the dugout. "I went into my first at-bat a little excited, chasing some pitches I shouldn't...

NEW YORK - The Orioles surrounded manager Buck Showalter on the field after tonight's 7-1 victory became official. "Mobbed him" might be a more accurate description. In the clubhouse, the players toasted him with champagne rather than douse him with Gatorade or deliver a shaving cream pie to his face. "It's kind of embarassing, quite frankly," he said. "I don't make any bones about it, I love baseball players, and it's been an honor to manage this long, with so many good people -...

Not only did Brian Matusz end his long losing steak tonight, but he did it against one of baseball's best offenses in their home park. Matusz gave up just one run over 6 1/3 innings as the Orioles beat the Yankees 7-1 to even this three-game series at Yankee Stadium. For Matusz, it is his first win since June 6 of last year against Oakland. For Orioles manager Buck Showalter, it's the 1,000th of his career. No doubt a meaningful win for the Birds. For Matusz, in 14 starts since the 2011...

For a few games last week, the Nationals were working on a string of consecutive scoreless innings thrown by their starting pitchers, a total which reached 25 frames. For most of tonight's game, they were watching a different scoreless streak mount. And it wasn't a good one. When Roger Bernadina crossed the plate in the eighth inning tonight, it broke a string of 17 straight innings the Nats had gone without a run. The one run was nice, but Washington could have used a few more of 'em, as...

NEW YORK - Well, that was a cruel tease. Yankees left fielder Eduardo Nunez misjudged Nick Johnson's fly ball in the sixth inning, freezing on it before breaking in and failing to make a lunging catch. The baseball world held its collective breath for the official scorer's decision. E-7. Johnson's now 0-for-29 on the season, including 0-for-3 tonight. The Orioles scored three runs in the sixth and knocked starter Phil Hughes out of the game. Hughes hit Matt Wieters with two outs, and...

The Nationals have managed just two hits and a walk and have struck out five times through five scoreless innings. Here we go again. Washington has not scored in its last 15 innings, and yet again enters the late frames needing the bats to awaken as Davey Johnson's group trails the Diamondbacks 2-0 in the middle of the sixth. Tonight, the Nats are making D'backs starter Trevor Cahill look like a Cy Young award winner, as they've put up little fight against the Arizona right-hander. The...

Davey Johnson was asked if he's been impressed with how calm Bryce Harper has been in his first few days in the majors. "I wouldn't call him calm. He's energetic," Johnson said, before cracking a smile. "I'm thinking about getting a PRP from him and getting some of that blood in me." Not sure that's exactly how the platelet rich plasma treatment works, but the Nationals skipper's joke drew laughs from the assembled media. Johnson said he isn't looking too far down the road in...

NEW YORK - I'm talking about the good kind of tear here. Chris Davis hit another home run tonight, his fourth in the last seven games, to tie the score at 1-1. He connected off Yankees starter Phil Hughes with one out in the second. Davis is 8-for-18 with a double, four homers and nine RBIs in his last seven games. He's batting .319 with five homers and 13 RBIs on the season. The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the first on Curtis Granderson's home run off left-hander Brian Matusz. The ball...

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo made the decision to call up 19-year-old phenom Bryce Harper on Saturday. After two games, Rizzo said Harper showed exactly what he had shown in the minor leagues, a player that can hit, hit for power and go after every ball in the outfield. Rizzo said Harper's final at-bat was his best of the weekend when he earned a walk off Dodgers right-handed reliever Kenley Jansen. Harper didn't strike out or flail at every pitch. He measured Jansen well and hung...