The Nationals' instructional league team reports today in Viera, Fla., with the first official workout schedule for Saturday. The 14-game schedule commences Sept. 23 against the Braves and runs through Oct. 12. It also includes international matchups against teams from China and Italy. We have previews of the pitchers and catchers reporting and today we will focus on the Nationals' talented roster of infielders invited to the camp. Anthony Rendon, the team's first-round selection out of...

Is there a more aggravating player than Matt Wieters on the Orioles right now? He is so good, and it appears that he is on the verge of breaking his season, and career, open at any second, but he never seems to take that final step. As of this morning Wieters' slash-line looks like this: .262 /.323 /.449 /.772 That .772 OPS is good enough for third in the American League among catchers. Detroit's Alex Avila is having a ridiculous season, but Wieters has hit more homers and has struck out 30...

During another losing Orioles season, there have been a few positive developments. The improvement of catcher Matt Wieters might rank at the top of that list. At a time when some players are wearing down, Wieters seems to be just getting cranked up. His bat is heating up and he is hitting homers at a greater rate than he ever has in the majors. From July 18-Aug. 14, Wieters went 21 games without a homer. But now he has homered in three straight games. He has hit seven homers over his last 16...

You've watched this team all season. You've seen players on the opening day roster, you've seen players recalled from the minors and you've seen the Orioles purchase the contracts of other players in the system. Manager Buck Showalter is looking for nuggets, and not the breaded and processed kind. No dipping sauce. Matt Wieters is a nugget, though some publications prefer the word "bust." He's a keeper. He's a guy you bring along while moving forward. He's a Gold Glove catcher -...

A three-hour rain delay couldn't keep the Single-A Frederick Keys from winning last night and the six-hour overnight bus ride to North Carolina that followed didn't stop them tonight. Manny Machdo drove in the go-ahead run as Frederick won 7-3 at Kinston's Grainger Stadium tonight to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five Carolina League championship series. The Keys are now one win from their fourth Mills Cup championship and have two chances to get it. Kinston took a 2-0 lead, scoring...

The 2012 regular season schedule has the Washington Nationals beginning on the road at historic Wrigley Field with three games in Chicago and then three more contests in New York against the Mets. 2012 has been marked as the year Stephen Strasburg would pitch for the Nationals for the first time in the month of April in his career, and may be the season we see No. 1 hitting prospect Bryce Harper make it to the big leagues. There were a few raised eyebrows when the schedule came out wondering...

Right-hander Brad Peacock got his chance to showcase what kind of a starter he was all season in the minors Wednesday in New York, and he did not disappoint. Last week in relief of Stephen Strasburg, he came into a difficult situation and allowed four hits in 1 1/3 innings. You wondered what it would be like for Peacock to start fresh, at the beginning of a game, and be able to control his surroundings from the outset. Well, he showed you what he could do. With five innings of shutout...

With the Single-A Frederick Keys currently playing for the Carolina League championship, some people have fond memories of the 2007 Keys' team. The last Frederick team to win the Carolina League championship. Among them is Orioles' pitcher Jason Berken, a starting pitcher on that Frederick team. "We started off really slow," Berken said of that Frederick squad. "I think we were one of the worst teams in the first half. But, luckily, each halves' winner goes to the playoffs and we won...

Down by one run and down to their final four outs, the Frederick Keys rallied to beat Kinston 3-2 to even the best-of-five Carolina League championship series at a win each. The game started after 10 p.m. Wednesday after a rain delay of three hours and seven minutes. It ended at 12:44 a.m. Thursday at Harry Grove Stadium. Now the Mills Cup final series shifts to Kinston for the remaining games the next three nights. Aaron Baker's RBI double in the first gave Frederick a 1-0 lead, but...

The Orioles played 27 consecutive games before finding an open date on their schedule today that hadn't been filled because of a previous postponement. Not that anybody's counting. Well, manager Buck Showalter recited the number a few times yesterday and shook his head. His players need a break. If you play long enough, everyone will get on some sort of a roll. Or so it seems. Vladimir Guerrero is 17-for-38 with four doubles, a home run and six multi-hit games in his last 10 games....