Baseball purists, look away. A report announced today a plan to add an additional wild card spot in each league, as well as a one-game playoff to determine which team will move on to their respective Divisional Series. The new playoff scenario, reported by Joel Sherman of the New York Post, is a "done deal" according to Sherman's source, and will likely be put into effect either in 2012 or, at the latest, 2013. However, another of Sherman's sources said the proposed change will not go...

Matt Angle is starting in left field and batting first tonight for the Orioles. Robert Andino drops to ninth in the order. For the Orioles: Matt Angle LF J.J. Hardy SS Nick Markakis RF Vladimir Guerrero DH Matt Wieters C Adam Jones CF Mark Reynolds 1B Chris Davis 3B Robert Andino 2B Jeremy Guthrie RHP Left-hander Brian Matusz will start tomorrow afternoon against the Tigers, according to MLB.com.

No major league team has ever overcome a deficit of nine games in the standings in September to make the playoffs. The Tampa Bay Rays were nine games behind Boston in the wild-card race on Sept. 2 and they are 2 1/2 games back going into today's games. Since then, Tampa Bay is 12-8 while Boston is 5-14. Boston hasn't won a game over the last three days and actually has gained a 1/2 game with Tampa Bay losing a doubleheader on Wednesday and losing last night when Boston was rained...

I certainly didn't hate "Moneyball." I didn't dislike it, so I guess I liked it. A little anyway. I don't think it's a great movie by any stretch and certainly not a great baseball movie. Bull Durham and Eight Men Out, those are great baseball movies to me and this is not in that class. It is still very much worth seeing and sure better than a lot of movies I've seen recently, which, in the confines of baseball season, is not very many. I would have loved to see the movie get even...

If Justin Verlander doesn't win the American League's Cy Young Award, I'll attempt to catch his next fastball between my teeth. The only question is whether he'll also be named Most Valuable Player. And whether the Orioles can do anything against him tonight. Verlander is 6-0 with a 2.64 ERA in eight career starts vs. the Orioles, with 44 hits, 17 walks and 51 strikeouts in 58 innings. They're batting .209 against him. But at least they don't pretend to get lost on their way to the...

It has been noticeable during recent at-bats that Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond appears to be completely recovered from a nagging quad injury that had him stepping carefully early on in the season. The shortstop went 6-for-18 in Philadelphia, with three runs, a stolen base, two doubles and an RBI. Friday, Desmond once again took advantage of the opportunity to lead off and show his speed, generating a pair of infield singles in the 7-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves. In his first at-bat,...

The Orioles got some early offense tonight, but they didn't score after the third inning and finally lost the game at Detroit, 4-3, in 11 innings. In the last of the 11th, Brandon Inge drew a leadoff walk against Willie Eyre and Danny Worth came in to pinch run. He reached second on a one-out single and scored the winning run on a Victor Martinez basehit down the left-field line. The hit came on an 0-2 pitch against lefty Zach Phillips. Jim Hunter catches up with Buck Showalter after the...

Nine innings aren't enough tonight. The Orioles and Tigers are headed for extras. Jim Johnson really is the closer. He's not as effective in non-save situations. Johnson recorded saves in seven of his last eight appearances before tonight. The exception came on Saturday, when he allowed a run in a 6-2 victory over the Angels. That was the only run off Johnson in his last eight outings. He ran into trouble tonight with the score tied, 3-3, in the ninth. Miguel Cabera singled with one out...

The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Vladimir Guerrero's RBI double, quickly fell behind, 2-1, and reclaimed the lead, 3-2, in the third. The second rally started with an infield hit by Robert Andino, the spark plug atop the order. Andino eventually scored on Nick Markakis' sacrifice fly, and J.J. Hardy crossed the plate as the go-ahead run on a single by Matt Wieters. Wieters is a monster with runners in scoring position. If Luke Scott lost MVO votes last year...

The Orioles began play tonight ranked eighth in the American League in runs scored. They have been even better than that, going 19-13 over the last 32 games. They are averaging 4.9 runs per game during that 32-game stretch. If you scored that many over the entire season, they would rank fourth in the AL in runs scored. Scoring 4.9 per game is an upgrade for the Orioles but still not as good as the big boys. Boston, leading the league in runs, averages 5.45 runs per game and New York is second...