The New York Yankees were going to fight the Orioles' rescheduled date of Sept. 8 of a game that was postponed Saturday by Hurricane Irene. The Orioles and Yankees made up one game of the postponed Saturday doubleheader by playing two games Sunday, but the two teams, through their player representatives, management, Major League Baseball and the players' union, argued about when the second postponement should be played. The Yankees and manager Joe Girardi weren't interested in giving up...

For the Orioles: J.J. Hardy SS Nick Markakis RF Adam Jones CF Vladimir Guerrero DH Matt Wieters C Mark Reynolds 1B Ryan Adams 2B Nolan Reimold LF Robert Andino 3B Alfredo Simon RHP

This weekend's brush with Hurricane Irene got me thinking about some of the waterlogged nights I've spend at Camden Yards and Memorial Stadium over the years. Rain and games don't really mix - even in football, where hearty, big guys boast about playing through just about everything weather-wise. They certainly did at the soggiest sporting event I ever attended, a Canadian Football League game on 33rd Street during the first year of the Baltimore Stallions. The heavens opened and didn't...

It's getting to be the time of the year when folks start turning their attention away from baseball and on to other pursuits. The kids are going back to school, football season kicks off next week and, before you know it, it's going to start getting chilly and hockey and basketball will begin again. With the local teams out of the pennant race, it would be easy to ignore their September progress, but real baseball fans will want to stay tuned. The Washington Nationals could be on the cusp...

David Price established a Tampa Bay franchise record on Sunday with 14 strikeouts in seven innings of work at Toronto. Price set the mark in his fourth big league season and exceeded by two his previous career high of 12 strikeouts. By his fourth season, former Orioles lefty Mike Flanagan had established what would be his own career-high strikeout total by having twice fanned 13 batters in nine innings of work. During this sad time for the Orioles franchise, it's nice to remember Flanny at...

If the Orioles are to start getting better, even a little, the young starting pitchers certainly have to take a step forward from what we have seen this year. On Sunday against the Yankees, Zach Britton clearly did that and Brian Matusz clearly did not. One out of two is better than 0-for and I still remain confident that Matusz will make that 2-for-2 - and maybe even before this season is over. It's probably a bit early to say Britton is pitching as well as he did early in the season, but...

After he had given up six runs over 5 1/3 innings against the Yankees tonight, a reporter asked Brian Matusz if he thought he had made any progress over his last two outings: "Yeah, I've made some progress, being able to be a little more consistent with the fastball," Matusz said after the Orioles 8-3 loss to New York. "Signs of good changeups today, but I've not been able to make the 0-2 pitch or the two-strike pitch and that's been hurting me. Especially to good hitters in tough...

J.J. Hardy extended his hitting streak to 11 games tonight. Mark Reynolds has hit in eight straight games, going 13-for-33 (.394). It wasn't all bad. The Orioles lost the nightcap, 8-3, to the Yankees. Brian Matusz gave up three of New York's five home runs, tying his career high, and has lost seven consecutive starts. "He got some balls elevated and had some trouble keeping the ball in the park," manager Buck Showalter said. "Kind of took some of the momentum we had away with (Curtis)...

Well, the Yankees were not shutout in the second game of the split doubleheader at Camden Yards. New York hit five homers, three in a row in the sixth, in an 8-3 win over the Orioles after Zach Britton and the Birds had blanked them 2-0 earlier in the day. With the game tied 3-3 in the sixth, Robinson Cano hit a two-run homer off Brian Matusz and Nick Swisher followed with a solo shot. After Chris Jakubauskas came on for Matusz, Andruw Jones greeted him with a solo shot for a 7-3 lead. Brian...

Zach Britton threw 120 pitches in Game 1 of yesterday's doubleheader. That's the most by an Orioles starter against the Yankees since Sidney Ponson threw 128 on June 1, 2004 in New York. One of manager Buck Showalter's biggest peeves is young players who join the club and don't know how to bunt because they've hit in the middle of the lineup in the minors and assumed it wouldn't be necessary. He isn't aiming this rant at one particular player. He means just in general. A lot of guys...