Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts was reevaluated today by Dr. Michael Collins, a concussion specialist in Pittsburgh, and told to return again in two weeks. Roberts has tracked pop-ups, according to president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail, but his baseball activities are limited. He's mostly confined to conditioning exercises, and he's still experiencing mild headaches when exerting himself. While he's making progress, it's coming in small increments. Buck Showalter gives the...

The Washington Nationals have agreed to terms with 18 players selected in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft: third baseman Matt Skole (fifth round), right-handed pitcher Brian Dupra (7th round), right-handed pitcher Manny Rodriguez (10th round), outfielder Caleb Ramsey (11th round), left-handed pitcher Blake Monar (12th round), shortstop Deion Williams (16th round), left-handed pitcher Todd Simko (21st round), right-handed pitcher Travis Henke (22nd round), second baseman Khayyan Norfork (23rd...

Not to put any pressure on Jeremy Guthrie tonight, but besides pitching for the first time since straining a muscle in his back, he also is expected to produce at least one hit. Orioles pitchers are a combined 4-for-9 (.444) with a double and two RBIs. Jake Arrieta recorded his first major league hit last night, Chris Jakubauskas had his first two hits Sunday at Washington and Zach Britton recorded his first hit Friday. Guthrie is 1-for-17 in his career. If you remember his double off...

There's been a lot said about the Orioles' Brian Matusz going into this season. As the O's are still in a rebuilding phase - despite the addition of talent onto the roster - how they will do next season and beyond will depend on their pitching. Well, Matusz is an essential part of that and everyone is hoping for the best for him and the young supply of arms in the organization. Although Matusz started 2010 on a pretty rough note, and included a stretch where he only won one start in the...

I am not ready to say the Orioles' offense has turned the corner or that it's finally living up to its preseason hype, but I will say it is functioning on most of its cylinders right now. Maybe for the first time all year. The top six in last night's order all are hitting pretty well right now. That is J.J Hardy, Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Derrek Lee, Matt Wieters and Mark Reynolds. The Orioles are not getting much offense out of left field right now, but most players manning the other...

There is really no underestimating how crucial Michael Morse has been to the Nationals' surge the last few weeks. It is not farfetched to say that Morse has been the offensive Most Valuable Player for the first 70 games of the season. Not only has Morse's bat been the biggest in the lineup, but his play at first base has really solved two problems for the price of one. His defense has kept the team in ballgames and his bat has won them. When Adam LaRoche started nursing his shoulder injury,...

Manager Buck Showalter confirmed after tonight's 8-3 win over the Pirates that Jake Arrieta's removal from the game wasn't due to a health issue. Arrieta is fine physically. I can't blame anyone for wondering, given what we witnessed in the Nationals series. Arrieta's command and the heat were the issues. That's why he was done after five innings and 87 pitches. "He's capable of better," Showalter told reporters during his postgame press conference that aired on MASN, "but it was...

It has been a good week in NatsTown. The Nationals pulled off an eight-game win streak, have pulled themselves into third place in the National League East, put themselves within striking distance of .500 and somehow got their name in talks for the Wild Card. They also put the hurting on an NL Central powerhouse in the Cardinals and won Round 2 of the Battle of the Beltways against the Baltimore Orioles. Going 8-1 in the past nine games - not too shabby. If your senses are up to par, take a...

So these are the new and improved Pirates? Meet the new Pirates, same as the old Pirates. To be fair, they have a promising young nucleus, but last night reminded us why they haven't posted a winning record since Manny Sanguillen hung up his shin guards. Actually, you can see Sanguillen in Bradenton every spring training. And he operates the "Manny's BBQ" concession at PNC Park. And he actually retired in 1980, so I was exaggerating. Sanguillen was the only member of the Pirates not to...

The Orioles, who took a 5-0 lead in the first inning tonight at Pittsburgh, began this game as major league's lowest-scoring first inning team. They come in averaging just 0.26 first-inning runs per game to rank last in the majors. 0.26 - Orioles 0.29 - Seattle 0.32 - Oakland 0.36 - Kansas City and Washington The Yankees lead the majors in scoring with 0.76 first inning runs per game. The O's got five runs on six hits in the big inning as Adam Jones delivered a two-run single and they got...