ANAHEIM, Calif. – In the most literal of senses, the Nationals are off to a bad start to the season. You can’t look at a 4-9 record and claim they’ve been anything other than bad. Nor can you look at their just-completed, seven-game road trip to Colorado and Anaheim and suggest a 3-4 outcome was a good thing. No losing road trip is a good road trip

Manager Brandon Hyde called them “SeaWorld” acts this week. The Orioles have a few different ways to celebrate producing solid offense in their dugout, and fans at Oriole Park, throughout Birdland and now even around baseball are starting to see this is a team with a strong collective personality. And they are doing just what their manager wants. T

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde kept rookie Grayson Rodriguez on the mound Tuesday for 99 pitches, the right-hander’s highest total in four years dating back to A ball. It wasn’t a test of strength and endurance. It wasn’t intended as a professional life lesson. The club just needed the length. “I can’t continue to pull our starters in the fifth innin

Part of Dean Kremer’s rise to effective major league starter last season, with the periods of dominance, was attributed to his stinginess with the home run ball. Eleven allowed in 22 games, fewer than one per nine innings.   Opponents hit seven against Kremer in spring training this year, mostly solo shots, and have slugged five in his first three

ANAHEIM, Calif. – They hit the ball well, really well, on several occasions. Which may make the Nationals feel better about the quality of at-bats and contact they’re starting to get from a lineup desperate for some kind of infusion of power. The results of today’s 3-2 loss to the Angels, though, won’t make them feel any better. Loud contact is gre

After wins by 5-1 and 12-8 the last two nights, the Orioles look to take Game 3 of their four-game series with the Oakland Athletics this evening at Camden Yards. Ryan Mountcastle tied the team single-game RBI record, driving in nine runs in Tuesday’s win in Baltimore. Mountcastle’s fast 11-game start has him leading the majors in RBIs and tied for

The national media attention is swelling around the Orioles, who were largely ignored through the rebuild years. They had lots of room to conduct their work. No one crowded them. Ryan Mountcastle had everyone chirping after his nine-RBI night that tied the club record. More rays of favorable light shined on the team. It’s seen or heard on televisio

To consider how special Ryan Mountcastle’s performance was last night as he tied a team record driving in nine runs, consider just how rare that was. Since moving to Baltimore in 1954, the Orioles have played more than 10,800 games. Just three times has a player driven in nine runs. Just three times has a player driven in exactly eight (Cal Ripken

Anthony Santander is out of tonight’s Orioles lineup due to some back soreness. Manager Brandon Hyde said the outfielder should be available off the bench. “It’s really not a huge deal,” Hyde said. Santander is batting .186/.265/.279 with no home runs in 11 games, and his 17 strikeouts rank among the league leaders. Cedric Mullins is healthy and al

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Luis García is back in the Nationals lineup after four days off. Keibert Ruiz remains in the Nationals lineup for the 11th time in 13 games this season. García tweaked his right hamstring running out a ground ball Friday night at Colorado and had been sidelined since. The second baseman was able to go through agility drills the fo