Captain Obvious has been busy this season, giving me a steady stream of calls and notes. The latest was to remind me that the Orioles may be an improved team but are not yet at the point they can be missing several key players and still consistently win. The Captain is right again. The Orioles were without Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays in Detroi

It had all the trimmings of a classic pitchers’ duel, Justin Verlander and Patrick Corbin matching zeros in the run column while Verlander maintained a zero in the hits column as well. For Verlander, though, this was par for the course. He just carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning in his previous start. For Corbin, this was uncharted territo

Offense, offense, wherefore art thou, offense? Baltimore’s bats once again faltered in Detroit, this time in a 5-1 loss to the Tigers. The Orioles scored just three runs in this three-game sweep, striking out 16 times today alone.  On Friday, the O’s couldn’t cash in on offensive opportunities, stranding 14 runners on base. Yesterday, Baltimore hit

In November, the Orioles hired co-hitting coaches, a pair of 31-year-olds in Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller.  Borgschulte had spent the previous four seasons in the Twins organization, making his way to their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul before landing in Baltimore. Fuller, on the other hand, was an internal promotion.  Fuller joined the O’s in

On Saturday afternoon, the Orioles got another quality start from a starting pitcher and they also got another scoreless outing from their bullpen. But their offense produced just four hits and was held scoreless for the second time this season in a 3-0 loss to the Tigers. The Tigers have won the first two games of this series with the Orioles offe

Tanner Rainey is the Nationals’ best reliever. Or, at least, they’re handling him like he’s their best reliever, using him as their closer when the opportunity presents itself. Trouble is, there just haven’t been many of those opportunities to date. The Nats have held a lead of three or fewer runs in the ninth inning only four times through the sea

Austin Hays remains out of the Orioles lineup today as they conclude their road trip in Detroit. Hays hasn’t played since Cardinals reliever Genesis Cabrera stepped on the back of his left hand in the seventh inning of Thursday’s game. He told the media this morning that he threw yesterday and is hoping to increase his baseball activity on Monday.

The Nationals were held to one run during Friday night’s loss to the Astros. They exploded for 13 runs during Saturday night’s win over the Astros. So what should we expect from them during today’s series finale against the Astros? As much as you’d love to see another offensive explosion, you’ve got to think the odds are stacked against them, with

Talk about achieving desired results. Let’s talk about still 20-year-old infielder Gunnar Henderson, a player that is at least three years younger than the average age in the Double-A Eastern League for the Bowie Baysox. He told me in a preseason interview how he used foam baseballs to improve his plate discipline stats and cut down on his swings a

The good vibes that gained strength for the Orioles in St. Louis are weakened for the predictable reasons. The club isn’t built to withstand injuries to key players, and the cluster is a killer. Beating the Cardinals in the final game of the series with virtually no bench and with the bullpen almost empty in the late innings is more astounding now