The news was good in the way that Orioles manager Brandon Hyde presented it yesterday. How high you choose to raise your hopes is up to you. Grayson Rodriguez sought additional opinions after undergoing imaging on his sore right shoulder, which always leads to the worst assumptions. I said it, too. Athletes don’t normally contact other physicians o

WASHINGTON – The Orioles' offense had plenty of opportunities to cash in for a breakout inning in tonight’s 4-3 loss to the Nationals. Instead, they made smaller deposits.  For the most part, pitching held up its end of the bargain. Sometimes, you can still win baseball games like that, even when you go 1-for-12 with runners in scoring positio

If Tuesday night’s blowout over the Orioles was a rare cakewalk win for the Nationals, this one felt all along like a walk across a lengthy tightrope, with no net visible down below. Even after scoring three quick runs in the bottom of the first, the Nats found themselves in a tight contest, their bullpen unable to protect a two-run lead, the game

WASHINGTON – Expected stats don’t show up in the box score. That makes them easy to dismiss.  They’re not interchangeable with counting numbers, nor should they be used as a crutch for a struggling offense.  But, in this case, it could help explain why a lineup with so much talent has struggled to score runs. It’s one thing to say, “This team is ta

CJ Abrams should be back at Nationals Park on Thursday. Then, it’s just a question of whether the team will activate their All-Star shortstop off the 10-day injured list in time for their series finale against the Orioles or will wait for Friday’s series opener against the Mets. Abrams, who has a right hip flexor strain, played his second rehab gam

It’s a beautiful spring day in the nation’s capital, and everyone around here is in a good mood after Tuesday night’s 7-0 win over the Orioles. The Nationals have quietly won three of their last four as they try to creep closer to the .500 mark. A duplicate performance tonight would certainly help them get closer to that break-even point. Davey Mar

Left-hander Trevor Rogers made his first injury rehab start today at Double-A Chesapeake and gave up a two-run homer to Altoona’s Kervin Pichardo two batters into the game. Rogers worked three innings and allowed two runs and four hits with one walk and three strikeouts. He threw 44 pitches, 29 for strikes. Rogers is on the injured list after dislo

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The afternoon began with Davey Martinez suggesting Jose Tena was going to start getting more playing time, perhaps establishing a righty-lefty platoon at third base with veteran Amed Rosario. If Tena keeps playing like he did Tuesday evening, he won’t have any trouble convincing his manager to pencil him into the lineup with more regularity. On a n

The Orioles are four games below .500 again and the rotation issues won’t go away. They were one-hit, so it isn't just the pitching. The anger generated from Sunday's 24-2 loss was supposed to shatter slumps and funks. What can you trust? Well, there’s mailbag leftovers. You asked, I answered, and some stuff had to be held. Let’s get to it before t