Marty Niland: Murphy shooting for spot among D.C.'s all-time greats

Marty Niland: Murphy shooting for spot among D.C.'s all-time greats
Nationals fans are having fun watching their team move closer to its third division title in the past five seasons, but an even more exciting race is in full swing between the Nats' Daniel Murphy and Colorado's DJ LeMahieu for the National League batting title. The two second basemen came into last weekend's series as the league's top two hitters, with Murphy at .345 and LeMahieu at .344. Even though LeMahieu didn't play in Friday's series opener, he moved into the top spot by going...
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Andrew Stetka: A moment to appreciate Adam Jones

Andrew Stetka: A moment to appreciate Adam Jones
It's not all that uncommon these days to hear that a baseball player is dealing with an injury. That's never been truer when it comes to Adam Jones. This isn't a knock on the Orioles center fielder. Major league players get dinged up throughout a long 162-game season. This is a regular occurrence. The difference with Jones is that he rarely misses a game because of it. When he's out of the lineup, it's noticeable. You know it must be something more than just a bump or a bruise. Jones has...
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Orioles make four roster moves

Orioles make four roster moves
The Orioles today announced that they have signed RHP Tommy Hunter to a major league contract, recalled RHP Oliver Drake from Triple-A Norfolk, and designated LHP T.J. McFarland and OF Julio Borbon for assignment. Hunter, 30, went 2-2 with a 3.74 ERA (9 ER/21.2 IP) over 21 games with the Cleveland Indians this season. In parts of five seasons with the Orioles from 2011-15, Hunter went 21-20 with a 4.22 ERA (185 ER/394.2 IP) and 257 strikeouts. Over 305 career major league games, he has gone...
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Orioles reinstate LHP T.J. McFarland from the disabled list; designate RHP Logan Ondrusek for assignment

Orioles reinstate LHP T.J. McFarland from the disabled list; designate RHP Logan Ondrusek for assignment
The Orioles today announced that they have reinstated LHP T.J. McFarland from the 15-day disabled list and designated RHP Logan Ondrusek for assignment off the 25-man roster. McFarland, 27, was placed on the 15-day disabled list on June 30 (retroactive to June 29) with left knee inflammation. Over five rehabilitation games (four starts) between the GCL Orioles (one game), Class A-Advanced Frederick (two games), and Double-A Bowie (two games), he pitched to a 6.48 ERA (6 ER/8.1 IP) with eight...
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Matthew Taylor: An interesting conversation with my 2011 self

Matthew Taylor: An interesting conversation with my 2011 self
Have you ever heard someone talk about the advice they would share with a younger version of themself if they had the chance? Here's what a conversation with the 2011 version of myself might look like if we got to talking Orioles baseball. 2011 Me: I don't know how much more of this I can take. Fourteen consecutive losing seasons! I thought this was the year, and we still lost 93 games with Buck Showalter in charge. We're hopeless. 2016 Me: I think you'll be happy with where things go from...
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Patrick Reddington: Baker feels Nats are on verge of breaking out offensively

Patrick Reddington: Baker feels Nats are on verge of breaking out offensively
Stephen Strasburg in on the disabled list with right shoulder soreness. Joe Ross is still working his way back from shoulder inflammation, though there were positive reports on the right-hander on Thursday. Sammy Solis is on the DL with a left shoulder issue and likely a couple of weeks away from a return. Oliver Perez is dealing with back tightness, but reportedly available. Before beating the Orioles on Thursday, the Nationals had lost four straight and six of 10 games. Nationals skipper...
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Zach Wilt: What Ubaldo Jimenez needs to do to be effective

Zach Wilt: What Ubaldo Jimenez needs to do to be effective
For the first time since July 28, Ubaldo Jimenez will make a start for the Baltimore Orioles. With Chris Tillman on the disabled list, Jimenez will take the mound tonight in D.C. as the Birds look to take all four games of their interleague series against the Nationals. It's been a tough season for Jimenez, he's 5-10 with a 6.94 ERA. In his three seasons with the Orioles, he's pitched to a 4.99 ERA and surrendered 4.5 walks per nine innings. Jimenez signed a four-year deal with the Birds...
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David Huzzard: Nats will be ready come October

David Huzzard: Nats will be ready come October
The Nationals' current four-game losing streak feels like the longest losing streak of the season. It isn't. That happened back in June when they lost seven in a row. This probably feels like a longer losing streak because the Nationals played so poorly against the Braves in order to test just how bad they were. The Nats found out that the Braves are very bad. The Orioles aren't a bad team, and so playing poorly against them has had much more disastrous results. Each loss by the Nationals...
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Orioles recall RHP Mike Wright from Triple-A Norfolk, place RHP Chris Tillman on the disabled list

Orioles recall RHP Mike Wright from Triple-A Norfolk, place RHP Chris Tillman on the disabled list
The Orioles today announced that they have recalled RHP Mike Wright from Triple-A Norfolk and placed RHP Chris Tillman on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder bursitis (retroactive to August 21). Wright, 26, went 3-3 with a 3.17 ERA (23 ER/65.1 IP) in 11 starts with the Tides this season. He is 3-4 with a 5.97 ERA (46 ER/69.1 IP) in 14 games (12 starts) with the Orioles this season. Over 26 career Major League games (21 starts), he has gone 6-9 with a 6.00 ERA (76 ER/114.0 IP). Tillman,...
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Dillon Atkinson: Five X-factors for the Orioles down the stretch

Dillon Atkinson: Five X-factors for the Orioles down the stretch
After defeating the Nationals 8-1 on Tuesday night, the Orioles are still in third place in the American League East, just two games back of the Red Sox and Blue Jays, who are tied for the division lead. The Birds are 22-25 since the start of July, so they're going to have to turn it around sooner rather than later. Here are five X-factors that could very well be big influences on whether or not the O's turn it around and make the postseason. Manny Machado: Since the start of July, Machado is...
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Charlie Fliegel: Nats bullpen is missing effective left-handed specialist

Charlie Fliegel: Nats bullpen is missing effective left-handed specialist
The Nationals bullpen has been overused the last week, thanks to short stints from starting pitchers. However, since the addition of Mark Melancon, most of the title-worthy roles appear to have stabilized in the 'pen. Except one spot seems to be missing, and it's a need they must address. Melancon is, of course, the closer. Shawn Kelley seems to have nabbed the role of setup man. Since the beginning of July, he's only given up four earned runs in 20 appearances, held opponents to a .269...
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Yard Work podcast: Episode 12

Yard Work podcast: Episode 12
Hey, O's fans. Welcome to the latest edition of Yard Work. We're changing things up a bit this week. With the Orioles and Nationals resuming their annual Battle of the Beltways, we thought we'd combine our two squads - myself from Yard Work and MASNsports.com's Bobby Blanco and Byron Kerr from District 34 - for a joint podcast session. The Orioles and Nationals have squared off each season, though the rivalry has been a little one-sided. The O's have taken the season series each year since...
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Steve Mears: Nats have struggled with situational hitting

Steve Mears: Nats have struggled with situational hitting
Last night, situational hitting once again was a focus by the discerning eye as to why the Nationals offense sputtered. The lack of execution in productive outs, and hitting with runners in scoring position was beyond poor. In fact the RISP hitting finished at 1-for-9 and there were no productive outs made in the game by the Nationals, even though three times they had a leadoff man on second base and no outs to start an inning. We saw it right from the beginning of the game when Trea Turner...
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Ryan Romano: What's to blame for Trumbo's strange slump?

Ryan Romano: What's to blame for Trumbo's strange slump?
As the Orioles go, so goes Mark Trumbo. In the first half of the season, the newest O's slugger put up some of the best offensive numbers in baseball. His .288/.341/.582 triple-slash translated to a 142 wRC+, ranking him 17th among qualified hitters. The club rode that scorching start, and the other hot hitters who backed it up, to a 51-36 first-half record. Since then, their performance has fallen off -- they've gone 16-20 in the second half of the season -- and Trumbo has played a big...
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Nationals recall RHP A.J. Cole

Nationals recall RHP A.J. Cole
The Washington Nationals recalled right-handed pitcher A.J. Cole from Triple-A Syracuse on Monday and placed right-handed pitcher Stephen Strasburg on the 15-day disabled list with right elbow soreness, retroactive to Aug. 21. Cole will start against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Cole, 24, rejoins the Nationals for his second Major League assignment of the season. The right-hander was...
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Nats place Strasburg on DL, recall Cole to start tonight

Nats place Strasburg on DL, recall Cole to start tonight
The month of August hasn't been kind to Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg. A 1-3 record and an ERA north of 10 has put a bit of a damper on an otherwise tremendous 2016 season for the right-hander. Now, unfortunately, the 28-year-old must battle another setback. The Nationals announced Monday they have placed Strasburg on the 15-day disabled list with right elbow soreness, retroactive to August 21. Strasburg, who was in line to start tonight's opener against the Orioles in the annual...
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Andrew Stetka: Orioles should look to deal strength for depth

Andrew Stetka: Orioles should look to deal strength for depth
There's a good debate going on throughout the baseball world right now about Orioles closer Zach Britton. Some believe he should get consideration for the Cy Young Award at season's end. Others don't think that honor should go to relief pitchers who don't accumulate as many innings as starters during the season. The argument is really about value. There's no real question that Britton, who has given up a staggering three earned runs all season, carries a lot of value. That value is seen by...
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Orioles recall RHP Parker Bridwell from Triple-A Norfolk

Orioles recall RHP Parker Bridwell from Triple-A Norfolk
The Orioles today announced that they have recalled RHP Parker Bridwell from Triple-A Norfolk. Bridwell, 25, went a combined 4-2 with a 4.13 ERA (32 ER/69.2 IP) in 24 games (seven starts) between the Gulf Coast League Orioles (three games), Short-Season A Aberdeen (two games), Double-A Bowie (18 games), and Triple-A Norfolk (one game) this season. In 138 career minor league games (117 starts), he went 30-43 with a 4.75 ERA (341 ER/646.1 IP). His first appearance with the Orioles will be his...
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Yard Work: Episode 11

Yard Work: Episode 11
Happy Friday, Orioles fans. Welcome to this week's edition of Yard Work. On this episode.... It seems like the Orioles have done a total flip flop since the start of the season. For the first few months, the O's dealt with inconsistent starting pitching. Each night was a gamble in terms of the starter and there were a few nights were a great offensive output wasn't enough to mask struggles on the mound. Over the past few months, however, the starting pitching has settled in, with starters...
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Patrick Reddington: Mark Melancon credits cutter for his career success

Patrick Reddington: Mark Melancon credits cutter for his career success
With a scoreless ninth inning last night in Atlanta, new Washington Nationals closer Mark Melancon has retired 23 of the 27 batters he's faced since he was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates. When the 31-year-old right-hander has talked about the turning point for him in his career, he's pointed to the development of his cutter, as he did in an MLB Network Radio interview following the trade that brought him to the Nationals last month when he was asked what changed for him once he got to...
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