The New York Yankees were going to fight the Orioles' rescheduled date of Sept. 8 of a game that was postponed Saturday by Hurricane Irene. The Orioles and Yankees made up one game of the postponed Saturday doubleheader by playing two games Sunday, but the two teams, through their player representatives, management, Major League Baseball and the players' union, argued about when the second postponement should be played. The Yankees and manager Joe Girardi weren't interested in giving up...

They clogged subway cars and traffic routes to Nationals Park. They wore red T-shirts sporting the names of Utley, Howard and Halladay. They erupted in cheers when Jayson Werth struck out, and they chanted, "Ruuu,'' when Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz came to bat. And, when the Phillies' Raul Ibanez scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning, the crowd noise was so loud, it was more like Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Thanks to thousands of Phillies fans, the Nationals' Sunday...

The National League East is all but over. The other five division championships have boiled down to a two-team race with the exception of the American League Central. The Detroit Tigers lead the surprise Cleveland Indians, but how about the Chicago White Sox, the third place team that started a four-game series Monday in Baltimore? The White Sox are defined by inconsistent play this season, but they are coming off a weekend sweep in Minnesota, a team they were 8-28 against in the previous 36...

The July 31 non-waiver trade deadline is gone, but that doesn't mean trades have stopped. They get trickier, though. Now, if a team wants to trade a player, he has to clear waivers. For example, if the Orioles wanted to trade a pitcher to the Yankees, that pitcher would have to be offered to every other team in the standings before the Yankees could get him. If, say, Cleveland wanted him, the Indians would put a claim on him. Then, the Orioles could either pull the pitcher back and or let...

Trade speculation will fly furiously as Sunday's non-waiver trade deadline approaches. But if history is an indication, there will be plenty of trades made, as well. Last season, from July 25-31, there were 25 trades made, and the most significant were trades that didn't make headlines. The two best acquisitions were by the San Francisco Giants, who got lefty reliever Javier Lopez from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Ramon Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox. The two were key to the Giants' World...

Now that the Orioles have shortstop J.J. Hardy signed for another three years, their best trade chip before the July 31 deadline is pitcher Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie is the classic case of a pitcher that needs a change of scenery. He's been a hard-luck pitcher since coming to the Orioles in 2007. His career has been defined by a lack of run support. Scouts everywhere know that he's a much better pitcher than his career 41-61 record. His 4.19 ERA is impressive. But Guthrie looks beaten down....

Here are one writer's thoughts as baseball shifts to the All-Star break: * The Orioles' season is in shambles. The only way to fix it is to get more pitching into system, and the only way to do that is to make everyone available before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, and hope that market will allow pitching to come their way. The Orioles' biggest trade chips are Jeremy Guthrie, Jim Johnson, Koji Uehara and J.J. Hardy, assuming he doesn't sign. * The Nationals should try to trade...

Give the fans a pat on the back: They did a great job selecting the National and American League All-Star rosters for the July 12 game in Phoenix. The only player that was selected to start that shouldn't was shortstop Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, but that's not the end of the world. Jeter is his way to becoming the first Yankees player to reach 3,000 career hits. Jeter was six hits short as he returned to the Yankees' lineup Monday in Cleveland. And, the fans should be...

As All-Star roster selection time approaches, the Nationals' Tyler Clippard and the Orioles' Jim Johnson are in the usual predicament for pitchers that act as the bridge between starter and closer: They have dazzling statistics, but not much hope of making an All-Star roster for the July 12 game in Arizona. "Setup pitchers don't always get the credit they are due,'' Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty said. "It would be hard to imagine where a team would be without good middle...

With the Basic Agreement expiring at the end of the season, players and team owners are thinking about realignment. The reason this is being discussed is that both sides want more equity within division races. The thought is that it is unfair for six teams in the National League Central to compete for a title while the American League West has four teams. Realignment ideas range from blowing up both leagues as we know them and creating new divisions to moving one NL team to the AL. For...

Teams in the American League East haven't been bunched this tightly this late since 1994. Going into Friday night, the first-place Boston Red Sox and last-place Baltimore Orioles were six games a part. The division is not known for parity, but it has it this year. The Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays are better. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have struggled with pitching. The Tampa Bay Rays are pitching, but have trouble scoring. Here's a look: * A year ago, the Orioles were the...

The season-long gripe about the Nationals is that they are a good-pitch, no-hit team. And, the question is: Where would the Nats be in the National League East if they had had even mediocre hitting? The Nationals went into Sunday with a .227 average, which ranks next-to-last in the league, and 194 runs scored, which ranks 12th. A 17-run game in Baltimore boosted that ranking. Ryan Zimmerman has been out since April 10 with an injury to his stomach muscle. Outfielder Jayson Werth hasn't...

With interleague play here, there's no argument than the National and American League East divisions are the best of baseball's six. But, which of those divisions are the best? Generally, the NL East has more pitching, the AL East more offense, partly because of the DH. But, here's a position-by-position comparison: Rotation: The Phillies' Roy Halladay, the Marlins' Josh Johnson and the Braves' Tim Hudson are more dominant in the top three slots for the NL East than the Rays' David...

Harmon Killebrew ranks 11th on the all-time home run list with 573 home runs, and, had it not been for at least three injury-plagued seasons, Killebrew would have been among the elite players in the 600-home run club. "I never think about it that way because I was so fortunate to be playing baseball for as long as I did,'' Killebrew said during a spring-training interview in Fort Myers, Fla., his final day in a Minnesota Twins uniform. Killebrew, 74, who started his career with the...

Maybe somebody could explain to me why proponents think it is a good idea to have more instant replay in baseball. Baseball already has replay for close calls on home runs and is thinking of adding replay to help umpires with trapped balls. Too much replay puts the sport on a slippery slope toward technological umpiring. Even after last season, when umpire Jim Joyce cost pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game in Detroit on a blown call at first base, I couldn't agree with those who think...

Orioles lefty Zach Britton is the best of the rookie pitchers playing key roles among teams in the American League East, but if April is any indication, Britton's biggest competition for the AL's Rookie of the Year award is going to come from the Mariners' Michael Pineda. Like Britton, Pineda, 21, wasn't expected to be in the majors so soon. Britton is in the big leagues because of injuries in the Orioles' rotation.Pineda told the Mariners in spring training that he was going to pitch...

During a meeting with reporters in New York this week, Commissioner Bud Selig said that baseball is considering expanded playoffs for 2012, meaning 10 teams, instead of eight, will be vying for the World Series. The format is undetermined, but the two wild card teams in each league will likely play a one-game playoff or a three-game series to advance. Can't baseball learn from the NHL or NBA, where the playoffs never end, that more is not better, especially trying to play a summer game in...

Manny Ramirez is one of the best right-handed hitters in history, but that's not how he's going to be remembered. Manny should be putting the finishing touches on a Hall of Fame career, but he's never going to have a plaque in Cooperstown. Ramirez has retired from the Rays after it was reported that Major League Baseball was suspending him for 100 games for violating the sport's drug policy. Ramirez has already served a 50-game suspension with the Dodgers for using steroids. Manny has a...

The Yankees need inconsistent pitcher A.J. Burnett to be consistent, and so far, thanks to an improved changeup, Burnett has won his first two starts. Also, catcher Russell Martin has made a good impression. No need to worry about the slow starts of Orioles first baseman Derrek Lee, or his Nationals counterpart, Adam LaRoche. Each is making good contact. Lee, hitting. 182 after being out a good chunk of March, is in late-spring training mode. LaRoche, who hit a game-winning home run Thursday,...

Over the winter, the Rays, defending American League East champions, saw their roster dismantled. The Yankees were rejected by Cliff Lee and struggled for pitching. The Red Sox reloaded with speed and defense. The Orioles have legitimate buzz and the Blue Jays keep getting better. The Orioles open this evening in Tampa Bay, so let's take a look at some of the questions surrounding the AL East: The best way to watch the Birds this season: Enjoy the offense and hope the young pitchers...