Spenser Watkins got his major league debut out of the way last week. Now comes his first start. Watkins will be handed the ball tonight against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards, the final homestand for the Orioles before the All-Star break. He retired all three batters he faced Friday night in Anaheim and needed only eight pitches to do it. Manager Brandon Hyde needed a starter with Travis Lakins Sr. on the 60-day injured list. The team confirmed only that Lakins has right elbow pain and it's...

Every National League All-Star team assembled since 2010 has included at least one member of the Nationals pitching staff. Every All-Star Game since 2013 has included a roster with Max Scherzer. So imagine the surprise on South Capitol Street on Sunday when manager Davey Martinez walked into the clubhouse and informed everyone three of his players had been selected to this year's Midsummer Classic: Trea Turner, Juan Soto and Kyle Schwarber. Not Scherzer. Some in the room didn't believe...

Ask anyone who has watched him - shoot, ask Josh Bell himself - to evaluate his performance through the season's first half, and the answer almost certainly will be negative. And a quick glance at Bell's season totals - .247 batting average, 12 homers, 39 RBIs, .775 OPS - would give reason to believe that. Let's not forget, though, just how big a hole Bell dug for himself six weeks in. On the morning of May 13, the Nationals first baseman owned a horrific .133/.198/.289 slash line that...

The questions are piling up again. They'd thin out a little if my original answers stuck, but you know how this works. You know why the sequels exist. How many times must we go over this? You ask, I answer, someone else asks the same thing, I tweak or completely change my response to see if anyone notices or cares. It's probably a desperate cry for attention. My therapist thinks so. The only time there's crying in baseball. Here's what I won't do, and you have my word: Edit for length,...

A Nationals club desperate for more healthy bodies is getting two of them back for tonight's series opener in San Diego, with more potentially coming in the next few days. Trea Turner and Yan Gomes are both in tonight's lineup, Turner returning after missing four games with a jammed left middle finger, Gomes back after taking a pitch off his right arm Saturday night. The impact on Davey Martinez's batting order is significant, with Turner able to bat second in front of Juan Soto and Gomes...

It seems like it could be a real clue as to which player the Orioles might select with the No. 5 overall pick in the upcoming First-Year Player Draft. The first 37 selections will be made Sunday night as the three-day, 20-round draft begins. After they selected No. 1 overall in 2019 and took Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman, and No. 2 overall last year and took Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad, the O's will pick No. 5 this time. The clue as to which player they pick could come in which...

Who's ready for some late-night baseball? Yes, after their earliest start of the season Sunday morning, the Nationals now take the field tonight in San Diego for their latest start of the season. The caffeine intake has already begun here at the home office. A four-game sweep at the hands of the Dodgers made for a tough weekend, and the task doesn't get particularly easier over the next four nights against the talented Padres, who at the moment own a .581 winning percentage that would have...

As he sat at a dais next to Juan Soto and Kyle Schwarber, his fellow 2021 All-Stars, Trea Turner was asked about the Nationals' four-game sweep at the hands of the Dodgers. Turner, of course, didn't appear in any of the four games, still dealing with a jammed left middle finger from sliding hard into third base while completing his third career cycle Wednesday afternoon. And he was far from the only Nats regular stuck watching from the dugout. Also out due to injury were Schwarber, Alex...

Chuck Ristano reached for his cell phone in an Atlanta airport, saw Trey Mancini's name on his screen and heard something that twisted his emotions into a jumble. A cancer survivor and close friend probably needs to choose his words more carefully when starting a conversation. "He called me and told me, 'Hey, this isn't public.' I had a moment of exhilaration, a moment of panic," said Ristano, who was on a recruiting trip after finishing his 11th season as Notre Dame's pitching...

To say the least, the Orioles' search for starting pitching is ongoing. Their rotation ERA of 6.09 is the worst in the majors and their three starting pitchers covered just 11 2/3 innings in the weekend series in Anaheim, allowing 12 runs. The O's know they have a good one - really, this year he's been a great one - in John Means. The lefty is their ace and he can't get back here soon enough. Means took a big step toward a return to the rotation yesterday, throwing a sharp two-inning rehab...