ATLANTA - Stephen Strasburg stole the show Thursday night, but there was more to the Nationals' 13-4 win over the Braves than the right-hander's stunning offensive performance. ... * Ryan Zimmerman hit the ball hard four times and wound up with two doubles. It began as a frustrating evening for Zimmerman, who was 0-for-3 through four innings and struck out with two on, one out and the Nats leading 2-1 in the top of the third. But two of his outs came on balls that left his bat at more than...

ATLANTA - The ball cracked off his bat at 105 mph and soared on a 420-foot journey over the left field bullpen at SunTrust Park. And as the big slugger rounded the bases, the visitors' dugout roared with approval and formed its customary dance line to greet the man who had just clubbed this no-doubt home run. And then Stephen Strasburg danced. It was awkward, to be sure. And it required some help from Gerardo Parra, the veteran outfielder who started this whole home run dance phenomenon...

We could not have expected this when the Double-A Bowie Baysox were 7-23 on May 5. That was the worst record in all of minor league baseball. But the Baysox have been winning big ever since, and they were 20-7 in June and are 12-3 in July. They are 44-21 since that low point and have the Eastern League's best second-half record at 21-6. There are many reasons they charged into first-place in the second-half Eastern League race. A solid offense led by guys like Mason McCoy, Rylan Bannon and...

ATLANTA - Stephen Strasburg has become the latest Nationals hitter to go through the dugout dance line following a home run. Yes, you read that correctly. Strasburg launched a 420-foot laser over the left field bullpen at SunTrust Park, capping an eight-run top of the third for the Nationals, who have opened up a commanding lead over the Braves in the opener of this critical, four-game weekend series. The Nats had already plated five runs in the inning before Strasburg stepped to the plate. (He...

ATLANTA - If Max Scherzer is going to face the Braves this weekend, he's going to have to make some significant strides in the next 24 hours. And he's going to have to convince the Nationals powers that it's worth putting him on the mound even if he's potentially not 100 percent healthy. Scherzer, who hasn't pitched since July 6 due to a mid-back strain, played catch on flat ground this afternoon for the third straight day. Manager Davey Martinez described that throwing session, from 90...

The Orioles managed to go three days between transactions, ending their streak late Wednesday night by optioning reliever Tayler Scott to Triple-A Norfolk. Scott's disappointment at leaving the Orioles is softened by his inclusion earlier that day in the team photo. That's right. Years from now you'll scan the photo and find Tayler Scott. Alex Cobb and Nate Karns aren't in it. Andrew Cashner missed by a week. Hanser Alberto was with his wife for the birth of their second daughter. But...

ATLANTA - No team in baseball has a better winning percentage since May 25 than the Nationals: .690. The next-best winning percentage after that: .659, by the Braves. And so the Nats, in spite of their torrid pace for nearly two months, have barely gained any ground on the National League East leaders, who enter play today 6 1/2 games up (only five in the loss column). There are, however, 14 head-to-head games still on the schedule between these teams. A whopping 21 percent of the Nationals'...

The Nationals have 14 games remaining against the first-place Braves, who hold a 6 1/2-game lead in the National League East. But the Nats are only five games back in the loss column following Wednesday's 9-2 loss at Baltimore. Tonight they embark on a critical four-game set at SunTrust Park. Right-hander Stephen Strasburg (11-4, 3.46 ERA) takes on right-hander Julio Teheran (5-6, 3.71) in the series opener. All four games begin after 7 p.m. Assembled media spoke to Nationals manager Davey...

The Orioles scored just one run in a loss Sunday and one run in Tuesday's 8-1 loss to Washington. Then last night they trailed 2-1 going to the bottom of the seventh. Was another loss with just one run scored in the offing? Not this time. The O's offense, which had scored just eight runs the last four games and 12 runs in five games since the All-Star break, finally broke out. They scored three runs in the seventh and five runs in the eighth to beat the Nationals 9-2 at Oriole Park. They...

BALTIMORE - The Nationals built a precarious 2-1 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh following six masterful innings from right-hander Erick Fedde. The Orioles then exploded for eight runs in the seventh and eighth frames to put the game away and drop the Nats 9-2. The Birds scored five runs on six hits in blowing the game open in the eighth. Trey Mancini hit two homers and had three RBIs, and Anthony Santander had two hits and two RBIs for the Orioles. After a two-week layoff, Fedde...