SAN DIEGO - It seems like right now the focus for the Nationals is less on what's happening today and more on what could happen tomorrow and in the next week and the weeks to come after that. Such is life when you're 14 games up with 41 games to play and have a host of injured players attempting to return in advance of a likely postseason run. So let's take a moment this morning and look at where the Nationals pitching staff stands heading into this new week. Max Scherzer's unexpected trip...

Chris Tillman is back in the Orioles rotation. For at least one day. Tillman gets the call this afternoon as the Orioles close out the series, his first start since Aug. 3. He's 3-0 with a 2.20 ERA and 1.102 WHIP in five career starts versus the Angels over 32 2/3 innings. Luis Valbuena, who homered twice off Kevin Gausman last night, is 3-for-10 with two doubles and a home run against Tillman. Parker Bridwell gets another shot at his former team. He's 7-1 with a 2.88 ERA and 1.167 WHIP in 12...

SAN DIEGO - The Nationals entered tonight's game at Petco Park with a simple, primary goal: Get Stephen Strasburg through a full start healthy. Not that they didn't care about trying to beat the Padres as well, but that goal - if they were willing to be honest about it - was secondary to the more pressing matter at hand. This is what happens when you own a 14-game lead on Aug. 19, with a magic number already down to 28 despite six more weeks of regular season games left on the schedule. So...

For the second night in a row, the Los Angeles Angels used an early homer barrage to build a lead. This time they held it. The Angels homered in each of the first four innings off right-hander Kevin Gausman and beat the Orioles 5-1 in front of 43,929 at Oriole Park. Baltimore falls to 60-63 with its seventh loss in 11 games. Mike Trout and Luis Valbuena each homered in their first two at-bats for Los Angeles. Trout hit solo homers in the first and third innings. Valbuena hit a solo homer in the...

Kevin Gausman lowered his head tonight and slapped his right hand against his thigh as he made the slow walk toward the home dugout. He was working on a three-hitter through three innings. Frustration came from the three home runs that accounted for those hits. Gausman knew a home run per inning was a poor ratio. He didn't need a mathematics degree from LSU to figure it out. The Angels kept delivering the lesson, making it four home runs in four innings and giving them nine in 13. Numbers were...

SAN DIEGO - Stephen Strasburg is back on the mound pitching for the Nationals, and his arm appears to be healthy. That, quite frankly, matters more at the moment than results. Not that Strasburg has pitched poorly so far in his first start in four weeks. He battled some shaky command in the bottom of the first and served up a two-run homer to Yangervis Solarte but otherwise has looked sharp in his return from an elbow injury. Activated today following a four-week stint on the disabled list due...

SAN DIEGO - The Nationals announced their starting lineup about 3 1/2 hours before tonight's game at Petco Park, standard procedure. A few minutes later, they had to announce a change to that lineup, which unfortunately also has become standard procedure for this injury-riddled ballclub. The latest: Daniel Murphy, who was scratched from tonight's lineup after the second baseman admitted to manager Dusty Baker he's been playing less than 100 percent in recent days. There was no formal...

The Orioles have had a few solid wins recently with a chance to build some positive momentum, only to follow up those victories with more losing. They will try to reverse that trend tonight. The Orioles (60-62) host the Los Angeles Angels (62-60) in the second game of a three-game series. They won 9-7 on Manny Machado's walk-off grand slam in the ninth last night. Over his last 12 games, Machado is batting .370 (20-for-54) with seven home runs (including three grand slams) and 25 RBIs....

The celebration of the 25th anniversary of Camden Yards carries a sad note due to the absence of former manager Johnny Oates, who died on Christmas Eve 2004 at 58, more than three years after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. Doctors had given him about a year to live. Various players have expressed their love and admiration for him. "I owe my career to him," Anderson said. "I was struggling at Memorial Stadium the first four years and he was a great manager, a great man. I'm...

The Orioles haven't revealed their starter for Sunday's series finale against the Angels. However, it's likely to be Chris Tillman if he doesn't pitch tonight in relief. Manager Buck Showalter hinted that it was fair to speculate on Tillman, who hasn't started since Aug. 3 against the Tigers. Tillman came out of the rotation after allowing five earned runs (seven total) in two innings to raise his ERA to 8.10. Working out of the bullpen for the first time in the majors, Tillman has tossed...