It's been a busy day already here at Nationals Park, but not because of anything the home team has done. Rather, it's the Cubs who are making news after designating catcher Miguel Montero for assignment. You may remember Montero from last night's postgame rant "Don't Blame Me for Stolen Bases! Blame the Pitchers!" Well, the Cubs decided to blame Montero after all, or at least cut ties with him and eat the remainder of his $14 million salary for being a bad teammate. It'll be interesting...

TORONTO - With a team featuring 10 selections from the just concluded 2017 First-Year Player Draft, the Orioles' team in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League began its season this week. The GCL Orioles play their home games at the club's Ed Smith Stadium complex in Sarasota, Fla. The team will play 30 home games running through Sept. 1. The games are open to the public at no cost. Parking is free and located in the East Lot at the corner of 12th Street and Tuttle Avenue. Game times and location...

The Nationals bullpen did their job Tuesday night, putting up three scoreless and hitless innings against the Cubs in a 6-1 win. Blake Treinen, alongside Enny Romero, Oliver Peréz and Matt Albers, walked one batter and struck out one batter on their way to getting the last nine outs of the game. Manager Dusty Baker assessed Treinen's scoreless eighth inning in which he struck out Javier Báez and collected a pair of outfield flyouts from pinch-hitter Addison Russell and Jeimer...

TORONTO - Second baseman Jonathan Schoop continued his breakout season last night at Rogers Centre. The Orioles scored three runs in the first two innings in beating Toronto 3-1, with Schoop right in the middle of it. He contributed a single to start a first-inning two-run rally and crushed a double with an exit velocity of 113 mph and scored a run in the second. Schoop is batting .298 with 15 homers, 48 RBIs and an OPS of .902 for the season. In June he is batting .344/.410/.688 with eight...

More from Tuesday night's 6-1 victory over the Cubs ... * There may be no more pleasant development for the Nationals this season than the development of Michael A. Taylor into a more disciplined, more productive hitter, and it was on display again in this game. Taylor was a major contributor to the win, using his legs to swipe two bases and induce a bad throw by catcher Miguel Montero to score a run in the fourth, then using his bat to drive a two-run double to right-center in the fifth. That...

While Bill Parcells is wildly overrated as a coach, his maxim of "You are what your record says you are," is spot-on, and applies to the Potomac Nationals this year. The P-Nats almost finished .500 in the first half, falling two games short at 33-37, and haven't been above the break-even mark since May 13. Simply put, they're not quite good enough to win consistently. This is not to say there haven't been bright spots. Victor Robles is the Nationals' No. 1 prospect in the organization and...

Any breakdown of the Nationals lineup - the majors' most productive through the season's first half - usually focuses on the power potential up and down the order, the depth of quality that allows this team to score runs in bunches via a string of extra-base hits. The Nationals are, believe it or not, more multi-dimensional than that, though. They do have one of the fastest leadoff men in baseball, not to mention speed in several other lineup slots and several hitters capable of grinding out...

Max Scherzer and the Nationals got exactly what they needed from their No. 1 starter - a quality start - in a game in which he didn't have to be "maxed" out. He allowed the Cubs just one run in the first inning, doing it all without his best stuff. Scherzer went six innings and used only 93 pitches as the Nats dropped the Cubs 6-1 to even the series at 1-1. Manager Dusty Baker said what might be even scarier for the rest of the league is that Scherzer didn't even have everything clicking...

The latest marquee pitching showdown of the season saw the Nationals' Cy Young Award winner show up with an awfully effective performance. The Cubs' Cy Young? He looked awfully pedestrian. Max Scherzer tossed six innings of one-run ball, retired the last 10 batters he faced and also contributed to the Nationals' offensive onslaught against Jake Arrieta, who was knocked out before recording an out in the fifth inning during the Nats' 6-1 victory. Scherzer's streak of double-digit strikeout...

TORONTO - Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman ran some deep pitch counts. He didn't get deep in this game. But he also didn't give up any runs, with an assist from the bullpen and his catcher. Gausman threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings tonight as the Orioles beat Toronto 3-1 in front of 40,606 at Rogers Centre to start a three-game series. The Orioles move back to .500 at 38-38 and move two games ahead of Toronto for fourth place in the American League East. They are 8-2 versus the Blue Jays on the...