What a strange few weeks of weather the Nationals have experienced. It seems like the conditions have alternated just about every day, from warm and muggy to mild and rainy to cold and windy. We've got the latter this afternoon for the Nats' series finale against the Marlins, with temperatures in the 50s and a strong, steady wind blowing from left to right fields. That may help the ball carry for left-handed batters today, which might not be a bad thing for the Nationals, who are going up...

Kevin Gausman still doesn't have a win this year despite posting three consecutive quality starts. Today's opposing pitcher, Tigers rookie Michael Fulmer, is 2-1 despite a 6.00 ERA and 2.000 WHIP in 15 innings. He hasn't made it past the fifth in any of his three starts. Further proof that a pitcher's won-loss record is largely meaningless. Coming up next: Do Germans really love David Hasselhoff? Gausman has allowed five earned runs and 12 hits, with three walks and 16 strikeouts, over 20...

After their latest win last night by a 9-3 score over the Detroit Tigers, there are some amazing notes and statistics right now involving this Orioles team. The Orioles are now 23-12 overall and 16-5 at Camden Yards. How about the fact that the Orioles had just two seven-game winning streaks over the stretch from 2000 through 2015, according to ESPN? So that is two streaks of seven games over 2,592 games. Now they have two in one season and they have two in the first 35 games of this...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter has made references in the past to second baseman Jonathan Schoop "graduating," a term used to describe his maturation as a player and a person. Did Schoop get his master's tonight? What school analogy fits when a guy homers twice, including a grand slam, and drives in a career-high five runs? Schoop led another power frenzy, again coming as the game approached the later innings, that keyed a 9-3 victory over the Tigers before 32,174 at Camden Yards. "I feel...

If baseball truly is a game of adjustments, as they like to say, Tanner Roark has some major work staring him in the face before next weekend's series in Miami. Roark figures to start Friday night's opener at Marlins Park - unless Nationals manager Dusty Baker decides to bump him up to pitch against the Mets the night before instead of Stephen Strasburg - and that means the right-hander will have to figure out some way to beat a Miami lineup that has owned him for two seasons now. The latest...

Not only did Matt Wieters catch in back-to-back games with tonight's assignment, he also guided Mike Wright through the rotation's latest quality start and gave the Orioles a lead they never surrendered. He also opened the flood gates. Jonathan Schoop homered twice, including his second career grand slam, and Adam Jones homered for the fourth time in five games, as the Orioles again got aggressive late and defeated the Tigers 9-3 before 32,174 at Camden Yards. Wieters hit his second home run...

Doubleheader sweeps are no easy task. Certainly not when they require a Tanner Roark victory over the Marlins. Needing their otherwise effective right-hander to reverse his recent trend against Miami, the Nationals instead watched a familiar storyline play out tonight. They lost the nightcap of a split-doubleheader 7-1, with every run charged to Roark. The Nationals had taken this afternoon's opener 6-4 behind an effective start from Stephen Strasburg, some clutch hits from several members of...

There's something about the Marlins that turns Tanner Roark from a dominant big league pitcher into just another guy on the mound. Who knows why this is, but facts are facts. And the fact is, the Marlins hit Roark like no other team in baseball. It's happening again tonight, with Miami plating three early runs off Roark to take a lead over the Nationals in the nightcap of their split doubleheader. Roark managed to get out of the first inning unscathed, which was no minor achievement for him....

If the Orioles are faced with another save situation tonight, left-hander Zach Britton probably will sit this one out. He's earned a breather after closing out back-to-back games. Britton's next save will be his 84th, moving him past Jorge Julio and into sole possession of fifth place on the club's all-time list. Forgive Britton if he's a little foggy with his Julio history. The right-hander's career in Baltimore spanned five seasons, the last in 2005. The Orioles drafted Britton the...

The Nationals have picked up the two-year option on Mike Rizzo's contract, keeping the longtime general manager in D.C. through at least the 2018 season, the club announced this evening. Rizzo was in the final year of a deal he signed in 2013, but the club held a two-year contract option for the 2017-18 seasons that needed to be picked up by June 15. "It feels good," Rizzo said following his team's 7-1 loss in the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Marlins. "We started from ground zero...