Chris Heisey makes his first start today for the Nationals, and will lead off and play left field, giving Jayson Werth the day off. Manager Dusty Baker said he focused on Heisey to lead off because of his previous experience atop the batting order and wanting to keep the lineup spaced out well from each side of the plate. "He's batted there before plus he's the best choice that I have right now," Baker explained. "The other choice would've been (Matt) den Dekker but then that gives me too...

Tom Acitelli's "American Wine: A Coming-of-Age Story," published in 2015, tracks the explosion in wine sales in the U.S. since the 1960s and the how our culture that had generally ignored wine became the No. 1 wine market in the world. To say the change occurred quickly is putting it mildly. Acitelli names the names in the wine business that pushed this rapid growth, how they did it and the cultural shift that created wine popularity. Those that impacted this growth were not only in the...

Rest easy, everybody: Stephen Strasburg is pitching today. After getting scratched from his scheduled start last night due to an illness that has plagued him for several days, Strasburg is good to go for this afternoon's series finale against the Braves. That saves Dusty Baker from needing to turn to emergency starter Yusmeiro Petit and keeping his bullpen fresh, not only for this game but for the next few days as well. The Nationals will be looking to win, incredibly, their 14th consecutive...

The Nationals are 6-1. Five of those wins have come against a stripped down and possibly tanking version of the Braves. It can be pointed out that the Braves are projected to lose 100 games and that their lineup is Freddie Freeman surrounded by a bunch of minor league hopefuls and aging or injured castoffs, not too unlike Ryan Zimmerman and the 2007-2010 Nationals. The Braves are bad and they're bad on purpose, but the Nationals have still won those games and as long as every win counts the...

Chris Davis hadn't even dotted the i's on his seven-year, $161 million contract this winter before the deal was criticized by the baseball world. The Orioles appeared in many columnists' "worst deals of the offseason" articles and were scrutinized for overspending on a guy that would surely never repeat the production of his 2013 and 2015 seasons. Comparisons were made to Ryan Howard and Josh Hamilton, two power hitters who cashed in on their successes only to disappoint in their older,...

Manager: Pete Mackanin (2nd season) Record: 5-5 Last 10 games: 5-5 Who to watch: 1B Ryan Howard (3 HR, 6 RBIs), 3B Maikel Franco (.333/.405/.576 with 2 HR, 5 RBIs), 2B Cesar Hernandez (.294/.314/.382), RHP Jeremy Hellickson (1-0, 11 K, 1.54 ERA), RHP Jeanmar Gomez (4 saves, 1.80 ERA) Season series vs. Nationals: First meeting (7-12 in 2015) Pitching probables: April 15: RHP Joe Ross vs. RHP Jeremy Hellickson, 7:05 p.m., MASN April 16: RHP Max Scherzer vs. RHP Aaron Nola, 7:05 p.m., MASN April...

Orioles right-handed reliever Dylan Bundy has now made four major league appearances - two in 2012 and two this season. The player ranked as the Orioles' No. 1 prospect a whopping five times (2011 through 2015), pitched more than one inning for the first time as an Oriole on Tuesday night at Fenway Park. The 23-year-old right-hander had a solid outing. Over 2 1/3 innings, he gave up three hits and one run on 43 pitches. Showing a solid curveball and changeup, Bundy almost looked more like a...

BOSTON - The Orioles are returning to the scene of their meltdown. It actually was the continuation of one. They were swept in a three-game series in Arlington in August after the Twins won all four games at Camden Yards and the Royals took three of four at Kauffman Stadium. It didn't get any better after the Orioles left Texas. They dropped two of three to the Rays at Camden Yards and two of three to the Blue Jays in Toronto. The Orioles were six games under .500 on Sept. 6. They wouldn't...

BOSTON - The Orioles won't go 162-0. The season-opening winning streak ended at seven games tonight with a 4-2 loss to the Red Sox at frigid Fenway Park. The Orioles actually won 12 in a row dating to last September. They set a franchise record by hitting 14 home runs in their first eight games, the previous mark being 13 in 1966, 2012 and 2015. They've also collected at least eight hits in their first eight games for the first time in franchise history. Manny Machado became only the sixth...

First, the optimistic view on the Nationals so far this season: They're 6-1, the best start in club history and one more victory shy of matching the best start in both franchise and D.C. baseball history. Now, the skeptical view of that accomplishment: They've gone 6-1 against the Marlins and Braves, who are currently a collective 3-12. OK, so maybe it would be wise not to go overboard with praise for this team quite yet, given the less-than-overwhelming competition it has faced. But all they...