FREDERICK - Looking for their first playoff berth since winning the Carolina League championship in 2011, the Single-A Frederick Keys start a new season on Thursday night. The Keys play at Myrtle Beach to begin a season-opening seven-game road trip. The home opener is April 14 at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium. Frederick's new manager is Keith Bodie, who was hitting coach last season for the 2015 Eastern League champion Double-A Bowie Baysox. Bodie is a veteran manager of 18 minor league...

WOODBRIDGE - High Single-A Potomac manager Tripp Keister introduced his 2016 P-Nats roster Tuesday at media day and is looking forward to working with the talent the club has assembled again this season. Keister believes they can be aggressive with some speed on basepaths and on defense. "It's exciting. I think the group of position players, there's some depth to the group, there's some length to the lineup," Keister said. "We're going to have some pretty good hitters one through nine....

WASHINGTON NATIONALS TO FACE MIAMI MARLINS IN 2016 HOME OPENER ON THURSDAY The Washington Nationals will celebrate opening day and the start of the 2016 season on Thursday, April 7 at 4:05 p.m. when the team hosts the Miami Marlins. THURSDAY, APRIL 7 OPENING DAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Emceed by Emmy Award-winning sports broadcaster and CBS News special correspondent James Brown, the opening day pregame ceremony will include: * A moment of silence honoring first responders from the Washington...

ATLANTA - To anyone who has watched baseball for the last, oh, century or so, it looked like just about every double play that has been attempted. In the bottom of the seventh inning Monday afternoon at Turner Field, Hector Olivera grounded to third. Anthony Rendon threw to second baseman Daniel Murphy to force out Nick Markakis, who slid into and then through the bag. Murphy's turn and throw to first was way too late to get Olivera. So just a typical 5-4 fielder's choice, right? Not...

Kevin Gausman will pitch a two-inning simulated game Wednesday in Sarasota as he nears a return from the disabled list and his rightful place in the rotation. Gausman received a cortisone injection in his right shoulder on March 20 and has been engaged in a throwing program, expanding the distance on his throws on flat ground. He received good results from a bullpen session on Sunday and will progress to a sim game Wednesday before leaving Florida and making a start Saturday night at Double-A...

When we think of the Baltimore Orioles, we generally imagine a team that scores a lot of runs. Chris Davis, Manny Machado and Adam Jones have hit quite well in recent years, and unless they get hurt, their success should hold steady in 2016. Supporting cast members such as Matt Wieters, Caleb Joseph and Jonathan Schoop have served as reliable depth options. And most importantly, new arrivals Mark Trumbo and Pedro Alvarez should make things even better. Overall, it seems like the team should...

On January 8, Ben Revere's life took one of those turns that you cannot control. He got that phone call informing him he was traded to the Washington Nationals. Revere made one of his first phone calls to Denard Span, who only gave him positive comments about the Nats. Span and Revere were teammates with the Minnesota Twins, and Span was always a person Revere knew he could go to for advice. The Nats would be Revere's third team within a year, as the Philadelphia Phillies traded him to the...

BOWIE - The defending Double-A Eastern League champion Bowie Baysox will open a new season at Prince George's Stadium on Thursday night. Orioles reliever Brian Matusz may pitch during that game for the Baysox. And right-hander Kevin Gausman, who like Matusz is also on the O's disabled list, is slated to start on Saturday night for Bowie, according to manager Gary Kendall. Gausman, who got a cortisone injection on March 20 for shoulder tendinitis, is working his way back to the O's rotation...

ATLANTA - Seven innings of three-hit ball shouldn't be a footnote, but given everything else that happened during the Nationals' wild opening day victory over the Braves, Max Scherzer's impressive start did kind of get lost in the shuffle. Let's give the man his due, though, because he pitched awfully well. Scherzer looked very much like the guy who dominated most of last season, keeping the opposition from stringing together hits and walks, using his deep repertoire of pitches to strike...

ATLANTA - The Nationals had seen Daniel Murphy do this sort of thing to them plenty of times over the years. So when it happened Monday afternoon, when Murphy went 2-for-3 with a homer, two walks and the RBI double that ultimately gave them a 4-3, 10-inning victory on opening day, they relished the fact he's now doing this for their benefit, not detriment. "Psh, quite a debut," shortstop Danny Espinosa said. "What else is there to say? I mean, he's a special hitter, a very smart...