Center fielder Denard Span (back spasms) took another step toward finally returning to the Nationals with an outside batting practice session Wednesday, plus defensive drills, as his team prepared for Game 3 against the Diamondbacks. "Felt pretty good the first couple of rounds," Span said. "By the third round, I got a little bit gassed. A lot of that is just conditioning. But felt good to be out there for the first time hitting. I've been hitting in the cage for the last three days, but...

Billy Butler continues to torment Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen. Jonathan Schoop continues to swing a hot bat against everyone. Butler led off the bottom of the second inning today with a double down the right field line. He's now 9-for-20 lifetime against Chen, with three doubles, a triple and two home runs. Schoop led off the top of the third with a double and scored on Nolan Reimold's single. Schoop has nine hits in his last 15 at-bats over five games. Reimold was 5-for-31 vs....

Danny Espinosa has made just one start since Anthony Rendon returned from the disabled list July 25. Tonight, Espinosa gets the nod at shortstop, with Ian Desmond receiving a night off. Espinosa has slashed .249/.320/.411 with 10 homers this season while showing stellar defense at five different positions. However, Espinosa's production at the plate dropped off significantly at the plate over the past month, like many in the Nats lineup. The 28-year-old is 16-for-73 (.219) since July...

Since 1999 the Orioles have had a winning record in their season series at Oakland just three times. Most of those years involved just one series, but most of those years the Orioles lost that series. But they did go 2-1 at Oakland in 2002, 2-1 in 2007 and 3-1 in 2013. They will go 2-1 this year if they get a win this afternoon at Oakland. In Monday's win, the Orioles scored nine runs with 14 hits including four doubles and two homers and went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position. In last...

Doris Kearns Goodwin. This historian/writer loves history and she loves baseball. If there is such a thing as a sweet read, this is it. Goodwin departs from her award-winning series of historical writings to take us back to a different time in baseball. The players were neighbors in the community. They held offseason jobs where fans interacted with them daily. Players stayed put. They spent careers with one club and one city (or borough in this case). When a player was traded, it was a big...

Doris Kearns Goodwin. This historian/writer loves history and she loves baseball. If there is such a thing as a sweet read, this is it. Goodwin departs from her award-winning series of historical writings to take us back to a different time in baseball. The players were neighbors in the community. They held offseason jobs where fans interacted with them daily. Players stayed put. They spent careers with one club and one city (or borough in this case). When a player was traded, it was a big...

Nolan Reimold is in left field today and Gerardo Parra is in right as the Orioles conclude their three-game series in Oakland. The Orioles rank fourth in the American League with a .568 (21-16) winning percentage in day games this season. They're 20-15 in the last game of a series. Center fielder Adam Jones ranks seventh in the majors and fifth in the American League with a .363 (45-for-124) average in day games. Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen has surrendered two runs or fewer in five of his last...

In building back into full strength since breaking his wrist, Nationals left fielder Jayson Werth has been able to see a ton of pitches each at-bat by staying patient and making the pitcher show his entire repertoire. Tuesday he dove into first base to try to break up a potential double play in his first at-bat. The RBI fielder's choice helped score the last of three runs, and the Nationals had an early advantage over the Diamondbacks. In the third inning, he worked reliever Josh Collmenter...

From the time they arrived from Montreal before the 2005 season, the Nationals have been a mainstay in the Washington, D.C., sports scene. But the Nats are also very active in the community, working diligently over the past decade to touch the lives of many in the region and proving that baseball has a further reach than wins and losses, balls and strikes, batters and pitchers. Each Thursday through mid-August, MASNsports.com's Byron Kerr will explore the Nationals' community outreach...

As the Nationals celebrate 10 seasons in Washington, D.C., we reflect on some of the best moments since the franchise moved to the nation's capital. Each Wednesday through mid-August, check out Nationals Pastime for a remembrance of one of the watershed moments in Nationals history. When Stephen Strasburg took the mound for the first time in a Nationals uniform on June 8, 2010, Sports Illustrated called it "the most hyped pitching performance the game has ever seen." On a Tuesday night, two...