The Nationals return to the comforts of their home ballpark tonight after a long 3-7 road trip over the past 11 days. They battled top flight pitching throughout the journey beginning with the likes Francisco Liriano and Gerrit Cole in Pittsburgh and finishing off with hot-shot young arms Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard in New York. Despite Anthony Rendon, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman rejoining the team on the trip after long stints on the DL, the offense continues to sputter,...

Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs shortstop Trea Turner is ranked as the No. 9 overall prospect in the mid-season Baseball America updated list. Turner has played 34 games with the Chiefs after playing 68 games in Double-A, 10 of those with the Harrisburg Senators. Syracuse Chiefs play-by-play broadcaster Kevin Brown joined me Sunday on "Nats Insider" on 106.7 The Fan and quoted a familiar refrain when discussing Turner's abilities. "Trea has been so much fun to watch," Brown said. "Nationals fans...

FLUSHING, N.Y. - After a disastrous weekend in New York, the Nationals find themselves deadlocked atop the division and in a dogfight with the Mets for the remaining two months of the season. The finale unraveled in a flash for Jordan Zimmermann. The Mets unloaded with three homers off the right-hander in the third inning as New York went on to sweep the Nationals with a 5-2 win. To make matters worse, all the damage came with two outs against Zimmermann. Curtis Granderson started the assault,...

In an Orioles bullpen that features two All-Stars, he can get overlooked. But right-hander Brad Brach is having another solid season for the Orioles, giving them another late-inning weapon. Brach is 4-2 with an ERA of 2.72 and a .211 batting average against. He has not been scored on over his last 11 games, covering 15 innings. It is the second longest scoreless run of his career, behind a 12-game stretch from July 31-Aug. 28, 2014. "I would actually like my fastball command to be a little...

The Orioles can't avoid it any longer. The dreaded West Coast trip is upon them. Three cities and nine games in 10 days. It's always a grind, no matter how the opponents are playing. A travel day would have been nice, but the folks making out the schedule aren't doing the Orioles any favors. They boarded a flight last night for Oakland and begin a three-game series tonight. The Orioles were 2-4 against the Athletics last season, going 1-2 in both ballparks. They were outscored...

Manager: Chip Hale (1st season) Record: 50-53 Last 10 games: 7-3 Who to watch: 1B Paul Goldschmidt (.342/.458/.592 with 22 HR, 77 RBIs), CF A.J. Pollock (.305/.361/.465 with 11 HR, 45 RBIs), LF David Peralta (.281/.351/.493 with 9 HR, 48 RBIs), RHP Rubby De La Rosa (8-5, 4.59 ERA), RHP Brad Ziegler (18 saves, 1.18 ERA) Season series vs. Nationals: 1-2 Pitching probables: Aug. 3: RHP Zack Godley vs. RHP Doug Fister, 7:05 p.m., MASN Aug. 4: LHP Patrick Corbin vs. RHP Max Scherzer, 7:05 p.m., MASN...

Baseball fans love the thrill of the trade deadline as players move from one team to another, sometimes in head-spinning fashion. One guy whose head may still be spinning from the flurry of deadline deals is former National Michael Morse, who was a member of three different teams, and went from East Coast to West Coast and then back east again, in a span of 48 hours. Here's how it all went down: Morse, who played for the Nationals from 2009-2012, started this season with the Miami Marlins....

It'd be insane for anyone to claim that the fate of a contending team relies on one player over the next two months, and that's especially the case if that player only takes the field every five days, but I can't help but shake the feeling that Kevin Gausman is of the utmost importance to the Orioles down the stretch. That may be a lot of pressure to put on a 24-year-old, who only has 31 career starts under his belt, but being inserted into the rotation on a full-time basis right now carries...

FLUSHING, N.Y. - Anthony Rendon wasted no time giving the Nationals offense a much-needed early spark. Rendon drilled a 98-mph heater from Mets starter Noah Syndergaard to straightaway center for a solo homer with one-out in the first. The umpires initially ruled that the ball stayed in the park, but after a brief crew chief review, the call was overturned and Rendon was awarded his first home run of the season. Update: Jordan Zimmermann breezed through the first two innings before issuing a...

FLUSHING, N.Y. - With 60 games left in the season, the Nationals hold a slim one-game lead over the Mets in the National League East heading into tonight's series finale. Washington has been on the wrong side of two narrowly contested one-run ballgames the last two days in playoff-type atmospheres. "I think it's great," said Jayson Werth after the second-largest crowd in Citi Field history showed up Saturday night. "It's been a long time since we've come to play the Mets and they've had...