The Nationals have lost five of their last six. Four of those losses have been by one run. It's not like they're getting blown out. They're just not getting the job done in tight ballgames as of late. This afternoon, it was a 3-2 loss to the Marlins that bumped the Nats back below .500 at 25-26. Adam LaRoche crushed a two-run homer into the second deck in right in his second game back off the disabled list and Tanner Roark allowed just three runs over seven strong innings, but the Nats...

A week ago, it was announced that Matt Wieters had received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection to help his recovery for his strained right elbow. Without knowing anything about his particular case, as well as reminding you that he has not yet been scheduled for surgery, I suspected that the team would soon be welcoming another catcher because PRPs tend to be a Hail Mary sort of treatment. The concept behind the PRP treatment is that your blood has a variety of components that assist with...

Chris Tillman won't follow up Miguel Gonzalez's quality start yesterday with one of his own in Milwaukee. Tillman has made it through four innings, three more than his previous outing in Pittsburgh, but he's thrown 79 pitches and the Orioles trail 4-3. The Brewers scored twice in the fourth on Jean Segura's two-run double after Tillman issued back-to-back walks to Khris Davis and Lyle Overbay, raising his total to four. Three of the four batters he's walked have come around to...

The Nationals begin a nine-game home stand with a Memorial Day matinee against the division rival Miami Marlins, and are in the midst of a stretch of 15 of 19 at home. So far, they are just 4-6 in this stretch. The Marlins come into the series in second place in the National League East, three games back of the Braves. The Nationals, despite losing three of their last four games, are 3 1/2 games off the pace. But Miami has struggled on the road. The Marlins are 6-17 on the road, worst on the...

Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy is back in Milwaukee, where he spent the first five seasons of his major league career before being traded to the Twins on Nov. 6, 2009 for Carlos Gomez. He was an All-Star in 2007. Hardy batted .262 with 75 home runs and 265 RBI in 571 games for the Brewers. Hardy is currently on a season-high seven-game hitting streak, batting .464 (13-for-28) with two doubles, four RBIs and three runs scored. He has multi-hit games in five of the seven. After batting .241...

Two starts ago, Chris Tillman pitched a five-hit shutout. In his last start, he failed to get an out in the second inning, giving up six hits, three walks and eight runs (six earned) in one inning plus four batters against Pittsburgh. Tillman could use a good outing today to ease any concerns about his recent performance. In his first three 2014 starts, he pitched to an ERA of 0.84. But since then, he has an ERA of 6.19 in seven starts. In the first and second innings this season, Tillman's...

Nationals second baseman Danny Espinosa has had a difficult May at the plate and is working on adjusting his approach, manager Matt Williams said prior to Monday's series opener against the Marlins at Nationals Park. Espinosa has just four hits in his last 10 games, going 4-for-36 (.111) since May 11. In the month of May, Espinosa has just nine hits for a .127 batting average. He hit .291 in April and his overall batting average to date is now .212. He struck out 20 times in April, and has...

Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is scheduled for another X-ray today to check the progress on his broken right thumb, according to manager Matt Williams. "Doc will take a look at (the X-ray)," Williams said. "Expectation is it will be good. Hopefully, he will get cleared to take baseball activity and get the splint off of there, starting taking some batting practice. ... Been throwing a little bit, he will throw out to 90 (feet) today. That would include grounders. "Then we will...

Nick Hundley is behind the plate today for the Orioles, who begin a three-game series in Milwaukee. Manny Machado remains in the lineup at third base. Steve Pearce is playing first base while Chris Davis remains on paternity leave, and Jonathan Schoop gets another start at second base. For the Orioles Nick Markakis RF Manny Machado 3B Adam Jones CF Nelson Cruz LF Steve Pearce 1B J.J. Hardy SS Nick Hundley C Jonathan Schoop 2B Chris Tillman RHP

Catcher Nick Hundley most likely will make his Orioles debut today in the opener of a three-game series against the Brewers at Miller Park. Hundley is 3-for-7 with two home runs and five RBIs lifetime against Brewers starter Kyle Lohse. Makes sense, right? Chris Tillman will attempt to rebound from his last start, when he failed to record an out in the second inning in Pittsburgh. He's never faced the Brewers. Lyle Overbay is 7-for-17 with three home runs against Tillman. For the...