HOUSTON - Here's Adam LaRoche's average slash line in March/April for his career: .223/.318/.400/ Here's Adam LaRoche's slash line through 25 games in March/April this season: .312/.413/.495. LaRoche is traditionally a slow starter. That's no secret to anyone who has followed the Nationals the last few seasons. That only makes the way that LaRoche has started the 2014 season that much more impressive. After going 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs in last night's win over the Astros,...

HOUSTON - Two ridiculous defensive plays were made by Nationals outfielders tonight. One of them resulted in an out. The other only temporarily held one runner from scoring, but was still just baffling. Denard Span's basket catch while falling to the ground on the hill in center and Kevin Frandsen's blind backhanded pick of a ball off the scoreboard in left are the two plays I'm describing. And those plays were blowing up social media during tonight's game. Your browser does not support...

HOUSTON - Another comeback win. That makes eight on the season. Ho, hum. The Nationals trailed 3-2 heading to the eighth inning tonight, but they came back on the Astros with a couple of rallies, both times leading to Adam LaRoche RBI knocks. His double off the wall in left-center scored Jayson Werth (who got a great read on the play) from first and LaRoche then gave the Nats the lead in the ninth with a run-scoring single to center, bringing in Denard Span (who had reached on a leadoff walk...

The Orioles have a game scheduled for tonight. Mother Nature has more rain scheduled for tonight. She's probably going to win. Another rainout would probably leave us with a doubleheader on Thursday. And to answer three of the most popular questions: 1. Your ticket for Wednesday's game isn't going to allow you to also watch the second game unless you don't mind sitting on someone's lap. They also have a ticket for that seat. 2. If you were supposed to receive the giveaway T-shirt on...

Each time Kevin Gausman pitches and comes out of the game mid-game. the question follows from some fans: How come Gausman only threw 75 pitches? In his first five starts this year for Triple-A Norfolk, Gausman has thrown 4 2/3 innings and then four, three, five and 4 2/3 innings. He is 0-1 with an ERA of 2.53. Over 21 1/3 innings, he has allowed 21 hits with 11 walks and 20 strikeouts. Lefty batters are hitting .256 against him, while right-handed batters are hitting .278. Opponents are just...

Well, that didn't take long. Three batters into Tuesday's series opener, Jayson Werth crushed his fourth homer of the year, a two-out shot to left, to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead in Houston. Werth, serving as the Nats' designated hitter tonight, has tremendous success in his limited time filling that role. In six career appearances as a DH, Werth is now batting .417 (5-for-12) with two homers and five RBIs. His latest blast has given the Nats the early upper hand at Minute Maid...

Bryce Harper underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb, and Nationals manager Matt Williams received his first chance to address it before his team's series opener at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Williams isn't sure exactly when Harper will be back, but had only positive news to report about the procedure. "It's hard to tell how much time (he'll miss), but it was successful, doctor reporting that everything went fine and we got a little message from Bryce...

Reliever Ryan Mattheus is back with the Nationals for the first time since the club left Viera, Fla., in March. The Nats called up Mattheus and sent starting pitcher Taylor Jordan to Triple-A Syracuse. Mattheus found out last Thursday that he would be returning to the Nats after he was ejected from a game. Mattheus threw one pitch against Indianapolis in the eighth inning. The ejection came one night after Syracuse and Indianapolis exchanged bean balls with one another. "It caught me a...

The Orioles today announced that they have signed infielder/outfielder Steve Pearce to a major league contract. Pearce, 31, went 1-for-7 in three games with the Orioles earlier this season. He was designated for assignment on April 22 and released on April 27.

The Orioles never posted their lineup today, knowing rain likely would force a postponement as they attempted to re-sign Steve Pearce before activating Manny Machado from the disabled list. Lots of moving parts and balls in the air, as manager Buck Showalter likes to say. Machado eventually will be starting at third base. The weather just needs to cooperate. Will Machado's presence in the lineup provide a spark for a team that lost first baseman Chris Davis to an oblique strain and scored...