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...

The Nationals hope to build off yesterday's win in Pittsburgh now that they're back home, and they'll send Tanner Roark to the mound in this afternoon's Memorial Day contest. The Nats welcome the Marlins to town, who are handing the ball to righty Nathan Eovaldi. For the MarlinsLF Christian Yelich2B Derek Dietrich RF Giancarlo Stanton 3B Casey McGehee 1B Garrett Jones C Jarrod Saltalamacchia CF Pablo Ozuna SS Adeiny Hechavarria RHP Nathan Eovaldi For the Nats CF Denard Span 3B Anthony...

One of the big questions the Orioles will have this offseason is what to do with right fielder Nick Markakis. As many are aware, the 30-year-old has a mutual option in his contract which expires at year's end. The six-year deal worth more than $66 million was signed before the 2009 season when Andy MacPhail was the team's president of baseball operations. The team can decline its end of the option and pay a $2 million buyout at the end of the season or pick up the option of $17.5 million. The...

He doesn't dominate. He doesn't strike out a lot of hitters. He doesn't have a blazing fastball and he certainly doesn't get much attention. But Miguel Gonzalez gave the Orioles yet another solid and workmanlike effort Sunday and picked up another win for the orange and black. I keep contending that Gonzalez is an underrated pitcher, but find that many readers here don't agree with me. When the topic of potential rotation reinforcements comes up, Gonzalez is often suggested as the pitcher...