We're now four days away from Major League Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline, meaning Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo has been spending a lot of time on his phone lately. Following the Nationals' acquisition of Scott Hairston nearly two weeks ago, Rizzo said that he didn't think the Nats were going to make any "splashy" moves before the deadline. "I still feel the same way," Rizzo said today. That said, Rizzo is still working, trying to tinker with his roster to improve...

Boston's Ryan Dempster faces Scott Feldman of the Orioles in today's middle game of this three-game weekend series. Here are the lineups for today's game: For the Red Sox: Jacoby Ellsbury CF Shane Victorino RF Dustin Pedroia 2B David Ortiz DH Mike Napoli 1B Mike Carp LF Jarrod Saltalamacchia C Stephen Drew SS Jose Iglesias 3B Ryan Dempster RHP For the Orioles: Nate McLouth LF Manny Machado 3B Nick Markakis RF Adam Jones CF Chris Davis 1B Matt Wieters C J.J. Hardy SS Henry Urrutia...

You've heard from Davey Johnson on the Nationals' decision to option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse. You've heard from Tyler Clippard on why he takes issue with how the Nats have managed his good friend and teammate. You've even heard my thoughts on the whole situation. Now let's hear from general manager Mike Rizzo, the one who decided to sign Rafael Soriano to a two-year, $28 million deal this offseason and option Storen yesterday. "We felt that (Storen) was struggling - struggling...

Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty gave some insight on what wants Triple-A Syracuse pitching coach Greg Booker and minor league pitching coordinator Spin Williams to work on with Drew Storen as the right-hander works on several mechanical issues in his attempt to get back to the nationals. Storen was optioned to Syracuse following Friday's doubleheader against the Mets. McCatty spoke with Storen after he received the news and described as a tough, but thorough sitdown. McCatty was asked...

After aggravating his left knee injury in the first game of yesterday's doubleheader, Bryce Harper wasn't in the Nationals lineup for the nightcap, marking the second time he'd been out of the lineup in a four-game span. Harper pinch-hit in the eighth inning of last night's game, however, and he's back in the lineup today as the Nats take on Dillon Gee in the third game of four against the Mets. Gee is 3-0 with a filthy 0.96 ERA against the Nats this season, but that dominance is nothing...

In winning six of eight games this season against the Boston Red Sox, the Orioles' pitching has been a big key. The Red Sox have one of the best offenses in baseball - in fact, they lead all of the major leagues in runs scored - but their runs have been hard to come by this year against Baltimore pitching. Boston has scored just 22 runs in eight games against the O's staff for an average of 2.8 per game. They have averaged 5.2 runs per game in their 96 games against everyone else. The Red...

I was asked a number of times on Twitter last night what my thoughts are on both the Nationals' decision to option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse, as well as Tyler Clippard's critical comments about the way the Nats have managed Storen dating back to this offseason. There's no way I could express those thoughts on Twitter in just 140 characters (that might take a couple of dozen tweets), but I certainly can do so here in a much more in-depth way. So let's dive right in. First of all,...

I guess we can call off the panic for a while coming off the O's series at Kansas City. We can also call off the panic over the offense after Friday's 6-0 win over Boston. Last night they beat a pitcher in John Lackey that ranked eighth in the American League in ERA and was 12-4 in his career against the Orioles. Entering the weekend four games out of first, the O's need to do well this weekend and they got the series off to a great start last night as Chris Tillman pitched a gem for his...

Chris Davis took a called third strike in the eighth inning last night and looked like a man whose head was about to explode. He clearly was no fan of plate umpire Laz Diaz's magical mystery strike zone. Davis sat in the dugout and fumed, his eyes attempting to burn a hole through Diaz and anyone in his path. Then, he stood up and walked down the tunnel, his exit captured by one of MASN's cameras. Maybe he wanted to collect his thoughts. Maybe he wanted to rearrange the bat rack. Davis...

The news of Drew Storen's demotion to Triple-A Syracuse, while not totally shocking, definitely dominated the postgame discussion with manager Davey Johnson and a couple of Nats players, most notably Tyler Clippard. Ryan Zimmerman has played alongside Storen for the last four seasons, and he was asked his take on the reliever being optioned after the game. "I mean, anytime something like that happens, it's tough," Zimmerman said. "We're all teammates in here and friends in here. Drew...