As a starting pitcher, when you have a season-high strikeout total and allow just four hits, you have a good chance of winning a game. Unfortunately for the Nationals, Saturday night was not one of those games. Nationals starter Dan Haren struck out 10 batters, but two of the four hits he allowed were back-to-back-homers in the second inning that set the tone for the Phillies. Haren did manage to keep his team in the game. The Nationals were able to come back and tie the game, 3-3, but...

Miguel Gonzalez takes the mound today at Rogers Centre in Toronto, his second start since coming off the disabled list. The Orioles would settle for a repeat of the first, when he limited the Yankees to two runs over seven innings, with no walks and five strikeouts. Gonzalez is 2-1 with a 4.37 ERA in four career games (three starts) against the Blue Jays, with four walks and 14 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings. He faced them April 23 and allowed three runs and five hits in six innings. Adam Lind...

The 2013 Orioles are suddenly bashing and mashing baseballs. The Orioles have become homer happy. If those homers lead to wins, that makes their fans happy. In the last few days, they have been. The Orioles have won four of the last five games, hitting 15 homers in that stretch. Over their last 12 games, they have hit 26 homers with nine games of two or more homers. The Orioles are on a pace to hit 225 homers for the season. Last year's Birds bashed a few, 214 to be exact, which was second...

Davey Johnson acknowledges that he often pulls his starters a little earlier than he should, for any number of reasons. Tonight, Dan Haren got the early hook and, in a 3-3 game, it's fair to question Johnson's decision. Haren had thrown just 88 pitches on the night, surrendered four hits and struck out 10 over six strong innings. His velocity was still holding steady, his offspeed stuff was crisp and his location - outside of the two pitches that were smacked for solo home runs in the...

It's been a strange first two innings for Dan Haren tonight. With the exception of two pitches, Haren has been absolutely dominant thus far. He's struck out five through two innings, using all his pitches effectively. He struck out four Phillies in a row at one point, using a different pitch to put away each hitter. Haren got Freddy Galvis with a curveball, Michael Young with a cutter, Ryan Howard with a splitter and Michael Young with a four-seam fastball. But, those two...

With the return of Sammy Solis last Tuesday, focus continues on another pair of talented prospects rehabbing in Florida: left-hander Matt Purke and right-hander Lucas Giolito. Purke, a third round selection in 2011, is closer to returning from left shoulder surgery. Doug Harris, the Nationals' director of player development, watched Purke throw last week in Florida at the extended spring training facility. "(Purke) is a tick behind Sammy (Solis)," said Harris, in regards to the...

Hoping to change the Nationals' offensive mojo, Davey Johnson opted to stop shaving recently, leaving the Nats' skipper with a short gray beard. The Nats responded by putting up five runs in a win over the Phillies last night. Johnson had planned to shave after the hits and runs started coming, but his players convinced him to leave the whiskers for the time being. Johnson obliged. "My wife said I could keep it one more day," Johnson said with a smile. "I was ready for a breakout again...

With an injury to Danny Espinosa and the bench depleted, the Nationals selected the contract of second baseman Jeff Kobernus from Triple-A Syracuse Saturday, and he arrived in D.C. to see his locker adorned with home white jersey No. 26. It had been a pretty exciting 24 hours already for Kobernus, especially the moment where he got to share the news with his parents, Jeff and Margie. "Yeah, I called my dad first and then my mom," Kobernus said. "My dad, he was crying, which was kind of one...

Ross Detwiler's bullpen session this afternoon was pretty similar to the left-hander's standard mound work in between starts, except he threw a little bit harder than normal and he had a few more pairs of eyes watching him than he would under most circumstances. Reporters gazed out from the press box high atop Nationals Park this afternoon as Detwiler toed the rubber in the Nats' bullpen to get in a throwing session under the watchful eye of pitching coach Steve McCatty. There wasn't much...

For the fourth time this season, the Orioles faced a pitcher that won a Cy Young Award in 2012. They are now 4-0 in those games after producing a 6-5 win over R.A. Dickey and the Toronto Blue Jays. Dickey gave up nine hits and six runs over 6 2/3. He falls to 4-6 on the year with an ERA of 4.85, and Toronto is 4-7 in his 11 starts. In four starts against the Orioles this season, Dickey and Tampa Bay's David Price have pitched to a combined 6.20 ERA, allowing 30 hits and 17 earned runs over...