ATLANTA - You can pass a share of the blame a number of different ways for last night's 2-1 Nationals loss to the Braves, if you're the blaming type. You can blame the Nationals hitters for scratching out just five hits and going 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. You can blame Ian Desmond, Roger Bernadina and Danny Espinosa for failing to get the go-ahead run across despite having runners at second and third with none out against Craig Kimbrel in the top of the ninth. You can blame...

Right-hander Nathan Karns gets his second major league start for the Nationals today in Atlanta. After yesterday's excruciating 2-1, 10-inning setback against the Braves, a solid outing and a win are huge to the psyche of a banged-up team. His opening start was solid, as he went 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs. He kept his team in the game and the Nats eventually won. Really, that is all he needs to do today. But, of course, he would like more than that. Nationals pitching coach Steve...

ATLANTA - The description of Stephen Strasburg's injury that Davey Johnson provided earlier today was a little vague, so we got an update on Strasburg's condition following tonight's game from Nationals head trainer Lee Kuntz. Kuntz clarified that an MRI earlier today revealed that Strasburg has a Grade 1 strain to his right lat, down low, near where the muscle meets the oblique. According to Kuntz, the injury is not actually to Strasburg's oblique, which was the initial diagnosis. As...

ATLANTA - Still wearing the baggy throwback Negro League jersey he and the Nationals donned during tonight's game, Davey Johnson looked like a man who was running out of answers while meeting with reporters after tonight's 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Braves. With the game tied in the top of the ninth inning, Johnson's Nats put two runners in scoring position with none out against Braves All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel. Ian Desmond, Roger Bernadina and Danny Espinosa were then retired in...

The Detroit Tigers have scored 15 runs and hit seven homers this weekend in Baltimore. Kevin Gausman has pitched to an ERA of 11.00 over his first two big league starts. If it is going to get better for the Orioles' 2012 first-round draft pick starting today, the kid will have to go through one of the best lineups in the American League this afternoon at Camden Yards. Gausman remains upbeat and confident in what he can do on a big league mound, even if he's had two rocky outings to start...

Kevin Gausman will attempt today to win his first major league game and avoid becoming the second consecutive Orioles starter to be ejected. I'm confident that he will achieve the second goal. I mean, what are the odds of it happening twice in two days? If the ball keeps slipping out of his hand, as it did yesterday with Jason Hammel, he may want to play it safe and switch to an underhand delivery. Maybe just roll the ball to the plate. Don't take any chances. Hammel had the full support...

ATLANTA - It's not often you can get to put up a crooked number on Craig Kimbrel. The flame-throwing Braves closer has a career 1.54 ERA and makes some of the best hitters in baseball look like children in the batter's box. The Nats had a chance to take the lead off Kimbrel in the top of the ninth tonight, however, but they failed to cash in, and it's still 1-1 as we go to the 10th inning. Ryan Zimmerman led off the top of the ninth with a broken-bat bloop single to center off Kimbrel,...

ATLANTA - Two of the National League East's top starters are duking it out here at Turner Field tonight, as Gio Gonzalez and Tim Hudson have both allowed just a single run and two hits through five innings. The Nationals and Braves are knotted 1-1 as we go to the top of the sixth. Gonzalez has five strikeouts to Hudson's two thus far, but Hudson has needed just 72 pitches to get to this point, while Gonzalez has thrown 81 pitches through his five frames. The Braves got on the board first...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter and shortstop J.J. Hardy used the same logic and arguments to defend starter Jason Hammel, who earned his first career ejection today in the fourth inning after surrendering three consecutive home runs and hitting Matt Tuiasosopo with the next pitch. The ball kept slipping out of Hammel's hand today, especially when he tried to throw his slider. And if you're going to drill a batter on purpose, you do it with a fastball to make the intent perfectly...

Jason Hammel was ejected from a game for the first time in the big leagues today. He didn't think he should have been tossed after he hit Detroit's Matt Tuiasosopo one pitch after yielding three straight homers in the top of the fourth inning. "I'm not going to make a big deal of - I hit him with a slider. Zero intent there to hit him," Hammel said. "Obviously I gave up the three home runs, but I'm not the guy that answers getting hit around with hitting somebody. That is bush league...