In desperate search of some more offense, Davey Johnson has inserted Steve Lombardozzi into today's Nationals lineup and moved Jayson Werth into the cleanup spot. Lombardozzi, who is off to a really strong start to 2013, batting .345 in 29 at-bats, will play third base and hit second in the new-look Nats batting order. Werth will hit fourth, with Adam LaRoche moving down to fifth in the lineup. Danny Espinosa, batting .155 on the season, remains in the lineup, batting seventh. Rookie...

Zach Britton is still listed as tonight's starter for Triple-A Norfolk. If he isn't a late scratch, he won't be starting for the Orioles on Monday. Update: Zach Clark (UMBC) is now listed as Norfolk's starter tonight instead of Britton. Feel free to speculate. The assumption here is that Britton will be in the Orioles' bullpen the next few nights and will start Monday if he isn't used in relief for an extended stretch. Update II: Britton is definitely in Oakland and he will take Josh...

On Sunday, Jake Arrieta started on the mound for the Orioles. One would have thought after a successful spring training, he would finally figure it out after several seasons in the majors. From the looks of things, he still may not have. After his performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Arrieta was again optioned to Triple-A Norfolk for seemingly the umpteenth time in the last couple of seasons. Sitting in the stands Sunday, I wondered how a guy who looks like your prototypical power...

Following Tuesday night's loss to the Cardinals, a defeat which was, at the time, the Nationals' third in a row and eighth in 11 games, a handful of Nats players sat around in the clubhouse and vented. It was pretty late at the time. Media members and most players and coaches had left. But Jayson Werth and a few of his teammates stuck around, letting their frustrations out and bouncing ideas off each other. "Just airing grievances," Werth said. "Just talking out, just complaining really,...

When I looked at a particular Manny Machado stat, I had to do a double take. But there it was staring back at me on my computer screen. When he is hitting with runners in scoring position and two outs this year, Machado is batting .750. He is 6-for-8. But he doesn't just deliver clutch singles in those spots. He has a double, a triple and two homers along with 11 RBIs. That is good for an OPS of 2.653. Turns out this kid is pretty good. Wonder how good he'll be after he turns 21? In the...

Three weeks into the 2013 season and the Nationals are struggling to get their 2012 groove back. Fact is, though, it's only April and there are months of baseball still to be played. The biggest factor haunting the Nats in present day is high expectations associated with coming off a successful run last year. "We've been pressing," outfielder Jayson Werth told MASNsports.com's Dan Kolko. "We've been trying to do too much. That's a common side effect. It's just one of those things....

The Orioles woke up this morning in Oakland while I woke up in Sykesville. I'm having separation anxiety. I'm completely detached from the Orioles for the first time since Feb. 11. We're on a break. They're going to face a right-hander tonight, Jarrod Parker, who's 0-3 with a 7.50 ERA. Without seeing the lineup, I'm fairly confident that Nate McLouth will return to left field and the leadoff spot. McLouth is 2-for-3 with a home run against Parker, but his career stats don't matter....

In his first at-bat of this afternoon's game, Ian Desmond bunted for a base hit and then stole second base, even after he was picked off by Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia. "Just trying to get something going," Desmond said. "A little spark here or there. You never know. Anything can turn into a snowball." In Desmond's final at-bat of the game, when he represented the tying run in the eighth inning, Desmond swung through three Trevor Rosenthal fastballs, with each swing bigger than the...

Stephen Strasburg tried not to do it, but he still did. He was trying again to be too perfect. He was being too fine around the plate. He told himself not to pitch that way. But it still happened. In the first inning, the Cardinals were able to put five of their first six batters on. They scored three runs on three hits. It ended up being the difference in a Cardinals' 4-2 win over the Nationals. But after the first inning, Strasburg really settled in. He allowed only two hits the rest of...

Another Nationals loss, another postgame press conference with a frustrated Davey Johnson. The Nats fell 4-2 this afternoon, wrapping up a three-game sweep at the hands of the Cardinals and pushing the Nationals below .500 for the first time since the last day of the 2011 season. Johnson made some minor lineup changes for today's game and said we should expect more of the same tomorrow. Steve Lombardozzi will start tomorrow night, Johnson said, and it sounds like Lombardozzi will likely play...