It is just one game, but it did happen. Dan Haren got rocked and Zach Duke did not fare much better. Depth is critical for each major league team, especially pitching depth, if you expect to make a deep run into October. Last season, the Nationals allowed double-digit runs only two times in their first 156 games. The 15 runs allowed Friday night at Great American Ballpark were the most given up by Washington in a shutout since 2000. The most runs the Nationals allowed in any one game all of...

The good thing about the Nationals having a 1:10 p.m. first pitch today is that last night's 15-0 drubbing at the hands of the Reds is quickly pushed into the background. No need to stew on that one through the afternoon. The Nats will get back out there in just a few hours and will start fresh. There's one change to manager Davey Johnson's lineup outside of the normal catcher swap and Ross Detwiler being inserted into the pitcher's spot for the first time this season. Adam LaRoche will...

It's probably safe to assume that Dan Haren's Nationals debut didn't go quite as he'd planned. Yeah, I'd say that's a fair assumption. Haren got hit all over the Great American Ballpark last night, allowing nine hits and six runs in just four innings of work. He surrendered four home runs, this from a guy who had allowed just 1.1 homers per nine innings over the course of his previous 10 years in the majors. This performance comes after a spring in which Haren pitched to a 6.39 ERA in...

With 16 RBIs in four games, Chris Davis seemed like the appropriate person to also drive me in today, Alas, he wasn't willing to carpool. While replaying the eighth inning in my head, I kept coming back to the perfect sacrifice bunt from Manny Machado that led to the intentional walk to Nick Markakis, which led to Adam Jones' RBI single, which led to Davis' grand slam, which led to a four-run lead. Nolan Reimold and Nate McLouth singled with no outs and the Orioles down 5-4. Machado...

So remind me again. Is the Orioles first baseman's name Chris, Crush or Crash Davis? Call him what you want, but just don't call Chris Davis late to get into the batter's box. Davis has set a major league record for most RBIs in the first four games of a season with 16, crushing (pun intended) the previous mark of 12. He has tied three others to hold the major league record for homering in each of his team's first four games. No player in big league history has homered in the first five...

Dan Haren got smacked around, allowing four longballs and six runs overall in just four innings in his Nationals debut. Zach Duke, Henry Rodriguez and Ryan Mattheus combined to give up nine runs in relief. The Nats put up just five hits and were shut out by a trio of Reds pitchers. Kurt Suzuki and Ian Desmond both committed fielding errors. Pretty much nothing went right for Davey Johnson's boys in tonight's 15-0 loss to the Reds. In fact, this is the most lopsided loss in the Nationals'...

Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts will fly home to Sarasota on Sunday to begin his recovery and rehab after an MRI this morning revealed a ruptured tendon behind his right knee. Manager Buck Showalter regarded the findings as "actually good news." "Considering that's the same tendon area they take out of your leg for Tommy John, which tells you some doctors think it's not a part of your body you necessarily have to have in that area," Showalter said. "We're hopeful in a three- to...

It is starting to get to the point where Orioles players are having a hard time coming up with adjectives describing what Chris Davis is doing right now. But Matt Wieters admits that the players were thinking homer just like the fans were when Davis came up in the eighth today in a 5-5 tie. "I think everybody was thinking it the way he has been swinging the bat lately," Wieters said. "He's been doing some damage and he's not missing his pitch right now. We're going to try and keep him...

The Nationals are in an unfamiliar position: They're actually trailing for the first time this season. Back-to-back home runs by Todd Frazier and Zack Cozart off Dan Haren in the second inning have given the Reds a 2-0 lead and put the Nats in a hole. Haren had struck out two straight hitters prior to the homers, getting Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce swinging. But within two pitches, he trailed by two. Frazier teed off on the first pitch he saw, a 90 mph fastball, sending it to the second...

As Adam Jones watched Minnesota reliever Casey Fien issue an intentional walk to Nick Markakis in the bottom of the eighth inning today, he turned toward the visiting dugout and smiled at Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. Gardenhire smiled back at him. "I love the dude, I love his competitiveness," Jones said. "He's a great manager. And he always smiles at me." Jones got the last laugh, grounding a bases-loaded single into left field to tie the score at 5-5. Tyler Robertson replaced Fien,...