Monday's 3-2 setback to the Cardinals was the Nationals' second straight loss and seventh in their last 10 games. But shortstop Ian Desmond saw something in the tough defeat, which he believes the team can use to build on for their next game. "We played a much better game," Desmond said. "This was one of our better games of the year. We played good. That one ball just drops in. We are close. That was a good sign." Desmond was up in a critical situation with men on second and third base...

Pete Kozma, the Cardinals' shortstop who delivered a knockout blow to the Nationals in Game 5 of their Division Series in October, returned to a chorus of booing Monday night at Nationals Park. Afterward, he said getting booed was a first. Given what he did against the Nationals last season, including a key two-run single in the Cardinals' 9-7 comeback win in Game 5 of the NLDS, Kozma is becoming to D.C. baseball fans what another shortstop, Bucky Dent, is to the Red Sox. The light-hitting...

After pitching a total of 14 innings over his first three starts, Chris Tillman needed to start getting deeper into games and he did that tonight in the Orioles' 2-1 win over Toronto. Tillman didn't get a decision, but gave his team a strong start, allowing just four hits and one run over 6 2/3 innings to lower his ERA from 7.07 to 5.23. "He had all of his pitches working," catcher Matt Wieters said. "He had four pitches he could throw for strikes. We really didn't even break out the...

As Davey Johnson sat down in front of reporters for his postgame press conference tonight, he let out a deep sigh. The Nationals are now 10-9 on the season after tonight's 3-2 loss to the Cardinals. They're treading water at the moment, searching for signs that they're making progress and on the way to snapping out of this funk to open the 2013 season. Dan Haren failed to retire a batter in the sixth inning for the fourth straight start but, compared to his previous three outings, tonight...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter didn't wait for reporters to fire off questions tonight before commenting on pitcher Chris Tillman, who held the Toronto Blue Jays to one run over 6 2/3 innings. "Tillman was good, huh?" Showalter said after the Orioles' 2-1 victory at Camden Yards. "That was an impressive outing. To have that kind of command of the curveball and off-speed pitches on a night where the feeling in your fingers, ball's slick. That was pretty impressive. I'm proud of...

There was something eerie watching Drew Storen work a perfect eighth inning against the Cardinals last night. More uncanny is the similarity of Ryan Zimmerman going on the DL on both April 20, 2012 and April 21, 2013. Zimmerman was hitting a lusty .224 with a single home run and seven RBIs last year and fast forward to Sunday, and Zimmerman is hitting .226 with a single homer. Last year, Bryce Harper was summoned just a week later. He was well ahead of schedule and started slow. But he caught...

Yesterday, the Orioles sent Jake Arrieta to Triple-A Norfolk after his disappointing start against the Dodgers. Personally, I'm optimistic about Arrieta, as he's a hard-throwing righty who has movement on his pitches and has shown dominance at times when he commands his pitches. The Orioles believe he has the stuff to help them down the road and think his emotions are what affects his mechanics. For now, the O's will replace Arrieta with relief pitcher Alex Burnett. They'll need to add...

There's another walk-off win for the Orioles. Nick Markakis looped an 0-2 pitch from Aaron Loup safely into left field with the bases loaded and two outs in the last of the ninth as the Orioles beat Toronto 2-1 in front of 11,168 chilled fans at Camden Yards. The lefty Loup came on in the ninth and hit Chris Davis with the inning's first pitch. An intentional walk issued to Nolan Reimold and a two-out error by shortstop Munenori Kawasaki kept the inning alive, and the O's made the Jays pay...

We're tied tonight and Chris Tillman won't get a decision. It sure looked like he was barreling toward a win. Tillman allowed three of his four hits in the seventh inning, and Colby Rasmus' two-out single with the count full scored Edwin Encarnacion and erased the Orioles' 1-0 lead. Darren O'Day replaced Tillman and walked Brett Lawrie to load the bases again. Emilio Bonifacio struck out to keep the game tied. The Orioles still don't have a starter who's gone seven innings this...

We saw two sides of Dan Haren tonight. For most of his first five innings of work, we got the sharp, effective Haren. That Haren has good control, works quickly and shows impressive movement with his sinker and offspeed stuff. Haren looked especially good in his first two innings, as well as the fourth, where he was able to work around a couple hits and let his defenders put in work behind him. In the sixth inning, we saw the other Haren - the one that was on the mound through the veteran...