The Nationals left the bases loaded in the second. No matter. Bryce Harper got them on the board an inning later. Harper crushed the first pitch from Reds right-hander Mike Leake, an 87 mph cutter on the inner half, out to right for a two-run homer. The ball got out of the Great American Ballpark in the blink of an eye. It's Harper's third home run of the season. He's accounted for 60 percent of the Nationals' longballs so far this season. The Nats now have a 2-0 lead midway through...

Orioles minor league pitcher Daniel McCutchen, who gained attention this spring for an adjustment to his delivery, has been suspended 50 games without pay for his violation of the Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. According to a press release from Major League Baseball, McCutchen tested positive for performance-enhancing substances Methenolone and a metabolite of Trenbolone. His suspension is effective immediately. McCutchen, who is currently on the roster of Triple-A Norfolk, allowed...

The Double-A Bowie Baysox had quite a night of offense Friday at Harrisburg. The Baysox recorded 20 hits in a 15-7 win over Harrisburg to improve to 1-1. Lew Ford is 4-for-9 through two games with three doubles and a homer. He has an OPS of 1.556. After going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the season opener, Xavier Avery went 5-for-7 with two RBIs to tie the club record for hits in a game. Earlier this week I posted this story on Avery. The Baysox already have 12 doubles, which is twice as...

Steve Johnson threw 35 pitches yesterday in a bullpen session in Sarasota without any discomfort related to his strained right latissimus dorsi muscle. Johnson, on the 15-day disabled list, will pitch live batting practice on Monday. Assuming the session goes well, he could begin an injury-rehab assignment with one of the Orioles' minor league affiliates. The Orioles are hoping that he will be ready to pitch in real games within the next week to 10 days. Johnson is on the major league...

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'...