There haven't been many innings that Dan Haren has completed this season in which he's held a lead. Four innings, to be precise. Haren trails again after three innings here tonight after allowing a two-run double to Allen Craig in the third. Denard Span nearly made a remarkable grab of Craig's deep fly ball to the wall in left-center, leaping at the fence and making a stab at the ball. The Nationals' center fielder got his glove on it but couldn't squeeze the third out, and the ball...

Chris Tillman retired the first four Toronto Blue Jays tonight, gave up a single a walk, and induced a double play grounder from Colby Rasmus. The third inning was a breeze - and trust me, it's breezy tonight. And bitter cold. Tillman retired the Blue Jayas in order on two fly balls and a pop up. He's thrown 35 pitches, 22 for strikes. Tillman has gone 3 2/3, 5 1/3 and five innings in his first three starts. Alex Burnett is the long man tonight if he makes an early exit. Blue Jays starter...

The Cardinals are back in D.C. for the first time since they rolled out of here with a dramatic series win over the Nationals in the National League Division Series last October, and while Nats players have put that loss behind them and know this is a new season, they admit it'd be nice to get a little payback over the next three days. "Are we going to make it a bigger deal than what it is? No," Danny Espinosa said. "Would it be nice to beat them? Yeah." Said Adam LaRoche: "I don't...

Throughout this season, the amount of innings, or at times, the lack of innings, Orioles starters are pitching right now has been an issue. Here is a look at the average innings per start by each team in the AL East: 6.24 - Tampa Bay 6.13 - Boston 6.00 - New York 5.54 - Orioles 5.40 - Toronto How they rank in starting pitchers' ERA: 2.53 - Boston, first in AL 3.44 - New York, fifth in AL 3.77 - Tampa Bay, sixth in AL 4.97 - Orioles, 10th in AL 5.61 - Toronto, 13th in AL How many times O's...

Nationals' top prospect Anthony Rendon is excited to make his home debut tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals. The former Rice star was eager to get back on the field after his first game in New York on Sunday. Rendon went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and made a catch error at third base. Today, he returns to the starting lineup, batting sixth and at third base. "It was good," Rendon said. "Good to get the first one out of the way. I don't think you can do any worse. You can't go...

The vast majority of today's pregame media session with manager Buck Showalter, which lasted more than 16 minutes, was devoted to today's roster move. Jake Arrieta down, Alex Burnett up. Here is a sampling of Showalter's comments: "He's obviously got to stay down there 10 days unless there's an injury and we've got him pitching on his normal day down there. I can't sit here and tell you that anything that's necessarily going to go on down there physically is going to be a big...

A little more than six months after Drew Storen allowed four runs to the Cardinals in the ninth inning in Game 5 of the National League Division Series, he might be called upon for another save opportunity against St. Louis. Rafael Soriano is not with the Nationals today after leaving to be with his wife in New York for the birth of the couple's second child, a boy. As a result, Storen would get the ninth inning if the Nats get a save opportunity. "We've been kind of planning this day for...

There are plenty of people rooting for Jake Arrieta to perform better consistently at the big league level, including those who have worked the most and closest with him. Like Orioles pitching coach Rick Adair. What does he want Arrieta to accomplish when he joins Triple-A Norfolk after being optioned to the minors today? "I don't think there is any one thing," Adair said this afternoon. "Just get to the point where he can get out there like he did in the third yesterday and do damage...

Orioles pitcher Jake Arrieta emerged from a closed-door meeting with manager Buck Showalter this afternoon and headed to the video room to watch more tape of himself. The work continues. The process of turning him into a consistent major league pitcher continues. Arrieta said he understood why the Orioles optioned him today to Triple-A Norfolk. "I wasn't doing my job well enough. That's the bottom line," he said. "The team needs me. They need me to be better. That's the bottom line,...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter just completed his pregame media session, and I'll post his comments later this afternoon. In the meantime, Showalter stressed that Jake Arrieta was sent down today only because the Orioles needed a long reliever for the next few days after using Tommy Hunter and T.J. McFarland for multiple innings the past two games. Otherwise, Arrieta would still be on the 25-man roster. Showalter said he's convinced that Arrieta is a guy who could help the Orioles make the...