There is an old saying in baseball about building teams with defense up the middle and power at the corners. Anyone watching the Washington Nationals can see that they have built a team full of capable defenders. The Nationals' infield is the best in the game, getting not just defense up the middle and power at the corners, but receiving power up the middle and defense at the corners. While Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche offer Gold Glove play on a nightly basis, the real added strength of the...

Don't worry, the Orioles didn't really hit four more homers while you slept, you just dreamed that. Looking back now on a day that the Yankees, A's, Rays and Angels all won, it was a pretty good idea for the Orioles to break out on offense and get their own win. That was quite a statement by the Orioles last night and, for now, they may have at least temporarily calmed a somewhat nervous fan base. Here are some other notes/stats on a wild night: * The Orioles had hit a total of six homers...

PHILADELPHIA - The Nationals' players and the bulk of their coaching staff will spend the morning and early afternoon resting up from last night's exciting 8-4 win over the Phillies and gearing up for tonight's series finale. One guy will have a slightly busier day on his hands. Nats third base coach Bo Porter will be named the new Astros manager in a press conference late this morning. Porter will be likely (or should I say, likely already has been) flown out to Houston to meet with the...

The Orioles have six games remaining in the regular season, and I still haven't figured them out. They had lost three of their last four games before destroying the Blue Jays last night. The offense was sluggish before they erupted for seven home runs in a 12-2 victory. The rotation had become a major concern before Miguel Gonzalez turned in his third consecutive quality start. Manager Buck Showalter has provided extra rest for Gonzalez, going to great extremes, but the right-hander was...

PHILADELPHIA - In the vast majority of John Lannan's seven career starts at Citizens Bank Park prior to tonight, he'd gotten into trouble and had a hard time working his way clear of it. That wasn't the case tonight. Lannan went 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits, and improved to 4-0 on the season in the process. "I've always come in and always thought I've pitched well (in Philadelphia), but some stuff didn't go my way," Lannan said. "But tonight, I told myself I wasn't...

PHILADELPHIA - The momentum had completely swung in the Phillies' favor. They had cut the Nationals' lead from five all the way down to one after eight innings. Despite only being about half-full by the time the top of the ninth rolled around, Citizens Bank Park was starting to rock again. Then, as Jayson Werth stepped to the plate to a chorus of boos, he delivered a monster base hit to center, scoring two runs and all but putting the game out of reach. The Nats went on to win 8-4, cutting...

Jim Thome said after seeing Carlos Villanueva throw him change-ups and curveballs in his first at-bat, he was waiting on a change-up in the fifth inning. He got one and didn't miss it, homering on the first pitch to tie the game 2-2. It touched off a run of three homers that inning and three more in the game for a final tally of seven to tie the O's club record in the 12-2 win over Toronto. The Orioles broke out on offense big time tonight. "It was big," Thome said. "Especially the way...

The Orioles remain 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the American League East after tonight's 12-2 romp over the Blue Jays at Camden Yards. Manager Buck Showalter wrote out two lineups before the game because he was unsure whether shortstop J.J. Hardy could play with a sore finger on his throwing hand. "J.J.'s battling through a lot of things right now that most people would be sitting on the bench with," Showalter said. "I had two lineups up until about 6:30 tonight. Last thing he told...

With three big swings of the bat in the bottom of the fifth tonight, the Orioles got their offense started, took a big step toward a big win and gave a nervous fan base a reason to relax for a bit. They had several more big swings after that and hit seven homers on the night to tie the club record. The Orioles hit seven on Aug. 26, 1985 against the Angels and on May 19, 1967 versus Boston. One night after not scoring any runs, the O's bashed seven homers in a 12-2 romp over the Blue...

PHILADELPHIA - What was a 5-0 lead after the top of the second inning has become a tight ballgame as we go to the eighth. Nothing's been easy for the Nationals this season, has it? The Nats' lead is down to two, as the Phillies have chipped into the Washington advantage with single runs in the third, fourth and seventh innings. Jimmy Rollins' solo homer off Ryan Mattheus made it 5-3, but it's the Nationals' inability to do anything off the Philadelphia bullpen which has let the home...