Lew Ford gets the start at designated hitter tonight, as manager Buck Showalter breaks out the first of his three right-handed lineups for this series. Left fielder Nate McLouth drops to seventh in the order, with Adam Jones moving from cleanup to third. Also, the Orioles won't add pitcher Joe Saunders to the 25-man roster until Tuesday. No roster move today. For the Orioles: Nick Markakis RF J.J. Hardy SS Adam Jones CF Matt Wieters C Lew Ford DH Mark Reynolds 1B Nate McLouth LF Manny...

John Lannan is starting to heat up at the right time. The expected replacement for Stephen Strasburg in the Nationals rotation (once Strasburg is shut down) was named the International League Player of the Week for August 20-26. Lannan, who has spent nearly this entire season with Triple-A Syracuse, threw a complete-game, three-hit shutout Saturday in a 1-0 win over Gwinnett. The left-hander threw just 87 pitches, walked one and struck out two. Over his last four starts for Syracuse, Lannan...

With the Orioles on the road lsat week, I took the opportunity to visit one of my favorite places, and one of the jewels of our home region: the Delmarva shore. For the record, the seashore is one of the few places on earth that rivals a ballpark for my attention. There's nothing like braving the surf during the day, and then quite literally sittin' on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away as you watch Orioles baseball outdoors at dockside restaurants. During my time at the shore,...

The month of August - and July before it - have been the two best months in the history of the Nationals franchise. The Nationals have a winning record for every month of this season. But so far they are a combined 33-18 for these past two months, even after the weekend disaster in Philadelphia. In 2005, there was the magical month of June when the team went 20-6. But what followed - a 9-18 July - was misery. It is important to remember the history of the franchise in order to gain some...

One reason for the Nationals' four-game losing streak is the bullpen's inability to hold the game at one or two runs. In every one of the four games the Nationals have lost since Wednesday, relievers have allowed at least one run. On Thursday, the Braves scored three runs in the ninth to extend a 2-1 lead to 5-1. Atlanta won the game by that score. On Friday, the Phillies tallied a crucial run in the eighth after the Nats had pulled with 3-2 on a Tyler Moore two-run homer just an inning...

If it's not too painful, let's take a little time to nibble on some leftovers from this weekend's three-game sweep in Philadelphia. Settle in. Grab some coffee. There are a few topics to discuss. Topic No. 1: Mike Rizzo and Davey Johnson met after yesterday's game and Johnson was heard getting a bit heated during the discussion in his office, shouting, "You come down and manage the team!" Yes, this happened. Is this a big deal? Is it a sign of the team morale deteriorating or an...

Yesterday qualified as a strange day at Camden Yards. The heavy lifting took place before the scheduled first pitch, with Matt Lindstrom being traded to the Diamondbacks for Joe Saunders, and Jake Arrieta being called up from Triple-A Norfolk. Lindstrom met with the media outside the clubhouse. Manager Buck Showalter met with the media in the auxiliary clubhouse. Executive vice president Dan Duquette met with the media in the back of the press box. We never saw Arrieta, who wasn't supposed...

Gary Kendall, the manager of the Double-A Bowie Baysox, can remember the exact date. It was June 6 and his team had lost to Portland to fall to a season-worst 11 games under .500 at 23-34. At that point, Kendall, on a suggestion from pitcher Kyler Newby, called a team meeting. "I really didn't think we had any kind of identity, even though I thought there was a lot of talent on the field. We had a meeting in Portland and it was just about owning up to this. It was just a talk about pulling...

PHILADELPHIA - Both Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche took full responsibility for their share of the baserunning error in the seventh inning of today's 4-1 loss to the Phillies, an error which turned a promising Nationals rally into just a one-run inning. The veterans both thought LaRoche's fly ball to right had left the yard and let up on the gas, Werth casually jogging into third base and LaRoche making a turn around second and heading for third. The logjam that resulted allowed the Phillies...

PHILADELPHIA - Davey Johnson didn't hold a team meeting following today's 4-1 loss to the Phillies, the Nationals' fourth straight defeat. With his team still holding the best record in baseball, Johnson didn't feel it was necessary. He did, however, have a closed-door discussion with general manager Mike Rizzo following the game which got heated at one point. Some shouting could be heard from Johnson's office, although that's not necessarily anything out of the ordinary. Emotions can...