Making his second rehab appearance for Triple-A Syracuse last night, Henry Rodriguez walked two batters but worked a scoreless ninth inning in the Chiefs' win over Pawtucket. This comes after Rodriguez delivered a scoreless frame for Syracuse on Tuesday, but tossed a pitch to the backstop. The control issues will need to get worked out at some point before Rodriguez works meaningful, high-leverage innings for the Nationals again. The righty landed on the DL on June 7 with a strained right...

The Orioles are listing Jason Hammel, Wei-Yin Chen and Jake Arrieta as the starters for the three-game series against the Nationals that begins tonight at Camden Yards - just in case there were any doubts about the alignment. According to Elias, if Hammel and Chen win this weekend, they would become the first Orioles duo to record eight wins each by June 23 since 1997: Jimmy Key (11), Scott Erickson (10) and Mike Mussina (eight). You remember what happened in '97. The Orioles are 9-3 at...

The Orioles return home to Camden Yards tonight after a 2-4 road trip, looking for some wins and some runs. They scored just 12 runs total during the trip to Atlanta and New York. Now their next five games are against a Washington team leading the majors in team ERA and a Los Angeles club that ranks first in the American League in team ERA. To put the Orioles' road trip offensive struggles into perspective, they scored 12 runs in one game the last time they played at home against Pittsburgh....

The Nationals have to feel good about taking two of three games form the Tampa Bay Rays this week. Tuesday night's pine tar dust-up aside, the Nats can take pride in bouncing back from a tough series against the Yankees and beating a very good team. If the Nationals could look into a mirror and see themselves in a few years, they might look just like the Rays, but with red jerseys instead of blue. In fact, as an organization, the Rays are everything the Nats want to be. From 2005 to 2007,...

Check out this quote from Danny Espinosa last night when asked about how manager Davey Johnson has stuck by him this season despite his lengthy slump. "I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't have stuck with me that long," Espinosa said, "so it feels awesome to know that Davey's got my back." Yet another reason why guys love playing for Davey Johnson. Espinosa's numbers from the left side of the plate haven't really improved all that much recently. His batting average has jumped only...

Can the Orioles' Chris Davis become the first player to hit the B&O Warehouse with a home run during game action? That's the question I've been asking myself since Davis hit a broken-bat homer June 13 against the Pirates. The display of strength by a power-hitting lefty has had me pondering the possibilities ever since. My prediction, equal parts bold and foolish, is that Davis will become the first batter to hit the Warehouse. Oriole Park at Camden Yards has been open for 20 years. There...

Danny Espinosa isn't going to lie. When the Rays intentionally walked Adam LaRoche to get to the Nats second baseman with two outs in the sixth inning, he took it as a bit of a smack in the face. "I definitely take it personally in the sense that I want to get 'em," Espinosa said. "I want to make 'em pay for what they're doing. I definitely don't gear up and try to do anything that I can't do. Just try to have a good at-bat and get a good pitch to hit." He sure did, ripping a 1-1...

The quiet assassins, that is what they are. Sean Burnett and Tyler Clippard. This is their fourth season together in the same bullpen. That experience with the Nationals, side by side in the bullpen, is now paying dividends. There is something about how they go about their business - quietly, smoothly and efficiently - that shortens every game they pitch in. They seem to play off each other, and the rest of the staff - even the starters - feed off that inner drive. The pair combined to...

Jason Hammel gets another chance tonight to strengthen his case for inclusion on the American League's All-Star team. That's not his priority, of course. He won't be standing on the mound wondering if each baserunner allowed has ruined his chances. But he deserves serious consideration with a 7-2 record, 2.87 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 81 2/3 innings. Hammel has lost once since April 30 and is coming off his dazzling one-hit shutout in Atlanta, the second time in his last three starts that...

After the top of the sixth inning, Davey Johnson walked up to Gio Gonzalez and told him he was done for the night. The Nationals' starter wasn't thrilled with that decision. "Gio worked up a big anger on me," Johnson said with a smile. "And once we got the runs to go ahead, he forgave me." The Rays had tied things up at 2-2 in the top of the sixth. But the Nationals immediately responded, scoring two runs in the bottom half of the frame on Danny Espinosa's two-out double, which served...