PHILADELPHIA - The Nationals will go for the sweep of the Phillies tonight when Edwin Jackson opposes Cole Hamels, but even before tonight's game, Washington has already locked up another series win, its 10th of the season. Of those 10 series wins, six have come on the road. How much better is this Nats team on the road than the 2011 version? Last season, the Nats didn't earn their sixth road series win until Sept. 12-14 when they swept the Mets. With last night's win, the Nats matched...

As opposed to your nightly one. We have a 12:35 p.m. start here. Xavier Avery reached on an infield hit to lead off the bottom of the first inning. Red Sox pitcher Daniel Bard fielded the ball on the right side of the mound and made an off-balance throw that skipped past first baseman Kevin Youkilis. He had no shot at the speedy rookie. Avery advanced to second on Robert Andino's single, tagged and took third on Nick Markakis' fly ball to left field, and tagged again and scored on Chris...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter confirmed this morning that left-hander Zach Britton will make his first injury-rehab start Saturday at Double-A Bowie. Britton will stay with the Baysox and pitch again May 31 at Akron. The Orioles could choose to keep Britton on his rehab assignment or activate him from the disabled list. That decision is pending. Let's see how he gets through those starts. Jason Hammel remains confident that he'll make Friday night's start against the Royals at Camden...

A win today would give the Orioles their fourth consecutive series win against the Red Sox. The last time the Orioles won four straight series against Boston was April 27-Aug. 21, 1960, when they won six in a row. The Orioles have already won three straight series against the Red Sox for the first time since Sept. 17, 1990-June 30, 1991. The Orioles are 21-1 when their rotation gives them a quality start. The only defeat came April 30 at New York, when Jason Hammel lost 2-1. Since July 29,...

The argument can be made that Tuesday night's 5-2 conquest of the division rival Philadelphia Phillies, solidified by a two-RBI triple off the bat of Bryce Harper, was one of the most enjoyable for Nationals fans so far this season. The Nationals have beaten the Phillies six straight time, the first time in a 43-year franchise history that the Expos/Nationals have done so. The same argument can be made for Washington's 9-3 win on Sunday versus the regional rival Baltimore Orioles in which...

Brian Roberts is a great Oriole. This much is beyond dispute. Great on the field, obviously, but as importantly, he's been a great presence on the team. Excepting the one obvious blemish on his record (and we don't need to go deep into that, right?) he's basically been a model player. Good in the community, by all accounts good in the clubhouse and seemingly just a good guy. Can't ask for much more than that. The great lament of his career is that he spent his prime on some of the worst...

Brian Matusz's comeback from last year's 1-9 season and 10.69 ERA picked up more steam last night when the left-hander gave up just two hits and one run with one walk and nine strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings in a 4-1 win over Boston. Some fans probably doubted Matusz when he began this year 0-3 with an ERA of 7.98 over his first three outings. But since then, over his past six starts, he is 4-1 with an ERA of 3.57. Believe it or not, since those poor first three starts, Matusz leads Orioles...

PHILADELPHIA - Cole Hamels will take the hill for the Phillies in the series finale against the Nationals later tonight. I'm pretty sure if Hamels hits anyone this time, he'll remember to say the pitch just got away from him. Just a hunch. We all know about Bryce Harper's immense skill and the intensity with which he plays the game. Those are aspects the phenom brings to the table which can't be ignored. But last night, Harper showed us a less-talked-about part of his overall repertoire...

The Orioles and Red Sox conclude their three-game series at Camden Yards with a 12:35 p.m. start, so the lineup will be coming to you a lot earlier than usual in the middle of the week. Jake Arrieta is back on the hill and looking to reacquire his taste for home cooking. He's 1-3 with a 6.44 ERA in five starts at Camden Yards this season, the only win coming on opening day. He's also 0-2 with a 5.51 ERA in three career starts against Boston. The Orioles finally get a day off Thursday before...

PHILADELPHIA - Roy Halladay had gone 11-0 in his last 13 starts against the Nationals/Expos prior to tonight. Jordan Zimmermann entered tonight 0-3 in four career outings against the Phillies. Those scripts got flipped. Davey Johnson likes the line he got from Zimmermann tonight - six innings, seven hits, one run, two walks and two strikeouts - but he doesn't like how much of an effort it took the righty to get there. Zimmermann needed 98 pitches to get through five innings and he finished...