SARASOTA, Fla. - Zach Britton and Jim Johnson threw their bullpen sessions side-by-side this morning before heading indoors for a team meeting. Both pitchers are progressing as the club had hoped. So far, there haven't been any setbacks. Britton was throwing off a regular mound for the second time this spring. He pushed his pitch count beyond 30 and mixed in his slider and changeup. "I think it was a lot better than the first one," he said. "I felt more comfortable on the mound today. I...

VIERA, Fla. - The call may not come tomorrow, or even in the next week or the next month. But Jordan Zimmermann is sure he'll pick up his cell phone sometime in the near future and punch in Sammy Solis' phone number. When Solis picks up, he'll have a lifeline to someone who's gone through what he's facing. Solis, a promising left-hander, will undergo Tommy John ligament-replacement surgery in Los Angeles on Tuesday, with Dr. Lewis Yucom performing the operation that will rebuild Solis'...

VIERA, Fla. - They just pulled the tarp off the field here at Space Coast Stadium, and the rain appears to be gone for the rest of the day. We're just left with 56-degree temperatures and a strong wind. For those of you up north who are rolling your eyes right now, I'm not complaining, I'm just saying. Stephen Strasburg will take the mound for the Nationals today, but the righty shouldn't have a problem with these conditions. It seems like every time he takes the mound, it's cool and...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Left-hander Zach Britton will throw his bullpen session this morning, a day earlier than he originally expected. "I was feeling good and they had a couple different plans mapped out, depending on how I felt," Britton said. "This probably gets me on a mound for a game a little sooner." Britton will do some light tossing tomorrow and is expected to throw again on Tuesday, either in the bullpen or for batting practice. Meanwhile, Wei-Yin Chen didn't sound discouraged...

VIERA, Fla. - We've survived a gullywasher that blew through Brevard County this morning, and now Space Coast Stadium is being whipped by gusty winds. On my drive from my hotel in Melbourne this morning, I was three blocks from the ballpark when a weather advisory warning of winds in excess of 50 mph interrupted my morning helping of classic rock. How windy is it? Well, while setting up my laptop, I was treated to some theater of the absurd that tested the mettle of the grounds crew. All of a...

VIERA, Fla. - Bryce Harper is the story of Nationals camp to 99 percent of the interested public. But the 19-year-old phenom isn't the story of camp in Davey Johnson's world. Asked a Harper-related question by a national reporter yesterday - far from the first he's had to answer on that topic this spring - Johnson made it clear that he's getting a little tired of all the Harper hype. "Is he on my mind every day? No," Johnson said. "I've known of him and seen him swing the bat for...

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Edwin Jackson said he spent today's outing focusing on his adjusted mechanics which should help him avoid tipping his pitches. Pitching coach Steve McCatty would prefer the righty didn't let those thoughts run through his head while on the mound. "To me, we're not going to make a mechanical issue about anything," McCatty said. "I'm not worried about tipping, nothing. I want him to be athletic, I want him to feel nice and smooth, I want him to feel like everything's...

Top pick Anthony Rendon, a third baseman, is completely healthy and thrilled to be in his first spring training with the Washington Nationals. "It is really exciting," Rendon said. "First game, I want to take a step back and soak it all in. (It is special) looking around at all these guys I watched them on TV the last couple years, and now I am in the same clubhouse." Rendon said his injuries to his shoulder and ankles were more quirky and "freak accidents" than signs of long-term...

SARASOTA, Fla. - The visiting Orioles swept the home Orioles in this two-game intrasquad series, winning today, 3-2, at Ed Smith Stadium. J.J. Hardy hit 30 home runs last season, and he's got one this spring with a bases-empty shot off Armando Galarraga in the first inning. It won't count in the Grapefruit League standings, but we saw it happen. "It's always fun," he said. "I don't even know if I've hit a homer yet in coaches BP, so it kind of caught me off guard." Asked if he's...

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - As much as he wanted to return to the Nationals, Livan Hernandez knew he'd be pitching elsewhere in 2012. That destination, unknown when he had an end-of-season meeting with manager Davey Johnson, wound up being Houston, and the soft-tossing right-hander made his Astros debut by pitching two scoreless innings against his old mates Saturday. The night before he took the mound at Osceola County Stadium, Hernandez said he received playful text messages from the Nationals'...