FLUSHING, N.Y. - Wilson Ramos will get his first day off of the season, as manager Davey Johnson has written Jesus Flores into his lineup today. Flores will catch Edwin Jackson in the righty's first start with the Nationals. Jackson will oppose the 3-0 (yeah, who would've thunk it?) Mets. Here are your lineups for tonight's game: Nationals SS Ian Desmond 2B Danny Espinosa 3B Ryan Zimmerman 1B Adam LaRoche RF Jayson Werth LF Mark DeRosa CF Roger Bernadina C Jesus Flores P Edwin...

For the Orioles: Nolan Reimold LF J.J. Hardy SS Nick Markakis RF Adam Jones CF Matt Wieters C Mark Reynolds 3B Wilson Betemit DH Chris Davis 1B Robert Andino 2B Brian Matusz LHP

Maybe it should come as no surprise that Tyler Townsend is hitting well again. The Orioles' third-round pick in 2009 out of Florida International is off to a fast start in his debut season in the Double-A Eastern League. After going 0-for-3 in Thursday's opener, Townsend is 5-for-11 over Bowie's last three games with three homers and six RBIs. At this very early stage, he leads or is tied for the league lead in homers, RBIs, slugging and total bases. His OPS is 1.438. "I am seeing the...

The Washington Nationals and Union Square Events will unveil several delicious new menu items from Blue Smoke, Box Frites and El Verano Taquería during the Nationals home opener on Thursday, April 12 at the Miller Lite Scoreboard Walk. These new offerings will join a winning array of dishes from Union Square Events, the event services business of Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group. Nationals fans can choose from a wide variety of new offerings, including: * Buffalo and BLT...

NEW YORK - Hello from Queens, where it's a breezy but warm 58 degrees. We've been incredibly lucky with the weather so far this season, in two cities where warmth and sunshine is not always found in early April. And I just jinxed it. For whatever reason, the first the first seven innings of all three games in Chicago were not kind to the Nationals. Davey Johnson's boys just couldn't get into a groove during the early and middle frames, and trailed each of their first three games entering...

Three tense and tightly contested games yielded two road wins for the Nationals in Chicago, thanks to surprising late-inning magic. Call them the "Comeback Kids," the "Cardiac Kids" or whatever you will, but the Nationals scored nine times in the last two innings during the three-game set in the Windy City. The late heroics produced both wins and they almost pulled off a third Sunday for what would have been a sweep. Keeping Kerry Wood out of Sunday's game may have been the difference...

I don't even remember a winning season. Ever since I became a fan of the Orioles and of baseball in general, I have watched the team play to a sub-.500 record. The last time they had a winning season, it was 1997, and I was much too young to process or remember it. However, the game is so much more than wins and losses. While obviously I will be completely enthralled when the team makes it into a pennant race, I still am just as loyal today as I will be when that day comes. And to be an...

CHICAGO - Before I take off on my super-early flight from the Windy City to the City That Never Sleeps, I wanted to kick off a feature that I hope to post every Monday morning during the season called Clubhouse Cliff Notes. Since it would be both impossible and completely unnecessary to post every single quote I get from players in my pregame, in-game and postgame entries, I figured this would be a way for me to pass along some of the best soundbites from the last week that have fallen through...

For the first time since he gave up six runs against the Detroit Tigers last Sept. 25, Brian Matusz will take a major league mound tonight, in a game that counts, to begin to try and finally erase, once and for all, the memory of his terrible 2011 season. Matusz put in some hard work during the offseason after going 1-9 with an ERA of 10.69 in 12 big league starts last season. He gave up six runs or more in seven of his last eight starts then. His ERA in September was 19.13. But after a...

The last time that the Yankees and Red Sox started out 0-3 was 1966. Anyone know how the Orioles finished that year? I'm not ordering my playoff tickets quite yet. The Orioles were 3-0 last season. They also were 6-1. Fast starts aren't a novelty. The issue has been sustaining that momentum. I know they beat up on the Twins, who did everything well over the weekend except pitch, hit and field, but don't ruin the moment. I've said the same thing in previous years. Why overthink it when...