CHICAGO - Here's the line that John Lannan put up during his brief debut for Triple-A Syracuse against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this evening: Two innings, five earned runs, six hits, two walks and one strikeout. Not a great start to the year, and not exactly the type of performance you want to turn in when you're trying to improve your trade value. Jordan Zimmermann, however, delivered a fine first outing of 2012, going seven innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits with no walks...

Nationals left fielder Michael Morse continued on the road to recovery with another outstanding day at the plate Sunday as the Double-A Harrisburg Senators downed the Bowie Baysox, 5-2. Morse smacked a two-run double and finished 1-for-2 with a walk and three RBIs as the designated hitter. He finished with a .375 average over the four games at Bowie. Meanwhile, Rick Ankiel played center field and went 0-for-2 with a run scored and a walk, batting .333 over the series. Morse can return as...

CHICAGO - All spring, we heard Jayson Werth talk about how confident he was feeling at the plate. We heard manager Davey Johnson say he was seeing a major difference in Werth this year, not only during Grapefruit League games, but even during batting practice. Through the season's first three regular season games, the results just haven't been there for the Nationals right fielder. And his stat line doesn't look too pretty. In the three contests at Wrigley Field, Werth went 0-for-10 with...

CHICAGO - Jeff Samardzija pumped his fastball in at up to 98 mph, located a hard, biting slider on the corners and mixed in some quality changeups down in the zone. Making just his sixth career start, the Cubs righty had Nationals hitters guessing all afternoon, and allowed just one run until Adam LaRoche's two-run home run in the ninth inning made it a 4-3 game. By then, it was too late for another comeback, and led by Samardzija, the Cubs snuck out of Wrigley with a one-run win. Davey...

Here are comments from Orioles catcher Matt Wieters and pitching coach Rick Adair on Jason Hammel's near no-hitter today at Camden Yards. Wieters on Hammel's outing: "He threw the ball well. He was able to get a lot of ground balls and use all his offspeed. In spring training, you could tell he had good stuff, but you are always constantly working on things. He did a great job of pitching to his strengths and getting a lot of groundballs. I thought we had a chance today with the stuff he...

CHICAGO - The whole dramatic late-inning comeback stuff was great while it lasted. But the Nationals will need to score more runs, and do so early in games, if they're going to compete this season. Adam LaRoche did his best to get the Nats their third straight come-from-behind win with a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth, but Carlos Marmol closed it out for the Cubs, and Washington's shot at a sweep of the first series of the 2012 season was spoiled by a 4-3 loss. Chicago starter Jeff...

It was quite an Orioles debut for right-hander Jason Hammel. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and wound up with a two-hitter over eight as the Orioles beat Minnesota 3-1 to sweep the series. This was a day where Hammel pretty much had all his pitches going for him. Jason Hammel speaks to the media about his impressive Orioles debut "Honestly, pretty close," he said. "Haven't been much better than that. I could still be better with my command. Two-seamer is something I just...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter spent most of his postgame media session talking about Jason Hammel, and with good reason. We kept asking him about the right-hander, who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in the Orioles' 3-1 victory over the Twins. "That was fun," Showalter said. "I thought he had a shot at it. He was carrying that type of stuff. He had all four pitches going. Not that anybody was thinking about it. "I'm not going to give anybody up, but there were a couple of our...

After the starting pitching the Orioles got the first two days of this series, you had to figure it would be hard for Jason Hammel to top what Jake Arrieta and Tommy Hunter had done. But for the first seven innings this afternoon, the 29-year-old right-hander was nearly perfect. He took a no-hitter on two walks into the eighth before back-to-back doubles by Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham ended his bid for O's history. The Orioles won the game, 3-1 over Minnesota, completing a three-game...

CHICAGO - Jordan Zimmermann has been great through five innings of work. Jeff Samardzija has just been a little bit better. Samardzija, making just his sixth career start, has dominated the Nationals hitters today at Wrigley Field, retiring 15 straight since allowing a leadoff double to Ian Desmond to start the game. The Cubs' starter has struck out four and has been mowing the Nats down with ease. Where's Chad Tracy when you need him? The Nats trail the Cubs 1-0 entering the sixth after...