The Washington Nationals today released their 2012 schedule, which includes 81 home dates, beginning with Washington's 79th home opener since 1901 on Thursday, April 12 vs. Cincinnati and is highlighted by a three-game interleague visit from the New York Yankees and holiday matchups against the San Francisco Giants (Independence Day) and Chicago Cubs (Labor Day). The Nationals begin the 2012 season on the road on Thursday, April 5 at Wrigley Field. The Yankees last visited The District, June...

The Washington Nationals, Major League Baseball and Chevrolet, the official vehicle of Major League Baseball, have announced that shortstop Ian Desmond has been named the Washington Nationals' 2011 nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet. Desmond is one of 30 Club finalists for the annual award, which recognizes a Major League Baseball player who best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field. Today marks the tenth...

The Orioles won't start the 2012 season at Tropicana Field. That's known as breaking news. They're back home for a three-game series against the Twins that begins on April 6 - exactly 20 years after Camden Yards first opened. The Yankees will follow the Twins to Baltimore. As for interleague play, the Phillies will make a weekend trip to Camden Yards on June 8-10, followed by a mid-week visit by the Pirates on June 12-14. The Orioles also will continue their home-and-home series with the...

We're about halfway through September now, which means baseball in Washington is nearing an end for 2011. Things will start to quiet down around the Navy Yard. Patrons' use of the Green Line Metro Station near the ballpark will decline. Street vendors won't be trying to handout hats during the evening hours and no one will be out on Half Street selling cheap water and peanuts. Live music won't wail from the tiny corridor of The Bullpen beer garden. In short: NatsTown will become a ghost...

Jim Johnson now has as many saves in the last week as Kevin Gregg has since the beginning of August. That gives me a great excuse to bring out two of my favorite hobby horses: Despite what many people say (including some allusions by the Orioles themselves), Johnson is perfectly capable of being the team's closer, and signing Gregg was not a good move. Johnson once blew a save (or two), which resulted in some people deciding that he didn't have the mentality of a closer, or something like...

Jonathan Schoop had surfaced on the radar by the end of last season when he was named the Orioles' 10th best prospect by Baseball America. At the end of this season, the 19-year-old Schoop is going to be ranked even higher than that and has to be considered a leading candidate - maybe the top candidate - to be named the Orioles' minor league Player of the Year later this month. Schoop has quickly made a name for himself as a talented and hard-working player that has a great attitude and...

Matt Wieters says the Orioles aren't spoilers. "I don't think we're really playing the spoiler," he said after last night's game. "We're just trying to play as well as we can against teams that are going to the playoffs." Troy Patton says the Orioles enjoy being spoilers. "It's kind of a joke, but we like to be spoilers," he said after last night's game. "We want to do everything we can to beat every team, so if they're in the race, so be it, we want to win every game." So...

Orioles catcher Matt Wieters talked about his home run off Rays reliever J.P. Howell that gave the Orioles a 4-2 victory. "I think it was a changeup," he said. "Jonesy did a good job over at first base distracting to where I thought I was going to get something up because you don't want to throw something in the dirt and let the go-ahead run get to second base. So I was able to just get a changeup up in the zone and just tried to get a swing on it." Matt Wieters joins Jim and Rick to...

Manager Buck Showalter talked about Alfredo Simon, Matt Wieters and the satisfaction of a dramatic 4-2 win over the Rays. "I said before the game, in order to have a chance at (David) Price, you've got to match a similar outing because you know runs are going to be at a premium. I thought that's what Alfredo did," Showalter said. "Still, you're looking for that consistency out of him. You see an outing like that, then you see some with the command not being there. He got a lot of outs, a...

To thank all of its loyal social media followers and those who have participated in its text-messaging alerts during the 2011 baseball season, MASN will reward Orioles and Nationals fans all weekend long during games from Sept. 16-18. The Orioles host the Los Angeles Angels that weekend, while the Nationals entertain the Florida Marlins. During those series, MASN will sponsor a variety of pregame and in-game events, utilizing popular social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, along...