The Nationals first baseman Michael Morse smacked a solo homer to lead off the top of the second inning, giving Davey Johnson the early lead in his first game as manager for Washington. Morse took the second offering in the at-bat off of Ervin Santana to deep right center field over the wall for his 15th home run of the season. John Lannan got out of a two on jam in the first inning. Nationals lead the Angels1-0 in the second inning.

Starting lineup for the Nationals in Game One against the L.A. Angels at Angels stadium: John Lannan opposes Ervin Santana. The National starting nine: Roger Bernadina CF Jayson Werth RF Ryan Zimmerman 3B Laynce Nix LF Michael Morse 1B Danny Espinosa 2B Wilson Ramos C Matt Stairs DH Ian Desmond SS The Angels lineup: Izturis 2B Aybar SS Abreu DH Wells RF Kendrick LF Trumbo 1B Callaspo 3B Bourjos CF Wilson C

After a good rookie year in 2009, Nolan Reimold just couldn't get his act together in 2010. There's no way to know exactly what happened to Reimold last year, but between his documented personal issues, the fact that he was recovering from surgery on his Achilles tendon and his impressive minor league numbers since being drafted, not many people were writing off Reimold's 2009 as a fluke. Reimold was the odd man out after Vladimir Guerrero was signed, but found his way back to Baltimore on...

Circumstances seem to be falling the Nationals' way this season. Those circumstances usually take the form of injuries to players. Injuries befell every baseball team, every year, and usually it means a tailspin that good teams figure out a way to recover If a team has depth on its roster, the downward spiral can be avoided. This season, the Nationals have found a way to get through injuries that would disrupt most team's rhythm. The Nationals watched as first baseman Adam LaRoche and...

The short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds have gotten their new season off to a terrible start. Since beating Hudson Valley at home on opening night, Aberdeen has lost nine in a row. If Aberdeen loses at home tonight versus Brooklyn, the 10-game losing streak would tie a team record. It took two seasons to do that before, as the 2004 squad lost its last four and the 2005 team began 0-6. Aberdeen has struggled to score with just 29 runs and a .221 team average. Six of the IronBirds nine...

Chad Myers' dream was hatched watching the excitement of Orioles opening day in April reach a fever pitch on social media platforms. "I was looking at my social media stuff and seeing people leaving work early and getting tickets to the sold-out opener and I wondered, 'Why can't we recreate the atmosphere of opening day?' The sellout crowd, the hype, the people getting to their seats early instead of in the second inning - those shouldn't only happen on opening day," Myers said. At...

A reader asked earlier today about the Orioles' rotation for the Cardinals series that begins tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Zach Britton, Chris Jakubauskas and Brian Matusz are the scheduled starters. Jakubauskas will work on normal rest and take Jake Arrieta's turn. Arrieta, as you'll recall, is slated to throw another bullpen session on Wednesday and make Saturday night's start in Atlanta. The Cardinals are batting .276 against right-handers and .247 against left-handers. They're...

Nineteen-year-old Dominican right-hander Wirkin Estevez settled in quite nicely to his second start Thursday for the short-season Single-A Auburn Doubledays. After getting knocked around in his first New York-Penn League start June 18, Estevez was very impressive Thursday against Mahoning Valley, throwing five innings of shutout ball, allowing just one hit and one walk, and striking out five. The 6-foot-1, 170-lb. prospect has his velocity up between 87 to 93 mph on his fastball, and hit 88...

The Morrill family of Yarmouth, Maine, took the usual assortment of souvenirs with them when they headed out of Baltimore on a nine-hour drive home Monday morning. There were t-shirts, Buck Showalter bobbleheads, miniature baseball bats, O's drawstring backpacks, caps - all memories of another fun weekend at Camden Yards, a trip that's become an annual summer excursion for Melissa Morrill and her five kids. But one unexpected package forced a little shuffling of luggage and passengers: the...

Mark Reynolds has been on fire over the last four weeks, hitting .296/.446/.648. He leads the Orioles in home runs, doubles and walks. He trails only J.J. Hardy in on-base percentage and is arguably the best hitter on the team. Despite all of that, Reynolds remains at the bottom of the lineup, hitting ahead of only Robert Andino or Blake Davis and sometimes Felix Pie (who really shouldn't be in the starting lineup, ever, but that's another story). I spent last week in Pittsburgh watching...