Today, the Washington Nationals and first baseman Josh Bell announced the start of Josh Bell's Book Club, a monthly book club for adults focused on self-improvement. Each month throughout the 2021 season, Josh will lead an hour-long, virtual discussion about a book that he has selected to feature in the club. Josh has purposefully chosen books for the club that offer concepts, mindsets, and inspiration for being and becoming better people, reflected in the tagline for the program: "Books....

To suggest the Nationals' season to date has been anything but a disappointment would be inaccurate and a far too rosy view of the situation. Between injuries, pitching blowups, struggling regulars and some really ugly games, there have been a lot of negative developments already in the last 2 1/2 weeks. And yet, when you consider all that has befallen this team in such a short amount of time, and the stiff competition it has faced through the season's first 16 games, it's not unreasonable...

So the Orioles have played about 11 percent of the 2021 season. That is a sample, but a small one. Can we make any judgments from that? We can, but you run the risk of being wrong. Well, that's never stopped us before. At 8-10, the Orioles are playing .444 baseball. That is better than their .417 win percentage from last year when they were 25-35. A team playing at a win percentage of .444 for a full season would go 72-90. That is probably better than many projected. And maybe better than...

Max Scherzer still has it, thank you very much. And the Nationals bullpen still has some intestinal fortitude, in case you were wondering. On a cold, windy late afternoon in which their offense asked them to make one early run hold up, Scherzer and three Nats relievers did just that, eking out a 1-0 victory over the Cardinals by the skin of their teeth to capture their second series in a week from St. Louis. "We'd like to win by more," Scherzer said on Zoom afterward. "But hey, sometimes...

The Orioles closed out their road trip yesterday with the bullpen tossing 3 1/3 scoreless innings. One inherited runner crossed the plate in a 3-0 loss to the Marlins. Relievers began the day with a 3.55 ERA that ranked sixth in the American League and eighth in the majors. Opponents were batting .228. They left Miami with the ERA down to 3.38. Cole Sulser was responsible for the inherited runner scoring on Adam Duvall's two-out single, but he hasn't allowed a run of his own in 4 1/3 innings...

Orioles catcher Pedro Severino and manager Brandon Hyde gave rookie pitcher Bruce Zimmermann the same encouraging, and perhaps consoling, pat on the backside today - in rapid succession as if rehearsed - after he handed over the baseball and turned toward the dugout. Zimmermann sat on the bench expressionless in the fifth inning, staring straight ahead, as captured by the MASN cameras. He could have been thinking about the elevated fastball that Jesús Aguilar lined into left-center field for...

If you are a starting pitcher and your team has not scored you any runs, your margin for error is not minimal, it's zero. One mistake could cost you. That happened today to Baltimorean Bruce Zimmermann. The left-hander was twirling a shutout in a 0-0 tie at Miami when one pitch that got drilled into the gap led to a three-run inning and the Marlins went on to beat the Orioles. Another attempt to get back to .500 came up short as the Orioles fell 3-0. They went 3-2 on this road trip and come...

Juan Soto can't pinpoint any precise moment when he thinks he hurt his left shoulder. It just started bothering him in recent days, especially when throwing, so he let the Nationals training staff know and they had him undergo an MRI on Tuesday morning. Little could the 22-year-old slugger have imagined he'd wind up on the 10-day injured list several hours later with a diagnosed shoulder strain. Since that moment, Soto has tried not to stress over this development and instead think about the...

After everything that's happened in the last 48 hours, would you believe the Nationals have a chance today to win their season series against the Cardinals? Yep, they enter this afternoon's finale at Nationals Park with a 3-2 record against St. Louis over the last week, and a win in this one would wrap it up. At worst, they'll split the six-game season series. (Side note: How ridiculous is it that these teams are done playing each other for the regular season on April 21?) Max Scherzer gets...

The Orioles placed outfielder Anthony Santander on the 10-day injured list this morning with a sprained left ankle and recalled rookie Ryan McKenna from the alternate training site. McKenna never left the team after yesterday's option. He's back on the active roster and in right field today in Miami after Santander injured the ankle last night while going back to first base on a pickoff attempt. X-rays and a later MRI were negative, with no fracture in the ankle. But Hyde said this type of...