Nationals vs. Padres: Chad Tracy hits pinch homer in 10th inning to salvage a win for Washington

SAN DIEGO — The thing about pinch hitting is, it only takes one swing. One minute, Chad Tracy can be sitting in the Washington Nationals dugout, a bystander as victory nears. The next, he may be running to the end of the tunnel for two emergency warmup hacks. One night, he may be staying up in bed wondering when the next hit will come. The next, he could pump his fist while circling the bases, h

Justin Verlander vs. Yu Darvish isn't only top pitching matchup to fall short of hype

Attention was drawn to Arlington, Tex., on Thursday night for a duel between two of the best pitchers in the world, the Tigers' Justin Verlander and the Rangers' Yu Darvish. The matchup fizzled quickly, as Verlander was lifted with two outs in the third inning. Darvish was touched up early but ended up working deep into the game while racking up 130 pitches. Read full article >>

Photo recap: Glen Burnie defeats Chesapeake in Maryland 4A East final

_Editor's note: This is part of a new feature, in which we publish reader-submitted photos from games around the area. Do you have a great camera, and eye for a good photo and an interest in seeing your photos published here? E-mail matt.mcfarland@washpost.com._ Read full article >>

Preakness Stakes: Is the Triple Crown schedule too compressed?

No trainer has won more Triple Crown races than D. Wayne Lukas, the Hall of Famer with the white cowboy hat, crackling wit and weather-beaten skin. But when it comes to the Triple Crown schedule, there’s nothing hidebound about the opinions of the 77-year-old Lukas, whose horses have claimed the Kentucky Derby four times, the Preakness Stakes five times and the Belmont Stakes four. Read full ar

Indiana's Victor Oladipo: 'I'm just abnormal'

By the time Indiana junior and former DeMatha standout Victor Oladipo arrived at the Harrison Street Athletics Facility in Chicago for the NBA draft combine, scouts and talent evaluators had known so much about the first team all-American that the only real question was his actual height. Oladipo measured in at 6 feet 4 in shoes but he disputed the results. Read full article >>

Adam LaRoche is heating up

Adam LaRoche traffics in stillness. He stands in the batter's box with the intensity of a shopper browsing tabloids in the checkout line. He possesses an abiding passion for hunting, a main requirement of which is not moving for hours. His voice does not rise loud enough to be heard above a ceiling fan. Read full article >>

Nationals vs. Padres: Stephen Strasburg goes career-best eight innings to beat San Diego

SAN DIEGO —Stephen Strasburg reached something resembling a crossroads Thursday night, a game that felt more substantial than a typical mid-May start. He climbed the mound at Petco Park after four days of pointed questions about his mental strength. His Washington Nationals had lost two straight. Strasburg pitched for the first time in his hometown, not far from West Hills High and San Diego Sta

Nationals-Padres discussion thread: Game 42

At first pitch, the Braves were clinging to a two-run lead in a back-and-forth game against the Dodgers in Atlanta. The Nationals entered the day trailing the reeling Braves by only a half game in the NL East. It's possible they can pull ahead, but more likely they'll be trying to keep pace. Read full article >>

Ross Detwiler to miss at least one start with slight oblique strain

Ross Detwiler will miss at least one start with a slight oblique strain, a diagnosis the Nationals discovered after he underwent a second MRI exam this afternoon. The severity of Detwiler's injury, Manager Davey Johnson said, will determine who takes his place in the Nationals rotation and where his replacement comes from. Read full article >>

Tonight's Nationals-Padres lineups

The Nationals tonight will send two-time all-star Gio Gonzalez against rookie Burch Smith, who is making the second start of his career. In his first, six days ago, Smith allowed six earned runs in one inning. The Nationals, in other words, will have to overcome your classic reverse lock. Read full article >>

The Washington Nationals may have found their weak spot. It’s called the offense

Last year when the Nationals had injuries to regulars or slumps by key hitters, they found ways to compensate with poised rookies, bench players or inspired contributions until offensive reinforcements arrived to save the day. Read full article >>

Three strikes and you’re average in today’s ballgame

When Rafael Soriano took the mound to begin the ninth inning of the Washington Nationals’ game on May 8, in stepped Austin Jackson of the Detroit Tigers. At that point, the Nationals clung to a two-run lead. The Tigers needed base runners, and Jackson, over his career, reaches base better than one in three times he comes to the plate — a reasonable chance to start a rally. Read full article >>

Ryan Zimmerman's Night At The Park fundraiser coming next week

This seems like as good a time as any to offer a reminder that Ryan Zimmerman's annual "A Night At The Park" event will take place Thursday at Nationals Park, less than a week away. Zimmerman and his charity, ziMS Foundation, have hosted the concert and live auction for the past three years his contract contains a clause that gives Zimmerman use of the stadium one night a year for the fundraiser

Redskins sign second-round cornerback David Amerson

The Washington Redskins on Friday afternoon announced that they have signed second-round pick David Amerson to his rookie contract.Taken 51st overall out of N.C. State, the cornerback was Washington's first pick of the 2013 draft. Read full article >>

Maryland baseball releases intense promo video

Local video production company 522 Productions spent three days with the Maryland baseball team and produced this two-minute short, aimed to create a brand for the up-and-coming program around the hashtag #AreYouReady. Consider it the College Park version of TCU's baseball series, featuring "The Grind," "Quiet Confidence" and this year's "The Journey." Read full article >>

For runner infected with HIV as a baby, half-marathon is quite a challenge

The athletic career of Nina Martinez began just nine short weeks ago, when the 29-year-old made a decision to begin training for Sunday’s Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon in Fredericksburg. The closest she has ever been to an athlete was in her own imagination two decades ago, when as an eight-year-old girl in 1992, she made up stories to her elementary school classmates that she was related

Alex Len: 'Ten years from now, I'll be the best player out of this draft'

Maryland sophomore big man Alex Len arrived at the NBA draft combine on crutches, unable to participate in any drills and limited to being a spectator after having surgery to stabilize a partial stress fracture in his left ankle. Read full article >>

ACC's motion to dismiss Maryland lawsuit scheduled for hearing next week

Next week might bring some clarity to the legal battle between Maryland and the ACC.If you recall, in November the ACC filed suit against Maryland in Greensboro, N.C., saying the school is bound by the conference's bylaws to pay an exit fee -- roughly $52 million -- in order to join the Big Ten. But in January, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler moved to dismiss the ACC's lawsuit

Merrill Reese on why he hates the Redskins

Back in November, I posted some highlights from Merrill Reese's radio call of Washington's demolition of the Eagles.Reese, of course, is the radio play-by-play voice of the Eagles, and he seemed especially anguished that Philadelphia was getting smacked around by Washington, of all teams, on that day. His anguish came to mind on Friday, when I heard this exchange between Reese and WIP's Angel

Local players give thumbs up to Jackie Robinson movie

The Jackie Robinson movie "42 has made a strong impression on many African-American high school baseball players and coaches in the Washington area. Woodbridge senior outfielder Logan Farrar has seen it three times already and jokes that he will cap his number of viewings at 42 -- at least until it comes out on DVD. Read full article >>

Best Week in Washington Sports: Bradley Beal

_My colleague Chris Cillizza has a great weekly feature called "Worst Week in Washington," where he spotlights a political figure who has landed on the wrong side of the press. I'm stealing a page out of his playbook, and it was my original intention to award a "Worst Week" to a D.C. sports figure every Friday. But I'm generally not a cranky person, so I decided that the Bog version should be a

Despite injury, Alex Len confident at NBA draft combine

Maryland never made Alex Len available to reporters during his freshman season, protecting him from conducting interviews in a foreign language while he mastered its most basic principles. He first learned English through Google Translator, the mobile app helping the Ukrainian center order at his new favorite American restaurants: Boston Market and Chipotle. Read full article >>

Redskins sign fourth-round safety Phillip Thomas

The Washington Redskins announced Friday afternoon that they have signed safety Phillip Thomas to his rookie contract, making him the fifth of seven draft picks to agree to a deal in the past week.Drafted 119th overall out of Fresno State, Thomas is expected to compete for a starting job in Washington's secondary. Read full article >>

D.C. United news and notes

*D.C. United will not offer contracts to American defender Frankie Simek and English forward Akpo Sodje, Coach Ben Olsen said Friday. Both had been on trial this week.With the European seasons ending, several trialists will pass through Washington in the coming weeks. Read full article >>

Injury reports: The right to know vs. the right to privacy

Brooks Laich skated with the Capitals in New York last week, between Games 3 and 4 of his team’s first-round NHL playoff series. He wiped out once, which made his teammates — and him — laugh out loud. Afterward, he said he hoped to play in the second round of the playoffs, if the Caps made it. That didn’t happen. Read full article >>

Lamont Peterson, Lucas Matthysse see boxing match as stepping-stone to greater things

No titles will be on the line when Washington boxer Lamont Peterson faces hard-hitting Argentine Lucas Matthysse on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, but that hardly diminishes the importance of the fight for either of the principals. Read full article >>

Tom Wilson eager to make an impact for Caps

Highly-touted prospect Tom Wilson made his NHL debut in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but it remains to be determined whether the young winger will be on the Capitals' opening-night roster next fall.As encouraged as the Capitals were by Wilson's performance in three games against the New York Rangers, they don't want to rush the 19-year-old. Read full article >>

Preakness 2013: Viewer's guide

View Photo Gallery —After taking the Kentucky Derby, Orb readies for the 138th Preakness Stakes, which will be held at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course on Saturday. On Saturday, Orb will try to take the second step toward winning horse racing's Triple Crown, something no horse has done since Affirmed in 1978. Read full article >>

Starting a no-hitter just part of Paul Demny's development

For Class AA Harrisburg right-hander Paul Demny, pitching eight innings of a no-hitter was nice. Backing it up with another solid start was even better. Nationals officials have never had doubts about the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Texan's stuff. He was good enough to pitch in the Arizona Fall League last offseason as a reliever, but not consistent enough to be protected on the 40-man roster. Re

Bradley Beal on Derrick Rose: 'I think he's scared'

Derrick Rose suffered an ACL injury last April and missed the entire 2012-13 season as a result. Despite being medically cleared to play in March, Rose decided to keep himself out, and has taken some heat for it. The criticism swelled when the injury-laden Bulls made, and then were knocked out of, the playoffs without Rose stepping onto the court once. Read full article >>