Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Nationals may have just needed the spark of their manager's impending firing to get rolling. They have now won a season-high four games in a row, including Saturday's 5-3, 12-inning victory over the Blue Jays. What's more, the Nats have taken those four from the Blue Jays and Yankees, two teams with winning records in the American League.
"We really feel like we can win every game," Nationals outfielder Willie Harris said. "When you're losing ballgames, you get a gut feeling you're going to lose a game somehow. Things are going well for us now."
Harris was first supposed to bunt with the score tied in the 12th, but he failed. Then he was going to hit-and-run, but he failed at that, too. Finally he swung away, and hit a game-winning homer. After the game, Nationals president Stan Kasten pulled Acta aside and said something to him. Acta then told a reporter:
NEW YORK – Manny Acta was to be back in Washington late Thursday night for the first time since a report that he was about to be fired as Nationals manager.
He may not have to pack up his things.
But he shouldn't buy any property either.
Acta's job status isn't day-to-day or series-to-series, as far as can be determined, but he is certainly on thin ice. Maybe that ice thickened up a bit Thursday when the Nats improbably clinched a series win at Yankee Stadium.
It's June 13, and apparently we have our third major league manager firing. The latest victim -- according to scoop-master Ken Rosenthal -- of the ax is Manny Acta of the Washington Nationals. Considering that the Nationals are the worst team in baseball -- and at 16-43, it ain't close -- this can't come as a huge surprise to many.
Acta will be replaced by Jim Riggleman, who took over after a firing last season in Seattle. He's also had stints managing the Cubs and Padres. In fact, he was the Cubs' skipper during the 1998 season that saw Sammy Sosa's 66 bombs and Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game. He shouldn't expect to see fireworks of that variety in Washington, though.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
When Willy Aybar's home run Thursday in Cleveland was upheld by a video review, it marked the sixth time in six days umpires made use of baseball's instant-replay rule.
So the natural question to ask Jimmie Lee Solomon, Major League Baseball's executive vice president of baseball operations, is why the flurry of trips to the secret chamber to watch replays? Are the umps more willing to consult the tape than in the past?
"These things come in bunches," Solomon told FanHouse.
WASHINGTON – The Orioles seem to have everything in the Battle of the Beltways.
They have an actual fanbase, a better ballpark, a brighter future, courtesy of Matt Wieters, and a sunnier present, thanks to Adam Jones and Nick Markakis.
They even have wins in the first two of six meetings between the downtrodden franchises this year.
Baltimore is farther along in its grand rebuilding scheme than the Nationals in every way ... except one: It doesn't have anyone with the ceiling of Ross Detwiler in its major league rotation. At least not yet.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's action, with a quick nod to what's ahead. You Oughta Know ... That the American League West is still the Rangers' division, at least for a few more days. After a hot start, the Mariners have cooled off, going 2-8 in their lost 10 games. Texas has gone 8-2 over the same span to take first place in the West.
Lurking in the background are the Angels, suddenly only 1 1/2 games back of the Rangers and preparing to welcome ace John Lackey back into the fold, but Texas got a key player of its own back Tuesday night. Josh Hamilton returned from the disabled list, snapping a 1-1 tie with a home run in the Rangers' 7-1 win over Seattle.
After learning Elijah Dukes was disciplined for being five minutes late, the Little League where he was interacting with children that day decided they needed to show their support. In fact, they are paying his fine for him. That's right, Great Falls Little League has paid the $500 fine -- they actually paid $501, saying the extra buck was for administrative costs -- the Washington Nationals levied against Dukes for his showing up five minutes late Sunday.
According to Jim Mraz, president of the league, Dukes stayed late in order to give a high fives to every single little leaguer in attendance (a whopping 54 teams) and to give a few words of advice to the youth.
WASHINGTON -- It's awfully hard to argue with the early returns on Washington's decision to demote the talented, but frustrating Lastings Milledge to Triple-A.
Two days after the Nationals dropped that bombshell, they returned to the field in the nation's capital and got in the win column, beating the Phillies 8-2 Thursday night and ending an embarrassing 11-game regular season losing streak that stretched all the way back to 2008.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
NEW YORK – 
It's June 13, and apparently we have our third major league manager firing. The latest victim -- 
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in 
WASHINGTON – The Orioles seem to have everything in the Battle of the Beltways.
After learning 
WASHINGTON -- It's awfully hard to argue with the early returns on Washington's decision to demote the talented, but frustrating 
