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Nationals Vs. Padres: Washington Stumbles 6-1, Splits Two-Game Series With San Diego

2012-05-15T20:16:06Z

More: Nationals shut down by Bass, Padres

With Stephen Strasburg taking the mound for the Washington Nationals (22-14) in the second game of a two-game set against the San Diego Padres (13-24), the hope was that the 6-foo-4 right-hander could deliver the Nats a victory and a series sweep. After surrendering four earned runs over the first four innings, that hope, in large part, was lost, as Washington fell to the last-place Padres, 6-1 on Tuesday afternoon.

Strasburg struggled most of all during the first inning, as he gave up three runs capped off by a two-run single from catcher Jeff Baker that scored Chase Headley and Yonder Alonso.

And though the bullpen allowed just four hits and two runs over the remaining four innings, Washington's hitters never got going at the plate, totaling just six hits and one run -- a solo home run from Bryce Harper in the fifth inning.

Washington, which had beat San Diego 8-5 on Monday, will now host the Pittsburgh Pirates in a two-game series on Wednesday and Thursday before a weekend set against the Baltimore Orioles at Nationals Park.

For more information on this series stay subscribed to this StoryStream. For more information on the Washington Nationals check out the SB Nation Blog Federal Baseball. For more information on the San Diego Padres check out the SB Nation Blog Gaslamp Ball. For more baseball news, check out the SB Nation MLB Hub Page.

Alexander Semin: 'I Try To Stay Away From Reading Newspapers ... Often It's Just Total Nonsense'

2012-05-15T19:42:13Z

The good folks at Russian Machine Never Breaks have proved themselves to be an indispensable resource, and they came up big again today by publishing an interview with Alexander Semin, which took place at the team's breakdown day yesterday, before Semin jetted off to Stockholm for the final days of the World Championships.

Three days in to the Capitals' offseason, Semin is proving to be their most talked-about player and the interview, done by Igor Kleyner, is a good look at a man who is at a crossroads in his career.

You should read the whole thing, but a couple of the most interesting quotes are after the jump.

Semin on Dale Hunter's system:

Of course, personally, I like to play the open style hockey more, the one we used to play. It's more fun -- open, creative passing, creating things off the rush. That's the style of hockey I enjoy playing, but I understand, like it or not, in the playoffs you win if you play defensive hockey.

And Semin on the media:

I try to stay away from reading the newspapers, because often it's just total nonsense. Sometimes you grab a newspaper after the game, try to read about the game I played in, and it's just ... I don't even know how it's possible, which game did this reporter watch? He watched the game, why does he need to invent stuff? Yeah I understand, to keep people interested ... but I played in that game, so I don't need to read this.

Like we said, read the whole thing.

VIDEO: Bryce Harper Discusses First Major League Home Run

2012-05-15T18:45:42Z

As we write this, the Washington Nationals are losing to the San Diego Padres in the bottom of the fourth inning. Which means that we have to put this video up before all of the good feeling from Monday night's 8-5 come-from-behind win over San Diego completely dissipates.

The biggest story from the game (apart from the unfortunate injury to Sandy Leon), was Bryce Harper's first major league home run, which came in the bottom of the third inning and gave the Nats a 4-1 lead. You can see video of the home run here.

After the game, as could be expected, the media crowded around Harper's locker to have a word. CSN Washington was good enough to give us three minutes of video from that scrum, which you can see below.

We love the idea of the veterans pushing Harper out to get a curtain call. Shows how much he's become a part of the team.

And as we type this, Harper's just hit his second home run. We'll just go ahead and credit this post for that.

Maryland Forward Ashton Pankey To Transfer

2012-05-15T18:43:39Z

Maryland power forward Ashton Pankey will transfer from the school and look for a new place to play that's closer back to his home in New York according to a tweet by Jeff Ermann of Inside MD Sports.

Freshman PF Ashton Pankey leaving Maryland & will likely transfer somewhere closer to home in NY, multiple sources say.maryland.247sports.com/Board/67/Panke…
— Jeff Ermann (@insidemdsports) May 15, 2012

Last season, Pankey averaged 4.7 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game. He saw the floor for a total of 20.3 minutes per game. His shooting was decent, averaging 45.2 percent of shots made from the floor.

Pankey also tweeted out a good bye message to the Maryland fans.

Gonna miss maryland &terpnation...always have a place in my heart & I appreciated the last 2 years..#familyfirst
— Ashton Pankey (@AshtonP_30) May 15, 2012

The university confirmed that Pankey was leaving the program courtesy of the Terps insider twitter account of the Washington Post.

And Maryland makes it official: Pankey is transferring "due to family reasons." Hopes to find a school closer to home.
— Terrapins Insider (@TerpsInsider) May 15, 2012

The Terrapins will have to hope that their new recruiting class will be able to replace many of the players that have left such as Terrell Stoglin and Mychal Parker.

Conference Realignment: VCU Will Join Atlantic 10 July 1

2012-05-15T18:04:59Z

The Va. Commonwealth Rams made it official today that they will join the Atlantic 10 conference effective July 1, 2012. They will be participating in the Atlantic 10 in all sports for the 2012-13 academic year. VCU president Michael Rao spoke at a press conference that lasted only about 15 minutes to address why they are accelerating their plans to join the conference.

The Atlantic 10 has premier universities across the board and that includes athletics. The ability to recruit and retain student athletes will be sufficiently enhanced because of this move.

This move does come with a price however, the cost for joining the Atlantic 10 will be a hefty $700,000 dollars. For some universities that's not much, but for VCU that's a big price to pay. Rao and those in the athletic department hope that new revenue from the Atlantic 10 will help offset that cost.

Rao also took time during the press conference to address the conference they are leaving in the Colonial Athletic Association.

We have the utmost respect of Tom Yeager and his leadership team as well as the other institutions of CAA.

The move leaves the CAA in flux. The Old Dominion Monarchs have been rumored to possibly be leaving the conference to join the Sun Belt Conference in 2013. So if those two leave the CAA the George Mason Patriots would not have as much competition and the conference would be much weaker.

Even more discouraging for Mason fans is the report from CBS Sports via the GMUHoops.com blog that the Patriots were passed over for the Rams, despite being in a larger media market and also having a close rival in the George Washington Colonials.

For more on the Rams and Patriots basketball programs, stay tuned to SB Nation DC. For all your college basketball news and notes be sure to check out SB Nation's NCAA hoops hub.

LIVE VIDEO: VCU Announces Move To Atlantic 10

2012-05-15T17:23:31Z

Virginia Commonwealth University has called a press conference for 1:30 p.m. in Richmond. The school is expected to announce that it is leaving the Colonial Athletic Association for the Atlantic 10 Conference, joining the Butler Bulldogs in that conference.

VCU has been a member of the CAA since 1995, when they joined after being shut out of the merger between the Metro and Great Midwest Conferences that formed Conference USA.

In their time as a CAA member, the VCU men's basketball team won 5 Colonial Athletic Association regular season and tournament championships and made the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament six times, making the Final Four in 2011.

Live video of the press conference is below and is courtesy of CSN Washington.

For more on the Rams basketball program, stay tuned to SB Nation DC. For all your college basketball news and notes be sure to check out SB Nation's NCAA hoops hub.

JaVale McGee And The Great Platypus Caper

2012-05-15T16:50:55Z

So, this is what former Wizard and current Nugget JaVale McGee tweeted yesterday ...

Just copped a pet platypus .... #swag
— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 14, 2012

And this was the picture he posted of them ...

We let it slide because, frankly, those didn't look like JaVale McGee's hands. Also, wouldn't an athlete want to include a picture of his face with those adorable little platypuses?

Anyway, we let it slide, but others didn't. It got picked up here. And here. Even our own Bullets Forever linked to it.

Today, McGee tweeted this.

Uh ok didn't know that Peter an Paul ( my pet platypus') were poisonous..... If ur hand turns Barney purple that's not good right?
— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 15, 2012

That was followed by this.

Jokes up!!!!!!!
— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 15, 2012

And this ...

I can believe I fooled fans into believing I bought some platypus' but reporters?
— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 15, 2012

And, finally, this ...

Media: u guys didn't check ur sources before writing the story? All u had to do is go to google images...Smh...Sbn...Some others n dc. SHAME
— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 15, 2012

And we're done here.

Padres Vs. Nationals: Stephen Strasburg Takes Mound Looking For Quick Two-Game Sweep

2012-05-15T15:59:17Z

The Nationals got a win in the first game of their short series against the San Diego Padres on Monday night, and they can earn a quick seep of the two game set with a win on Tuesday afternoon. The game starts at 1 pm and can be found on MASN.

Bill Ladson has tweeted out the starting lineup for the Nationals, and it is as follows.

1 - Ian Desmond - SS
2 - Roger Bernadina - LF
3 - Ryan Zimmerman - 3B
4 - Adam LaRoche - 1B
5 - Bryce Harper - RF
6 - Danny Espinosa - 2B
7 - Rick Ankiel - CF
8 - Jesus Flores - C
9 - Stephen Strasburg - SP

According to the Nationals official twitter account, the team has called Carlos Maldonaldo up to replace Sandy Leon, who has been put on the 15-day DL. Wilson Ramos has also been placed on the 60-day DL.