While the Phillies were closing out a seven-game homestand Thursday, Roy Oswalt was aboard a Houston-to-Washington flight so he would be ready to put his talented and expensive right arm on display for his new team Friday against the Nationals.

I never felt the need to make a trade at the deadline just for the sake of making a trade.

Here's guessing the real Miss Iowa will not be booed when she takes the mound at Nationals Park.

A 43-year-old man was found guilty Wednesday of molesting his former girlfriend's daughter, the Fulton County District Attorney's Office announced.

Scott Olsen returned from the disabled list to win his first appearance in more than two months, Adam Dunn and Ian Desmond each homered and doubled, and the last-place Washington Nationals beat the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves 5-3 Thursday in a game interrupted 11/2 hours by rain.

Roy Oswalt joined a Phillies' starting pitching rotation that includes Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels.

Yunel Escobar has quickly found acceptance with his new Blue Jays teammates, and with one dazzling display earlier this week, he seems to have won over the fans, too.

The race for the National League East just got a lot more interesting. The Philadelphia Phillies have had many struggles with their starting pitching this year.

Troy Glaus hit this two-run double in June, but not many since. Troy Glaus was awful in April, and so was his team.

When Braves rookie Jason Heyward stole home on the front end of a double steal with Brian McCann in the first inning of a 3-1 win over the Nationals on Wednesday night, the event was so rare, so made-up-on-the-spot, no one involved quite knew what to make of it.

" The Braves had hoped to hear word on reliever Jonny Venters' appeal on Wednesday but the afternoon came and went without any word from Major League Baseball.

Rookie Jason Heyward has become the first member of the Atlanta Braves to steal home in 10 years.

Rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg was scratched from his scheduled start for the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night because he had problems warming up before the game against the Atlanta Braves.

Coming into the season, Braves outfielder Jason Heyward was the runaway favorite for Rookie of the Year.

Senators pitcher Chuck James throws down some sunflower seeds during pregame warm up at Merchantsauto.com Stadium in Manchester, NH.

Here's Nate McLouth celebrating . Success apparently doesna t bring clarity. The Braves are in first place, own the second best record in the National League, endured relative open tryouts for several weeks at leadoff and are still trying to navigate around a black hole in center field.

Miguel Batista is not Steven Strasburg. But Tuesday night, the sellout 40,043 Nationals faithful expecting to see the star rookie hurler in action against the NL East division leader Atlanta Braves couldn't tell the difference.

Braves outfielder Nate McLouth has been optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett, and outfielder Brent Clevlen has been activated off the 15-day disabled list.

Jason Heyward has been under intense scrutiny since the moment he set foot on a major league field.

" So some friends of mine thought I was nuts for not going out to see Stephen Strasburg his first night pitching against the Braves in Atlanta.