Host the nearby team that happens to be in first place while the home team is also enjoying success? That might be a recipe for a very large crowd. Saturday’s second game in a yearly series touted as the “Battle of the Beltways” against the Baltimore Orioles drew an announced attendance of 42,331 – the second largest in Nationals Park four-year history.

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My match report from D.C. United’s 3-1 victory over Toronto FC at RFK Stadium.

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At first, Ross Detwiler didn’t look as Nick Markakis’s two-run home run in the fifth inning sailed toward the right field seats. He then did, the shoulders of his lanky 6-foot-5 frame slouched, arms at his sides, his face sporting an utterly blank stare as he looked out into those same stands. Hours after his place on the pitching staff seemed solidified Saturday, his start was coming unraveled.

Washington Mystics General Manager and Coach Trudi Lacey spent her offseason overhauling a roster that she felt was too young. Just four players returned, and a parade of veterans were brought in from elsewhere to provide the sort of grit and cohesion Washington lacked a year ago.

Dwayne De Rosario’s immense value lies in the ability to create and punctuate scoring opportunities. For eight matches this season, the 2011 points leader was largely a provider, but in the course of three weeks, the reigning MVP has rediscovered his destructive finishing form.

After playing every game so far this season except one, and mired in a vicious sophomore slump, Danny Espinosa was given the day off from the lineup by Manager Davey Johnson to let him “back off.”

Despite showing signs of possibly breaking out of his funk, hitting home runs in consecutive games from May 11 and 12, Espinosa is 5 for 22 since. On Friday, with a runner on with no outs in the seventh, Espinosa struggled to lay down a bunt on a 2-1 count, knocking it foul and, by his own decision, trying it again but knocking it foul again.

The Baltimore Orioles are in first place in the American League East, while the Washington Nationals are a game and a half out of first place in the National League East. Nationals Manager Davey Johnson shuffled the lineup around, hoping that it’ll make a difference. Left-hander Ross Detwiler, who is fending off a threat from soon-returning Chien-Ming Wang, takes the mound against right-hander Jason Hammel.

When he comes of the disabled list, Nationals pitcher Chien-Ming Wang is likely headed to the bullpen as a reliever, Manager Davey Johnson said. This means that, at least for now, fifth starter Ross Detwiler will possibly retain his spot in the starting rotation.

On Saturday, Nationals Manager Davey Johnson decided it was time to make a move, to jump-start an offense that had been sputtering and ranked near the bottom in the major in runs scored.

Johnson gave second baseman Danny Espinosa a day off (“I just sense a little frustration”), started Steve Lombardozzi instead and, more important, moved shortstop Ian Desmond lower in the lineup, hoping to take advantage of the power has shown so far this season.