messages of affection between the couple were brief,

MIAMI -- Stephen Strasburg against the woebegone Miami Marlins figured to be no contest, and it was. Miami won in a rout. Giancarlo Stanton tied a career high with five RBIs, including a three-run homer off Strasburg, and the Marlins broke an eight-game losing streak by beating the Washington Nationals 11-2 Tuesday night. Both benches and bullpens cleared briefly in the fourth inning when Marlins catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and the Nationals Ian Desmond engaged in a heated, nose-to-nose conversation at home plate. Desmond was unhappy that Marlins starter Tom Koehler threw several pitches high and inside. Among the tunes playing in the Miami clubhouse after the victory was Alice Coopers "No More Mr. Nice Guy." "It feels great," Saltalamacchia said. "We faced a great pitcher. It feels great to be able to make him work tonight." Strasburg (1-2) allowed six runs and eight hits in four innings. He fell to 2-3 at Marlins Park with an ERA of 8.61. "Weve put together some pretty good at-bats off him over the last couple of years, and had some good games against him," Miami manager Mike Redmond said. "We had a nice plan. Guys were aggressive. He threw quite a few fastballs early in the count, and we were ready for them." That has often been the approach of hitters against Strasburg so far this season. "They dont want me to get comfortable," the right-hander said. "A lot of the dominant pitchers with swing-and-miss stuff, thats what their approach is going to be. I felt I had a good mindset today. It was one of those days where it seemed like every pitch I threw, they hit it." Koehler (2-1) allowed one hit and five walks in seven scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.89. The performance was a welcome change for a team that had an ERA of 6.12 during the losing streak. Desmond became annoyed when he barely avoided being hit by an inside pitch from Koehler. Desmond hollered at Koehler and spat toward the mound. Saltalamacchia then said something to Desmond, and their testy exchange began. Umpire Marty Foster stepped between them, and the confrontation didnt escalate. "I wasnt necessarily thinking that he had intentions of hitting me," Desmond said. "It wasnt intended to escalate to what it did, but was heat-of-the-moment stuff." Koehler said he went into the game mindful of the need to pitch inside against the Nationals. "Guys tend to get a little upset when they get crowded," Koehler said. "They had been attacking fastballs over the plate. Its our job as starters to make sure they know thats our part of the plate. Weve been beaten inside too many times late in the game in the last couple of series because we havent established inside." Stanton homered in the first inning, hit a two-run double in the fifth and scored three times. He came into the game ranked second in the majors in RBIs and now has 21. Hes batting .429 with runners in scoring position. Marcell Ozuna tied a career high with four hits, and Casey McGehee had three of the Marlins 15 hits. "We talked Monday about having guys step up," Redmond said. "We saw the entire team step up. We feel like our lineup can do a lot of damage, and I think you saw that tonight." The Marlins beat Washington for the first time in five tries this season, and for only the third time in 16 meetings since July. Zach Walters hit his first career homer in the ninth for the Nationals, who totalled five hits. Miami led 3-0 before Strasburg got an out. Christian Yelich and Ozuna singled, and Stanton followed with a homer to centre field. The Marlins added three more runs in the second. Adeiny Hechavarria led off with a triple on his 25th birthday, Ozuna singled home a run and McGehee hit a two-out, two-run single. Strasburg struck out five to increase his NL-leading total to 33, but his ERA rose to 6.00. The Marlins added five runs in the fifth to make it 11-0. "One of those games," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "But nonetheless its important that we play well, and we didnt. Thats troubling." NOTES: Nationals OF Denard Span (concussion) might be ready for a rehabilitation assignment by the end of the week, Williams said. ... Nationals OF Nate McLouth returned to the lineup after sitting out two games because of a sore left knee. ... Ozuna was back in the lineup after missing one start with a bruised foot. ... The Nationals Steven Souza singled for his first major league hit. ... Miami RHP Jose Fernandez tries to improve to 12-0 at home when he pitches Wednesday against Tanner Roark. Trace McSorley Jersey . For one, he still gets to crank the intensity to the max. "I push pretty angry. I ran pretty angry too though, but I have fun doing it," Lumsden said. Lamar Jackson Womens Jersey . Now he can be had by any team willing to pay his salary. According to a report from ESPN, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are shopping the veteran CB and plan on releasing him Wednesday if they cant find a trade partner. http://www.cheapravensshoponline.com/Youth-Ray-Lewis-Ravens-Jersey/ .com) - The Chicago Cubs reportedly signed recently-acquired outfielder Dexter Fowler to a one-year contract on Friday, avoiding arbitration. Marquise Brown Youth Jersey . Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Britains opening-round victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park. "Im proud of the way Im playing just now, because I had to do a lot of work to get back to where I want to be," Murray said after celebrating with his teammates on the red clay court in a temporary stadium in left field of the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. Trace McSorley Youth Jersey . But its also a smart game. Theres more to the Kings than banging bodies. They take a toll mentally on their opponents.PRETORIA, South Africa -- Oscar Pistorius will probably testify at his trial later this week, a defence attorney said Tuesday after prosecutors rested their case against the double-amputee runner who is accused of murder in his girlfriends death. In a rare public comment, Pistorius said he was going through "a tough time" as the case advanced. "Weve got a lot ahead of us," he told reporters after the court adjourned. Defence lawyer Brian Webber said Pistorius is "likely" to take the stand to open the defence case. "I dont think we have a choice. Its a question of when," Webber said of Pistorius testimony, which legal experts describe as critical because the judge will have a chance to assess firsthand whether he is credible. The case will be decided by Judge Thokozile Masipa with help from two assessors. South African courts do not have a jury system. After the prosecution rested, defence lawyer Barry Roux asked for time to consult some of the 107 state witnesses who had not testified against Pistorius, who admits shooting Reeva Steenkamp through the closed door of a toilet cubicle last year. Masipa adjourned the trial until Friday so Roux could prepare his arguments that Pistorius killed the 29-year-old model by accident, thinking she was an intruder in his home. Pistorius has sometimes reacted emotionally in the courtroom. He shed tears this week during testimony about text messages that he and Steenkamp exchanged in the weeks before her death on Feb. 14, 2013. In earlier testimony, he retched and vomited at a pathologists description of Steenkamps gunshot wounds. At other times, he has appeared calm, taking notes during testimony and conferring with his lawyers during breaks. The 27-year-old Olympian once basked in global publicity stemming from his achievements on the track but became an almost silent, somewhat cryptic figure after Steenkamps death, his account only outlined in legal statements that were carefully tailored by his high-powered legal team. Earlier Tuesday, Roux sought to show that Pistorius had a loving relationship with his girlfriend, referring to telephone messages in whhich they exchanged warm compliments and said they missed each other.dddddddddddd. The testimony contrasted with several messages read in court a day earlier in which Pistorius and Steenkamp argued, part of the prosecutions effort to demonstrate that the athlete killed his girlfriend after an intense disagreement. In those messages, Steenkamp told the runner that she was sometimes scared by his behaviour, which included jealous outbursts in front of other people. Roux noted that the tense messages amounted to a tiny fraction of the roughly 1,700 texts that police Capt. Francois Moller, a cellphone expert, extracted from the couples mobile devices. Roux noted a Jan. 19 exchange in which Reeva sent Pistorius a photo of herself in a hoodie and making a kissing face and asked, "You like it?" "I love it," Pistorius said, according to the message. "So warm," Steenkamp responded. Roux was also granted permission to show video broadcast by Sky News that showed Pistorius and Steenkamp kissing in a convenience store. Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned the relevance of the store video, saying he could ask for a courtroom viewing of another video, also broadcast by Sky News, which shows Pistorius at a gun range, firing a shotgun and using a pistol to shoot a watermelon, which bursts on impact. Nel also said many messages of affection between the couple were brief, in contrast to the texted arguments, which were far longer and dwelled on their relationship in greater depth. Earlier, Moller said Steenkamp connected to the Internet on her cellphone hours before Pistorius killed her. She made the connection just before 9 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2013, and the connection lasted for more than 11 hours, possibly because social media programs were still open. Mollers extraction of data also shed light on what appeared to be frantic calls made from one of Pistorius cellphones after the killing. They included a call to the administrator of the housing estate where Pistorius lived at 3:19 a.m. on Feb. 14, a call a minute later to an ambulance service and a call a minute after that to the housing estate security. ' ' '