John Lannan carried the momentum from a sold August into last night's game against Pittsburgh, where he gave up one run in seven innings. (Photo: Associated Press)

The weather was glorious here in the D.C. area Saturday, so you could be forgiven for stepping outside your threshold and experiencing fresh, rarely humid air, thus missing all the big sports news of a busy Saturday. That's why I'm here.

-The Redskins cut their active roster down to 53 Saturday. My colleague Mike Jones has a full breakdown of who got to stay and who had to go.

-The local college teams had mixed results in their season openers Saturday. Georgetown defeated Davidson 20-10 in their road opener, while Howard was skunked by Holy Cross, 38-7. The Mike London era began at Virginia with a 34-13 home win over Richmond. Virginia fans can watch a full replay of the game on ESPN3 here. And you might want to check out the Jacksonville State-Ole Miss highlights while you're there as well.

Don't forget, local fans will have a sweet Labor Day football doubleheader to take in, as Maryland faces Navy in Baltimore at 4:00, followed by Virginia Tech meeting Boise State at FedEx Field at 8:00. Both games are on ESPN.

-The revival of John Lannan continued Saturday night, as the Nationals defeated the Pirates 9-2. Lannan, who allowed one run on five hits while striking out a season-high seven batters. As pfx shows, Lannan was particularly effective with his four-seam fastball and changeup, while staying away from his less effective slider and mixing in a nice-moving curveball. Even more pertinently, Lannan improved his record to 5-1 since being recalled from AA Harrisburg August 1.

In other Nationals news, Cuban right-hander Yunesky Maya will make his debut Tuesday night against the Mets. And Ray Knight will remain the Nationals TV analyst (scroll to the bottom) through next week's homestand, in which the Nationals play six games against the Mets and Marlins.

-D.C. United was shut out for the 15th time this season Saturday night, tying an MLS record, as they fell to the Columbus Crew, 1-0. The only goal game in the 23rd minute as Guillermo Barros Schelotto took advantage of a hideous gaffe from the otherwise dependable Bill Hamid. (Video's attached to that recap, if you are so inclined.) On the other end, D.C. United went the whole game without managing a single shot on goal.

"We're improving in some things, and staying the same in other things," D.C. United coach Ben Olsen said after the game. "Unfortunately, it's those things that we're staying the same in that are getting us beat."

And so it goes ...

-Finally, Yi Jianlian of the Wizards is set to undergo an MRI this weekend (scroll down to the end) on his Achilles tendon, which he injured in Wednesday's game against Russia. As we wait for the results, John Townsend over at Truth About It (one of our TBD community blogs) has a good discussion of whether Yi's impressive World Championship stats signify any potential improvement as an NBA player.