The Miami Heat remain NBA Champions. This is a fluid situation. We’ll do our best to keep you updated.

Well, the semifinals are set for Euro 2012. Germany continued to flash its superiority in the face of the Greeks, this time on a soccer pitch. Saturday saw Spain surgically and methodically destroy the French. And yesterday, England and Italy set soccer’s US popularity back 20 years, by playing to a 0-0 draw, with Italy prevailing 4-2 on penalty kicks.

The semifinals will take place on Wednesday and Thursday of this week (all times are 2:45 on ESPN)

Wednesday: Portugal v. Spain

Thursday: Germany v. Italy

The final will be played on Sunday.

-The R.A. Dickey train made an abrupt stop last night in Queens. Mechanics are still trying to find the problem with the locomotive, though some pinstripes were found in the engine block.

-Former Nationals prospect Derek Norris (part of the package Washington sent to Oakland for Gio Gonzalez) hit his first career HR yesterday and made it a walk-off as the A’s salvaged a game in their1 weekend series with the Giants.

-The Arizona Diamondbacks will promote their top prospect, Trevor Bauer, on Thursday to make his debut against the Braves.

-Kevin Youkilis was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Chicago White Sox yesterday for pitching prospect Zach Stewart and human being Brent Lillibridge. The White Sox head to Fenway Park in mid-July.

-Biggest Series This Week: Dodgers @ Giants. San Francisco enters this 3-game set just 3 games behind the Dodgers, who have cooled off a bit while the Giants have been playing their best baseball.

The Nationals are, without a doubt, going through their worst stretch of 2012. They mustered just 5 runs in their 3-game series with the Orioles over the weekend, managing to win just Saturday’s game.

While this is happening, Ryan Zimmerman is going through perhaps his worst stretch of his career. He ranks near the bottom of all qualifying hitters in OPS+ (Don’t worry about not knowing what that is. Just know that you don’t want to rank near the bottom of it). Much of the blame can likely be placed on a shoulder that has been ailing Zimmerman for much of the season. He received a cortisone shot yesterday and plans to continue without a DL stint. But it’s clearly affecting his ability to hit.

The Nationals will begin a 4-game set in Denver today against maybe baseball’s worst team, the Colorado Rockies. Because it’s a 4-game series, the Nats will get to see all of Colorado’s starting pitchers, as they’re going with a 4-man, 75 pitch-per-start rotation, that so far has been a wild success (it’s good to be 3-14 in your last 17 games, right?).

Tonight, Stephen Strasburg (9-1, 2.46 ERA) will oppose Jeff Francis (0-1, 8.56 ERA). Game time is 8:40 on MASN.

(From here on out, most of these will be the best potential matchup in baseball. Sometimes it’ll tie into the “Biggest Series of the Week,” other times it will be about pitching matchups. And some days, like today, I’ll just be grasping at straws.)

Toronto @ Boston (7:05). Henderson Alvarez and Felix Doubront will take the hill, which is about as sexy as a spray tan. Regardless, this will be the Boston Red Sox’s first game without Kevin Youkilis. It’ll be (a little) interesting to see how the team responds. Or some sports writer narrative. Again, I’m just grasping at straws here. It’s not a particularly exciting night for baseball matchups. Just watch the Nats/Rockies game like a good human being. Or, I don’t know, volunteer your time for a cause you support.