Battle Of The Beltways: O's @ Nats Series Preview

By Dru Montoya:  Head Baseball Writer

Its no secret that I love the O's.  This season I became a fan of the Nat's as well.  For the first time, the "Battle of the Beltways" comes at a time when both teams are actually good.  You know I had to go all out with this preview (more to come later):

• Friday: 7:05 PM, Arrieta (2-4) vs Jackson (1-1).
• Saturday: 7:15 PM, Hammel (4-1) vs Detwiler (3-2).
• Sunday: 1:35 PM, Chen (4-0) vs Strasburg (3-1).

Game of the week is setting up to be Sunday in which each teams best pitcher will go head to head.  If offense is more of your thing, Friday looks to be a high scoring affair.  

My Thoughts:

• The Nat's pitchers have to limit the home run power of the Orioles, who have been relying on the long ball for a lot of their offense this year.  
• The Nats will be helped out by the fact that the O's pitcher will hit instead of a DH.
• The Oriole's pitching is good, but the Nationals should be able to get their hits in and score some runs.
• Both teams are dealing with injuries right now, so look for a some lesser known guys to make an impact.
• Keep an eye out for current Oriole, form National, Nick Johnson to get a start at 1B at some point in this series.

Your sound of the series is a song I'll personally be blasting this weekend, Baltimore area band Clutch with The Mob Goes Wild:

Prediction Time: Nationals win the series 2 games to 1.