Battle of the Beltways: All Star Selection

In this addition of our review of local baseball we are talking allstars.  Without doing any actual research it is safe to say this all star game will have the highest concentration of Orioles and Nationals players ever.  So lets take a look at who made the cut and who got snubbed.

Baltimore:

• Jim Johnson: Closer, 23 saves, 1.30 ERA.
• Adam Jones: Centerfield, .300, 19 HR, 41 RBIs.
• Matt Wieters: Catcher, .249, 11 HR, 38 RBIs, 36% throwing out baserunners.

Washington:

• Gio Gonzalez:  10-3, 2.78 ERA, 108 Ks, 3 HR surrendered.
• Stephen Strasburg: 9-3, 2.81 ERA, 122 Ks.
• Ian Desmond:  .276, 13 HR, 43 RBIs.

No surprisingly there were no Orioles or Nationals voted into the starting lineup in the fan vote.

However, fear not!  There is still a chance to vote in a player from each team in the final fan vote!  Take a look at how they stack up against their biggest competition...

Jackson Shuts Down Birds in B-more

Nationals 3, Orioles 1

Edwin Jackson improved to 4-4 on the year and the Nationals gave themselves to take their three game series in Baltimore with their 3 to 1 victory tonight over the birds.  The Nationals scored twice in the second inning on a throwing error that allowed Morse and LaRoche to cross homeplate. 

That would turn out to be all the run support Jackson would need on the night, as he cruised through 6.1 innings while giving up only 1 run on a homer via Adam Jones in the 7th.  Chen pitched good, but not great as Morse and LaRoche came alive at the plate.  LaRoche notched his 13th homerun of the season in the 4th to give the Nats an extra insurance run.

Ryan Zimmerman continued to look lost at the plate and committed his 4th fielding error at third base this season...Yikes.  The defensive play of the night has got to go to Ian Desmond, who recorded an unassisted double play at second base.

Finally, all is well at the back end of the bullpen as Burnett and T-clip used their 1-2 combo in the 8th and 9th inning to close out the game, Clip's 12th of the season.  The rubber game of the series is tomorrow.

   

Nationals @ Orioles: Game Preview (6/22)

Nationals vs. Orioles

7:05 PM Orioles Park at Camden Yards

MASN and MASN2

Story Lines:  

• The Orioles have lost 3 straight games and fallen into second place in the AL East.  
• The Nationals rebounded from their 4 game losing streak with two wins against Tampa Bay.  
• Both teams are having difficulty putting up offensive numbers right now.
• The last Beltways series the Nats only won 1 game out of 3 in Washington.

Pitching Match Up:

• Jordan Zimmermann
•  3-5, 2.92 ERA
• Cannot buy a win despite solid pitching.  
• All his wins have come on the road.

• Jason Hammel
• 7-2, 2.87 ERA
• Frequently pitches deep into games, last time out he went all 9 innings.
• Has lost a No Hitter in the late innings multiple times this season.

Guys to Watch:

• Ryan Zimmerman
• Get it going!  Only hitting .125 since June 15th.
• Has faced Hammel more than any other Orioles pitcher (19 at bats).
• Bats .412 vs Hammel with 1 homerun.

• Adam Jones
• Get it going!  Hitting .250 with 0 RBIs since June 15th.
• Has faced Zimmermann the most out of any Orioles (9 at bats).
• Bats .222 vs Zimmermann with 1 homerun.

Keys to the Game:

1. J-Zimm pitches 7 innings. Get the game to Burnett/T-clip 1-2 punch.
2. Get to Hammel early.  Hammel is good, but the O's have one of the best bullpens in baseball.
3. Keep guys off base.  The O's have homerun threats up and down their lineup and J-zimm has given up the most homers on the team (10).  Limit them to solo shots.

Series Preview: Nationals @ Orioles

It's that time again, the Battle of the Beltways resumes with a three game series in Baltimore.  Last time B-more and the Nats met both teams were in first place.  Now Baltimore has fallen back behind the Yankees and the Nats have been dealing with offensive struggles and their fair share of losses.  Here is how the series stacks up:

• Friday: 7:05 PM, Zimmermann (3-5) vs Hammel (7-2).
• Saturday: 7:15 PM, Jackson (3-4) vs Chen (7-2).
• Sunday: 1:35 PM, Detwiler (4-3) vs Arrieta (3-9).

Just like the first time around, this series is going to come down to how well the Nat's pitchers can slow down the big bats of the O's.  It'll be a little harder this time around because the Nats have the DH to worry about.  If Adam Jones has a big series it probably will end up being an Orioles win.

Game of the Series:  Friday.  Zimmermann will look to set a tone against arguably the best pitcher for the O's.  Starting off the series by keeping the O's bats silent will be vital if the Nats want to win in Baltimore this weekend.

Sound of the Series:  Comes from the Rough Silk.  When I heard Detwiler was back in the rotation I knew I needed to make the song Take a Chance on Me.  To keep my man-cred I went with this metal-cover of the ABBA song.

Prediction Time:
Putting my reputation as a "baseball guy" on the line by predicting the outcomes of each series.  Feel free to yell at me in the comments or on twitter @dru90. 

• Nats WIN on Friday.
• Nats LOSE on Saturday.
• Nats WIN on Sunday.

Nationals WIN the series 2-1.

Battle of the Beltways: Pitching vs Offense

You know how they say "good pitching beats good hitting"?  Well they say it for a reason... 

Putting the 'O in Offense.  
During the first Beltways series I talked about how offensively the Orioles were a superior team.  Even in the darkest stretchs of the past few seasons of Baltimore baseball the team has always been able to put up runs.

This season, with the emergence of Adam Jones into a true superstar, there is no question about the offensive capabilities of the Orioles.  For a long stretch of this season the O's lead major league baseball in home runs and were among the top teams in terms of runs scored.

• MR. Jones Walk Off Homer.

Those Nasty Nat's Pitchers.

Starting pitching was the one area that I thought the Nat's had an advantage over Baltimore.  With Strasburg and Gio leading the way, and the potentials of Zimmermann and Jackson, everybody knew the rotation could be pretty good.  I'm not sure anyone thought it could be THIS good.

The Nat's lead all of baseball with a collective ERA of 2.97.  The second team on the list has 3.22.   Youth and injury have lead to questions about the consistency of the Nat's offense, but no one is doubting what they will get off the mound.

• Strasburg Making 13 K's Look Easy

The Dark Times...
The Orioles and Nationals started the season in first place as both teams were firing on all cylinders.  Life was good.  Then weaknesses for both squads emerged.  All of a sudden the Orioles pitchers, who had been exceeding all expectations, came crashing down to earth.

In Washington, the Nat's saw their offense dry up as key players like Zimmerman, LaRoche, and Espinosa got bogged down in slumps.  In the face of adversity, both teams relied on their strengths to carry them through.  The Orioles kept hacking away at the ball and the Nat's pitchers kept hurling.

And Here We Are.

The Nationals are still in first place, but the Orioles have dropped to third.  Even when it felt like the Nationals could only score 1 to 2 runs a game I wasn't worried because a lot of the time that's all it took to get a win.

On the flip side, I have to watch the Orioles play games were they put 6 runs and watch them lose because they gave up 9.  Sure, putting up all those runs is exciting, but I'm going to take the lights out pitching 100% of the time.  Wouldn't you?  

Battle of the Beltways: O's Take Game Two

 

 Nationals 5, Orioles 6

Well if you were bored last night, tonight's game provided you with some excitement of the offensive variety.  The O's locked up the series win with their win tonight, but the Nat's will look to avoid the sweep tomorrow behind Strasburg.  Here's your recap:

The big bats for the O's got it done again tonight, with Markakis and Jones driving in two runs a piece via the long ball off of Ross Detwiler.  As we said in the series preview, the major advantage the Nat's had over the O's was their starting pitching, but tonight Detwiler couldn't keep it together.  On the flip side, Jason Hammel cruised through the earlier innings tonight before running into trouble in the 6th inning when the Nationals bats came to life and made a game of it.  The bullpen, unlike last night, held the O's scoreless after Detwiler left.  H-rod was brought in during the 9th inning and worked a hit-less frame.    

After their shaky close last night, the Orioles brought in Jim Johnson to finish things off.  Ryan Zimmerman tried to upset Johnson's perfect save percentage by belting a homerun, but it wasn't enough to lead the Nat's to a late inning rally.  Lets hope that homer is a sign of Zimmerman breaking out of his slump.

Final game of the series is tomorrow afternoon.  If anyone on the Nat's can slow down Jones and Markakis, its Strasburg.  The Nat's lineup will have to get it done against Chen, who is a perfect 4-0 on the season.  Each team walked into this series sitting in first place, but it looks like only the O's will exit in the same fashion.  Lets hope the Nat's can avoid the sweep tomorrow!
 

Question:  Adam Jones or Bryce Harper?  As a National's fan, who would you rather have on the team today?