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...

Zimm Can't Buy a Win in B-more.

Nationals 1, Orioles 2

The Nationals dropped the first game of their three game set in Baltimore tonight despite a strong performance from Jordan Zimmermann.  The game was delayed an hour because of rain, but the park was still packed when the first pitch was thrown out.

J-zimm didn't have his best stuff tonight, but he limited the Orioles lineup to 2 runs and pitched 7 good innings.  He gave up 1 run on a Mark Reynolds homerun and another on a J.J. Hardy double.

Unfortunately for the Nationals, Jason Hammel pitched even better for 8 innings.  He recorded a career high 10 strikeouts.  The Nat's only run came off of a throwing error in the 5th.  Hardy made a couple of leaping catches at shortstop to rob the Nats of base runners that are so hard to come by these days.

Ian Desmond was about the only Nat to have a decent night at the plate, going 2-3 and scoring the only run of the night.  There were no signs of life from Zim, Laroche, or Harper tonight.  Jim Johnson came into the 9th to close things out for save number 21.