The Orioles take on the Nationals for a weekend series starting tonight, to kick-off inter-league play.
Baltimore is 16-25 overall, and in last place in the American League East. They are 5-14 on the road, and have lost their last 4 games.
DC is 12-28 overall, and in last place in the National League East. They are 6-14 at home, and are 2-8 in their last 10.
The pitching matchups are:
5/22: Hill vs Zimmerman
5/23: Uehara vs Detwiler
5/24: Bergesen vs Martis
I am really looking forward to watching Hill make his 2nd Oriole start tonight.
In his Baltimore debut last week, Hill went 5.2 innings, allowed 7 hits, 2er, 2 bb’s, with 6 k’s. Without a DH, and with that initial start behind him, 7 innings is the goal tonight for Hill.
Zimmerman is 2-1, with a 6.35 era. In 34 innings, he has allowed 40 hits, 5 homers, 11 bb’s, with 32 k’s. He has allowed at least 5 er in 4 consecutive starts.
Detwiler is 23 years old, and was a 1st round pick of the Nationals in 2007. The lefty is making his 2nd start of the 2009 season… on May 18th against Pittsburgh, the lefty went 5 innings, allowed 4 hits, 3 er, 0 bb’s, with 6 k’s.
Martis is a 22 year old righty, that is 5-0 on the year. Think about that… the Nationals are 7-28 in games not won by Martis.
He has pitched 47.2 innings, allowed 45 hits, 4 homers, 19 walks, with 23 k’s. His era is 4.53… and opposing hitters have a .713 OPS against, and he has a 0.74 Grounder to Flyball ratio.
He has pitched at least 6 innings in five of his eight 2009 starts, and allowed 3 er or less in six of his starts.
With E. Dukes on the DL, and Lastings Milledge back in the Minors.. The positional talent of the Nationals looks pretty poor. They are solid on the corners with Ryan Zimmerman, and Adam Dunn… but could really use Austin Kearns to resemble the player he was for the Reds.
On a holiday weekend, these games should be well attended with plenty of Black and Orange representation.
Even without the DH, I am expecting the O’s bats to come alive and put up some runs. An Orioles sweep of that Nats would be outstanding, but 2 of 3 should be the expectation.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.