Orioles and Nationals will be a Great World Series
Jul 10, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles teammates Steve Perce (28) and
Nick Markakis(21) celebrate after a game against the Washington Nationals at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Orioles defeated the Nationals 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
After watching the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals play, it is not a ridiculous notion to imagine the two divisional leaders ending up in a World Series matchup against one another. A Battle of the Beltways World Series would be great for baseball, not to mention the Angelos family.
Though the two teams will need to make up a game on August 4th in Washington, the abbreviated three-game series ended on Thursday night with a 4-3 Orioles victory. There were a lot of great moments and great plays made by both squads in the series. These are two very good teams who have mirrored one another all year with similar records. So why not plan to meet for their next series in October?
The Nationals would have the edge in pitching, particularly with their great group of starters. And the Washington bullpen is among the best. Even so, the Orioles have over the course of this recent 35-game resurgence gotten rather good starting pitching, while the bullpen is certainly well above average.
The Orioles would have the advantage on offense, particularly when able to use the designated hitter. Soon the Birds will be surpassing the Jays for the most home runs in baseball. Steve Pearce hit #113 for the O’s on Thursday night to put them just three behind Toronto. Washington ranks 16th in MLB with a total of 77.
I’m glad they’re somebody else’s problem for a little while
Make no mistake about it, the Nationals have a lot of pop in their lineup. Anthony Rendon is a really nice-looking talent with all the tools. And there is Adam LaRoche, Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Worth, and the speedy Denard Span. Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper are bound to hit better than their current statistical standing.
Buck Showalter certainly agrees with this analysis, as he said in the postgame press conference, “That’s a great club; I’m glad they’re somebody else’s problem for a little while.”
On Thursday night, the Orioles got off to a 4-0 lead after three innings, but the Nationals continued to chip their way back into the game. Wei-Yin Chen had above-average stuff on this evening, and he needed it all to hold off the Nats. He recorded critical strikeouts to eliminate scoring threats in the fourth and fifth innings.
Tommy Hunter bridged the gap after Chen’s 5.2 innings to get to Darren O’Day in the eighth. Though the Nats would load the bases, O’Day was able to escape the jam and give it off to Zach Britton to close successfully in the ninth.
The Orioles were out-hit in the game 10-6, but a Desmond throwing error in the third inning (the first Nats error in 13 games) allowed what would prove to be the winning run to score.
With the victory, the Orioles increased their lead over the inactive Jays to three games. And a Yankees loss to Cleveland drops them to four games behind the Orioles.
Those Yankees come to town on Friday for the first time in 2014, and yes, that is really strange. Game #92 is the first Orioles home game against New York!
However, all of this could prove to be fortuitous for the Orioles. The Yankees are currently just a game over .500 and appear to be headed in the opposite direction as do the surging Birds.
How many injuries can the elderly Yanks absorb? At some point the fish needs to roll over and just go belly up. The latest of course is Masahiro Tanaka, who after his great start for the season, has been diagnosed with a partial ligament tear. A six-week program of rehab will be entered into with hopes that Tommy John surgery can be avoided and the ace of the staff can rejoin the Yankees for the end of the season.
The NY rotation is already missing C.C. Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda. Also add Carlos Beltran to the injured list, as he suffered two small facial fractures in a batting-practice incident yesterday. He has been determined to have a concussion and was placed on the seven-day disabled list.
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All of this would appear to be good news for the Orioles’ prospects for the weekend series, but Hiroki Kuroda will be pitching for the Yankees. At a rather pedestrian 4.20 ERA with a 6-6 record, Kuroda remains a thrower who has given the Orioles occasional fits over the years. Though he is 3-3 with a 3.15 ERA versus the O’s, his WHIP number of 0.968 shows how effective he has actually been.
Against Kuroda, Nick Markakis is 8-for-25 with two doubles and a homer, Adam Jones is 8-for-28 with a double, Chris Davis is 7-for-26 with two doubles and two home runs, and Manny Machado is 5-for-20 with a double and two home runs. But Nelson Cruz is 3-for-19, Steve Pearce is 1-for-7, and J.J. Hardy is only 3-for-27 with a double and homer.
Miguel Gonzalez will take his 4-5, 4.22 ERA record to the mound. He has struggled a good bit since coming back from the disabled list. But Gonzalez has proven to be a decent asset against the Yankees. Though his record over eight starts is 2-2 with a 4.07 ERA, again the WHIP statistic of 1.192 demonstrates some adequate performance.
Just one win over the weekend will assure that the Orioles will be alone in first place in the AL East at the All-Star break.