| 24 May 2009
05-23-09: Baltimore Orioles vs. Washington Nationals
For the second night in a row on the banks of the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington, the Baltimore Orioles defeated their rivals down 295 -- the Washington Nationals -- by a score of 2-1. The Orioles only mustered three hits on the night against National pitching, but a critical pinch-hit triple by Aubrey Huff in the seventh inning -- who had been mired in a 1-for-18 slump before his at-bat -- off National reliever Ron Villone to break a tie at one made the difference on Saturday night.
Baltimore once again got another strong pitching performance from their arms, but starter Koji Uehara only lasted three innings and left because of a sore hamstring. To add the situation with Uehara, Roch noted in his blog that the hurler may have gotten tired too and a tad dehydrated pitching in the humidity last night. He didn't allow any runs on the night, and Brian Bass came in to pitch three innings of relief and earned his third win. George Sherrill pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out the side to earn his 9th save.
Bass gave up a run in fifth inning as Cristian Guzman hit a solo home run -- his second -- to the game at one.
Washington's starting pitcher Ross Detwiler stymied the Orioles as he threw six innings of one-run ball. He was a tad shaky at points, but finished up his outing on a positive note, retiring 10 of the last 11 batters. Baltimore got to Detwiler in the top of the third inning as Nick Markakis plated Gregg Zaun -- who reached base via a walk.
If what Roch says is true about Uehara -- and there's no reason think otherwise -- he had better get himself into better condition because the weather will start to go downhill humidity and heat-wise from here. It will get brutally hot in the Mid-Atlantic region, and one could say along the Eastern seaboard starting in June.\
- It's looking more and more likely that Lou Montanez will end up on the disabled list due to his injured thumb. I was rooting for the guy to become a tanigble part of the team, and while his batting average is around the Mendoza line, he did show some decent control with his bat. It looks like Nolan Reimold may wind up staying in Baltimore for a good while and get a lot of playing time, while Felix Pie may still be on the squad too for a while and might get a reprieve of ending up on waivers or released.
- So far in his return, Matt Albers has looked good and resembles little of the pitcher who was in Baltimore a few weeks ago on the mound.
- There were more people at Saturday's game -- about 31,000 plus -- than on Friday. However, I would venture to say that the Orioles may still have quite a presence in the Washington area based on the crowd at Nationals Park; therefore, I'd venture to say that 40% of the people in attendance rooted for the black and orange.
- Finally, I don't know what happened to George Sherill at the end of last year and at the start of 2009, but after the threat of demotion and working with the pitching coaches, he's a different man. The velocity is up, George looks focused on the mound, and at least with the Nationals series, he's just has been plain dominant.
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