In what could be seriously considered a World Series preview, the Orioles will “travel” the grueling 30 miles southeast to take on their business partner, the Washington Nationals. The first two games will be played at Nats Park, then returning to a real ballpark (OPACY) Wednesday and Thursday to close out the home and home series.
This starts what I’ve coined the past couple years with some assistance from the legendary Scott Garceau as The MASN Cup. Some also refer to it as the Beltway Series, but in my humble opinion that moniker stinks worse than the Anacostia River.
The artist formerly known as the Expos at post time sit 48-39, half a game back of Atlanta in the NL East. They are 28-18 at home and have their “ace” Stephen Strasburg (7-6, 3.53 ERA) toeing the rubber in the opener.
He will be opposed by the Orioles “ace” Chris Tillman (7-4, 4.21 ERA) who took a no-decison in his last outing against Texas. Tilly had posted back to back 7+ inning performances prior to his 5 2/3 innings vs. the Rangers. As MLB.com’s preview pointed out, “Tillman has been much better of late”. Whatever that means to you.
The Orioles are 25-19 away from the friendly confines of OPACY, which is 4th best (in the loss column) in the American League. So far this year they are 4-3 vs. NL teams and have had the Nats number over the past couple seasons. Last year, the O’s took 3 of 4 from the “Expos” retaining the MASN Cup for another year — that’s three years and counting.
Overall the O’s lead the Nats, 26-20, in the eight year history of the “Beltway Series.”
Here are the rest of the pitching matchups:
Tuesday: Wei-Yin Chen (8-3, 4.12 ERA) vs. Doug Fister (7-2, 2.93 ERA)
Wednesday: Tanner Roark (7-6, 3.12 ERA) vs. TBA (but should be Bud Norris if healthy)
Thursday: Gio Gonzalez (6-4, 3.52 ERA) vs. Miguel Gonzalez (4-5, 4.22 ERA)
MASN Cup Nuggets
Did you know that Buck Showalter managed Nats skipper Matt Williams during his three year stint in Arizona (1998-2000)? It’s no surprise to Showalter that Williams is in his first season as manager of the Nats.
“He was a student”,” said Showalter. “The way he played the game, he was a good teammate. It doesn’t surprise me at at all.”
Nat’s “slugger”, Bryce Harper continues to struggle since returning from the DL last week. Harp was 0-3 with two K’s Sunday (vs. Jake Arrieta) and dropped his average to .190 since being activated last Monday. He has collected just four hits during that time and only one has gone for extra bases.
After this series, the Orioles will host the Yankees over the weekend. Sunday’s game will be on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball and will feature Yankees SP Masishro Tanaka who was selected for the AL All Star team in his first season.
That will wrap up the first half for the Orioles and here’s hoping this start in July (4-1 record, 28 runs scored and 7 HR’s) is a trend that continues into the All Star Break and beyond!
Jabby how long has it been since you’ve had an actual job?
Snakey Jake, how long have you been living in your mom’s basement and working an actual job at Burger King?
Jake,
Thanks for reading and posting your comments.
My job is kicking your ass in life.
Cheers,
Jabby
Mr. Burns, I beg to differ.
I work for Jake at the 7-11 and he’s the best shift leader I ever had. Back in May, he not only got somebody to cover my shift so I could go to the prom, but he also lent me his rad ’82 Trans Am! Jake has really furthered his career. He started off playing the drums with Hechinger’s 5 gallon buckets and old paint cans outside of the civic center. Now look at him! Not only the shift leader, but was April 2013’s Employee of the Month which afforded him free slurpees for the whole month!
Kicking his ass in life, hah! Jake is being considered for store manager!
Mr. Jabby, you got it all wrong. I work for Jake at the Highlandtown 7-11 and he’s the best shift lead I ever had! Just this past May, I needed the day off to go to the prom and he worked it out for me and lent my his rad ’82 Trans Am!
Since his days of playing the drums on the 5 gallon Hechinger’s buckets and paint cans outside of the civic center, to the shift lead at the store, Mr. Jake is a self-made man!
There are talks he could get the store manager job soon! So you’re all wet Mr. Jabby, Jake is kicking YOUR ass in life!