Nats (21-21) vs. Orioles (13-29)
Happy Battle of the Beltways Day! Okay, maybe happy isn’t the right word for the Orioles, off to a miserable start this season. Not so for the Nats, who few expected to see .500 well into May. They try to keep their head above water tonight against Baltimore starter David Hernandez (0-5, 5.84 ERA). For Washington it is Scott Olsen (2-1, 3.15 ERA), who has allowed four runs total in his last five starts.
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Jim Riggleman is giving outfielder Nyjer Morgan his second day off this week. Willie Harris is in right field with Roger Bernadina in center. The Orioles? It’s not pretty at the plate right now. Brian Roberts is still hurt and weeks away from returning to the lineup. Matt Wieters is out with a bruised knee so Craig Tatum is behind the plate with his .190 batting average. On the positive side, Luke Scott is again destroying opposing pitchers in the month of May – an annual occurence it seems in Charm City. He has a 1.228 OPS this month and will actually be at first base tonight for just the third time this season. Interested to see what kind of crowd we get for this still developing rivalry on a beautiful Friday night in the District. Here are the lineups:
Orioles:
Patterson – LF
Wigginton – 2B
Markakis – RF
Tejada – 3B
Scott – 1B
Jones – CF
Tatum – C
Izturis – SS
Hernandez – P
Nationals:
Harris – RF
Guzman – 2B
Zimmerman – 3B
Dunn – 1B
Willingham – LF
Rodriguez – C
Bernadina – CF
Desmond – SS
Olsen – P
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