The Orioles broke out the brooms over the weekend, sweeping the Nationals out of Baltimore en route to winning the 2010 "Battle of the Beltways."
Yes, that's right. The lowly Birds beat the Nats. Weren't these Nationals supposed to be making a run this season?
With interleague play over, the Orioles used their second three-game sweep of the season to top the Nationals 4-2 in the season series between the two interleague, regional rivals.
It should probably be said that the Nationals (33-43) lost the series rather than that the Orioles (23-52) won it.
The Nats led all three games in the middle innings, squandering leads of 6-0, 5-0 and 3-0 in the three games, respectively.
Four errors doomed Washington in game one, the Nats allowed Luke Scott to trot home with Baltimore’s winning run in game two, and another error hurt the Nationals’ cause in game three.
In the wake of being swept by the team with the worst record in baseball, the ailing Nationals are looking more like the ‘Natinals’ these days than they have in some time.
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They’ve lost four straight and 12 of 15, and they now find themselves 11 games back of the Braves in the National League East.
Conversely, the Birds are playing their best baseball of the season. Sure, that's not saying much, but wins are wins, right?
Baltimore’s offense has awoken from a slumber -- scoring 27 runs during its current four-game winning streak. (Comparatively, the O’s didn’t score their 27th run in June until their 12th game).
Adam Jones, who has hit in eight straight games, has belted a home run in five of his last 11 contests. Miguel Tejada has tallied at least two hits in five of Baltimore’s last six games, hitting almost .500 (13 for 27) during that stretch.
And the Orioles’ bullpen, a glaring deficiency all season, has been reliable during the team’s recent hot stretch.
Can the Orioles sustain their momentum when they start playing American League teams again? Probably not. But that doesn’t matter. The O’s have already cemented area bragging rights for a year.
