Recapping...

Ryan Zimmerman was 3 for 5 last night, with a two-RBI double in the first off Baltimore starter Garrett Olson, leaving Zimmerman batting .244, with 8 doubles, 7 HR's and 23 RBI's in 42 games. An RBI sac fly from Elijah Dukes in the fourth was the only other scoring the Nationals generated over the eight innings after Zimmerman's hit gave Washington an early 2-0 lead. DC starter Shawn Hill allowed 8 hits and 5 runs, 4 earned, with 2 walks, 3 K's and 1 HR surrendered in 5.0 innings pitched, followed by Matt Chico and Jesus "Everday" Colome who combined for 3.0 scoreless in relief, but it was the Baltimore bullpen, given the lead in the fifth, that held the Nationals off the board the rest of the way, with Matt Albers, Jim Johnson and closer George Sherrill giving up just 2 hits and 1 walk (all off Albers) over 4.0 scoreless to hold on to and save Baltimore's 22nd win. 

On the Hill...

"Opening Night" Odalis Perez is (1-3) on the season in 9 starts, with a 3.71 ERA in 51.0 innings, and in his 10-year MLB career, the left-hander out of Las Matas de Farfan in the Dominican Republic, is undefeated, at (2-0) in three starts against Baltimore, with a 2.70 ERA in 20.0 innings on the mound opposing the Orioles. Perez has pitched twice in Camden Yards, once, last April for Kansas City, earning no decision in a Royals loss, in which he let up 9 hits and 4 ER's in 5.0 innings, and the other time back on June 9, 2002, in an Interleague game for the Dodgers, in which Perez prevailed after pitching 8.0 innings of 4 hit, 1 run ball with 10 K's against the '02 O's. 

Brian Burres, Baltimore's 27-year old righty out of Oregon City, Oregon, makes the 25 start of his 3-year career with the Orioles, and his first start against Washington, though he pitched 1.1 innings last year in a relief appearance against the Nationals in which he walked 2 and K'd 2 in a 7-4 Orioles' loss in DC. Heading into tonight's Interleague matchup, Burres is (3-4) on the year, with a 3.59 ERA in 42.2 innings pitched. 

Official Game Time Last Night Under AL Rules...

2:33 minutes. Attendance at Camden Yards: 29,266. 

DY UPDATE...

Dmitri Young told Washington Times sports writer Ben Goessling, as reported in Mr. Goessling's article entitled, "Young returns to the lineup sans Johnson", when asked if he was 100%:

"If there's such a thing as that, yes. If there's not, I'm pretty darn close."

DY was 1 for 4 in his first game for the Nationals since April 2nd, though the hit was an error by absence by the Baltimore fielders, but DY drove the ball right into the defense twice, and seemed to be swinging away without any visible reluctance after spending over a month on the DL with unexplained back pain. 

Overall Interleague Record...

Tonight's game is again at 7:05 pm EST, and if the Orioles can win a second straight against the Nationals, Baltimore will tie the Interleague record between the two franchises at 7-7 with Sunday's matinee to leave one team ahead until June, when the O's and Nationals meet for the first time in Nationals Park. "Opening Night" Odalis Perez got his first win of '08 last time out, and the Nationals are 3-1 in his last four starts. Austin Kearns sat yesterday, as the Nationals wait for him to find his swing...Will AK be in the OF tomorrow, and Where Was Willie Harris a day after his defensive heroics against NY?