On the Hill...

It's all tied at 7-7 between the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles after the O's took the first two of three to even the series started in '06, one year after DC was finally moved/allowed back into the District. Tomorrow afternoon at 1:35 pm EST, the finale features John "Cool Hand" Lannan (3-4, 3.74 ERA) on the mound for DC against Orioles' righty Jeremy Guthrie, (2-3, 4.18 ERA). The winner holds the lead in the Interleague Intrigue until late June when the Orioles make their first trip to Nationals Park. 

John Lannan's given up 19 hits, 5 ER, and 1 HR in his last 12.0 innings on the mound, during a winning effort in Houston in which he allowed 7 hits and 1 run over 6.0 innings in Minute Maid Park, followed by a start on the road in New York in which Lannan lasted 6.0 again, but gave up 12 hits, 4 runs and a HR in a Nationals' loss...uh, let's see, uh Lannan's never faced the Orioles...(2-2) in 5 starts on the road...(1-2) in 3 daytime starts...

Jeremy Guthrie's got two starts under his belt against the Nationals, and he's given up just 2 runs on 8 hits in 14.0 innings with 2 walks, 15 K's and a 1.29 ERA against Washington. Rob Mackowiak has 2 hits and 2 RBI's in 2 at bats against Guthrie, Dmitri Young's got 4 hits, 1 2B in 7 AB's for (.571 AVG), and Felipe Lopez and Ryan Zimmerman have a hit a piece off Guthrie, with an RBI for Lopez. Guthrie's won 2 of his last 3 starts after going winless in his first six trips to the mound. (ed. note - "...and he's 0-2 in 4 daytime starts.")

Jesus Flores Tossed? Surely You Jest?

After getting tossed when a strike from "Wild" Joel Hanrahan was called a ball by the home plate Ump last night, Flores told MLB.com's Bill Ladson, as quoted in an article entitled, "Flores becoming a big league force": 

"'I'm really surprised,' Flores said. 'I just asked, 'Where was that pitch?' He just threw me out of the game. There was nothing I could do about it. It was the third time I asked him, but I wasn't mad.'"

From the Uh-Oh? Files...

Washington Times sports writer Mark Zuckerman reports, in his article entitled, "Hill may miss start next Wednesday", that Washington Nationals righty Shawn HIll had "trouble" with his elbow following his last start against Baltimore, and Mr. Zuckerman writes:

"...Hill received a cortisone shot and had fluid drained from his throwing elbow yesterday morning and said he may miss his next scheduled start." 

In MLB.com Bill Ladson's report on the situation entitled, "Hill's right elbow is hurting", at the Nationals' official site, Mr. Ladson elaborates on Hill's health, writing:

"This is not the only injury Hill is dealing with. He still is bothered by a sore right forearm, which is the reason he hasn't been able to command his breaking pitches this season. When the breaking pitches are not working, the hitters are waiting for the fastball."

The Orioles' View...

Baltimore Sun sports writer Roch Kubatko got a chance to ask Baltimore Skipper Dave Tremblay why he left young flame throwing reliever Dennis Sarfate in to face DC DH DY, Dmitri Young with two on and two out in the eigth inning of last night's Interleague game. Mr. Tremblay's response is quite possibly the most genuine look inside the mind of a real baseball man that's been put into print in quite a long time, as Mr. Kubatko quotes the O's Manager in a post entitled, "Going back over the Sarfate decision", on his "Roch Around the Clock" blog at The Sun:

"'Young’s a low-ball hitter from both sides of the plate,” Trembley said. 'I remember Dmitri from when I managed in the Texas League in 1993. He’s the same kind of hitter. He wants that ball low. If you’re going to get him out, you’re going to have to crowd him and you’re going to have to crowd him up. The guy’s been on the DL for a while and he hasn’t seen a lot of good pitching. I think it’s an opportunity for Sarfate to come in there with one pitch and get the third out. Just keep pounding the fastball to him and give him somewhat of a leeway. Don’t put him in a situation where you let Bradford face him and then have Sarfate come in with the tying run at the plate or the go-ahead run at the plate. I don’t think that’s a good idea to do that with a guy who hasn’t pitched in five days.

"'Sarfate just missed with Young. I thought that was the right situation for Sarfate to just come in there and throw fastballs, try to beat him with one pitch. He was pitching away. I’d really prefer to just go ahead and pitch him hard inside, but that’s baseball."

...and to think that probably all went through the Manager's mind in just seconds during the game, and he recalled his thinking at some distance, time wise, after the initial in-game decision. Unbelievable...

Today's matinee gets underway at 1:35 pm EST...The Nationals look to avoid being swept out of Baltimore quicker than Bunny's legalized Drug zone in Hamsterdam was cleaned out by the Cops after the Mayor and Chief of Police got wind of it on The Wire. Anyone else notice that Jesus Flores is 11 for 30, (.367 AVG), with 5 doubles, 1 HR and 7 RBI's in 11 games? Or that Zimmerman's got 3 HR's in his last 5 games? Or what the kids call him?