Washington Nationals Or Senators, Some Things Never Change, Baltimore Orioles Win 6-5 On WP.

5. The Early Lead: The Washington Nationals, who've struggled to produce any offense recently, have gotten out to six and five-run leads in the last two games, and somehow managed to lose both to the worst team in baseball...a title which might be up for grabs if the Nats drop game three and get swept out of Baltimore in tomorrow's Sunday afternoon series finale. With the bases loaded and one out in the third inning this afternoon, Adam Dunn doubled in two with a line drive to right, followed by Pudge Rodriguez's RBI groundout and Roger Bernadina's run-scoring single for a 4-run 3rd and a 4-0 lead over the Orioles with right-hander Livan Hernandez on the hill. Ian Desmond, who'd walked and scored the first of the Nats' four runs in the third, started the fourth with a leadoff single, stole second, took third on a sac bunt by Nyjer Morgan and scored on a sac fly by Cristian Guzman to put Washington up 5-0 over the O's after three and a half...

4. The Comeback: Adam Jones launched a one-out, 1-2 slider inside from Livan Hernandez to left field and out of the park to get the O's on the board in the bottom of the fourth, 5-1, and in the bottom of the fifth, the Orioles got four straight hits from Cesar Izturis (Single), Corey Patterson (Double), Miguel Tejada (RBI single) and Nick Markakis (RBI single) to make it 5-3 Nats. Livan struck Luke Scott out, and got a groundout from Adam Jones to bring Matt Wieters up with two on and two out, and the O's catcher completed the comeback with a two-run single to center that tied it at 5-5. Livan Hernandez throws 28 pitches in the fifth and gives up 5 hits, 4 runs and the lead, having needed just 55 to get through the previous four innings and just 8 to get through the sixth...

3. The Heartbreak: Should or could Pudge Rodriguez have gotten down to block Drew Storen's tie-breaking wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh? Maybe? Did he miss a backhand stab with runners on first and third and let the eventual winning run cross? Yes? Would Drew Storen most likely take the blame for the pitch to Ty Wiggington? I'm sure...A two-out single by Matt Wieters moves Luke Scott from first to third after he'd reached safely on a fielder's choice and chased Nats' lefty Sean Burnett after he'd given up a leadoff walk and then recorded the first two outs. Drew Storen's brought on to face Wiggington, and he just gets one by Pudge that goes to the backstop and allows Scott to score from third. 6-5 Orioles...

2. The Good Points: No errors? Ian Desmond going 1 for 3 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Roger "I'm hitting .283" Bernadina's run-scoring two-out single in the fourth? Bernadina's put together a .333/403/.449 June, collecting 23 hits, 2 doubles, 2 HR's, 4 RBI's, 7 walks and 4 stolen bases in 22 games and 69 at bats...and best of all, Bernadina's RBI hit came on a slider outside from O's starter Brad Bergesen...Why did the offense work? Zim, Dunn, Hammer: 4 for 10, 2 runs scored, 2 RBI's. 4 for 8 Team RISP? The bun...(ed. note - "What? The bunts? You're really going to bring up the bunts with this crowd? No....next, what's no.1?")

1. The Fans?: (from the Federal Baseball GameThread):

• doghouse: And it's a go-ahead WP. I hate this game.

• grizzy: "This is the angriest i've ever felt DURING a Nats game...I feel like Carlos Zambrano right now..."

• doghouse: "You have to let the anger dissipate. After a while it gives over to despair. You don’t feel any better, but it’s less stressful."

• Patrick Reddington: "Don't throw a ball in the stands, just hit the water cooler..."

• SeanMac1: "I thought i was going to throw a brick through my TV his last time out. This game i feel like throwing my TV through the window. It’s the O’s. The(y) are HORRIBLE."

• grizzy: "Quote of the year: (This should be somewhere on the recap of today's game):

--- seanmac1: "...This game i feel like throwing my TV through the window. It’s the O’s. The(y) are HORRIBLE."

• SeanMac1: "Haha thanks, but i wasn't being sarcastic, I’m disconnecting the cables on my TV as we speak…"

• RoscoeNats: "Are there really 11,000 miles of shoreline on the Chesapeake Bay? Seems like a misplaced comma on Johnny’s prompter."

• Miss The Game? The DC Faithful Were Watching...

• Final Score: Orioles 6, Senators 5

Nationals now 33-42.