GameThread: Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles - Game 71 Or 72 Of 162.

After The Jump, Pitcher Stats, Batter vs Pitcher, And An Interview With Orioles Blog: Right Off Russell.

TODAY'S STARTING PITCHERS ARE GOING TO STARE AT YOU NOW...

Brad Bergesen

#35 / Pitcher / Baltimore Orioles

Height: 6-2

Weight: 215

Bats: L

Throws: R

Born: Sep 25, 1985

'09 Stats - (4-2, 3.94 ERA), 12 GS, 77.2 IP, 79 H, 36 R, 34 ER, 9 HR, 17 BB, 35 K's, 1.24 WHIP, .265 BAA.

vs DC - (0-0, 6.35 ERA), 1 GS, 5.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 HR, 0 BB, 2 K's, 1.41 WHIP, .333 BAA.

Origin Story - Baltimore Orioles' 4th Round pick, 109th overall in 2004.

Ross Detwiler

#48 / Pitcher / Washington Nationals

Height: 6-5

Weight: 185

Bats: R

Throws: L

Born: Mar 06, 1986

'09 Stats - (0-3, 4.76 ERA), 7 GS, 39.2 IP, 42 H, 22 R, 21 ER, 3 HR, 15 BB, 26 K's, 1.44 WHIP, .266 BAA.

vs Baltimore - (0-0, 1.50 ERA), 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K's, 0.83 WHIP, .053 BAA.

Origin Story - Washington Nationals' 1st Round pick, 6th overall in 2007.

The Nationals vs Bergesen...

Adam Dunn - 1 for 3, .333 AVG, 1 HR, 2 RBI's.

Willie Harris - 1 for 2, .500 AVG, 1 2B.

Austin Kearns - 2 for 3, .667 AVG, 1 2B.

Josh Willingham - 1 for 3, .333 AVG.

Ryan Zimmerman - 1 for 3, .333 AVG.

Federal Baseball.com Does Interviews...This One With Orioles Blog...

Right Off Russell

Federal Baseball.com Talks To Jeff from Right Off Russell:

Federal Baseball (FB): I keep hearing Aubrey Huff's name in trade rumors, as often as I hear Nick Johnson's name mentioned, do you think he'll be dealt, and what do you expect, or what would you accept in return?

ROR: I am really torn about what the Orioles should do with Huff. I like his bat in the middle of the O's line-up and there is no one who could immediately replace his power. I also think Huff wants to stick around in Baltimore and could be re-signed after the season. He looks back on leaving Tampa, before they put it all together, with remorse and does not want the same thing to happen here. Huff is also appreciated in Baltimore despite harsh comments about the city in his first off-season with the club. On the other hand, Huff's value is as high as it is going to get and the Orioles would be wise to try and cash in on that. Andy McPhail will not trade Huff for the sake of making a move. The return value will need to be there. If the Orioles trade Huff, it would be great to get a close to major league ready 3B prospect and maybe a bullpen arm. Much more for a rental player is unrealistic.

FB: Ryan Zimmerman's Achilles' Heel seems to he his tendency to sail throws to first occasionally when he has too much time to make a play. Assuming you consider Nick Markakis the face of the Orioles' franchise, have you spotted his weakness yet.

ROR: Nick Markakis' weakness is not in the field. If he is not already he should be considered on of the top RF's in the game. I think Kake's main weakness is that he struggles to catch up to top end heat. His bat could be considered a tad slow, and at times he gets caught guessing on pitches to compensate. So if he guesses wrong he is either badly fooled or caught looking. Having said that though, Markakis is a very skilled offensive player, with a great approach who should consistently put up .300, 25 hr, 90 rbi seasons with an OBPS around .850-.900. I am just not sure if he will ever take the next step and become a .320, 30 hr, 120 rbi, .1000 OBPS type player.

FB: Assuming Markakis and Adam Jones are going to be fixtures of the O's outfield for years to come, who is going to eventually take hold of the left field spot. Luke Scott's 6-years older than Jones and Markakis, is it Nolan Reimold, who I've admittedly only seen a few times when DC and Baltimore have played each other, or is there someone else in the system who'll take over in left?

ROR: Keep an eye on Reimold this series. He has, for all intents an purposes locked up the LF spot, giving the O's a bright future in the outfield. Based on what he did in the minors we knew Reimold had a good power bat, but since he has been in Baltimore he is proving to be a very complete offensive player. Reimold consistently has good at bats and has shown the ability to work the count to get pitches to hit. He rarely gets fooled and has great bat speed. At this point he looks like he can combine average and on base percentage with his impressive power. One knock on Reimold in the minors was that his OF defense was suspect. He has a very good throwing arm, but it was said that he struggled in always taking good routes on fly balls and just always being an alert and hustling OF'er. While Reimold is not a gold glove defender it seems to me that his defense has improved and he is better than he was advertised. I am hard pressed to think of any other outfields that have a trio of guys with as good a combo of outfield range and throwing arms as Markakis, Jones and Reimold.

FB: Is Matt Wieters ready? Was he brought up too soon? How long before he's the everyday catcher?

Wieters is the everyday catcher. Greg Zaun will get 1-2 starts a week, but Wieters is the #1 guy. I do not think he was brought up too soon. Defensively he is very skilled and he seems to work well with the Orioles pitchers at working a gameplan and calling pitches, something that will only improve the more he plays. Wieters has at times looked human at bat which had to be expected. With the amount of hype he came up with he needed to match Joe Mauer's production to not be seen as disappointing. In all seriousness I think he will be fine hitting. I do think he has shown to be a better left handed hitter than right handed hitter so far, and it happens that the Orioles have faced a lot of left handed starters since Wieters got the call up. He has all the tools to be successful and he combines that with the right team first attitude, something that can be hard to keep when one player gets so much attention. Wieters is where he belongs in Baltimore.

(Bonus ?) Jim Palmer or Rob Dibble? Who would you rather have announcing your games?

I confess that I am partial to Jim Palmer. I have listened to him provide color on Orioles games for so long and really appreciate the insight he provides. Palmer also says what needs to be said when the Orioles need to be criticized for lass than stellar play. I also have not had the chance to listen to Dibble a whole lot. From what I have heard Dibs is good too, but like I said I enjoy Palmer and think he is one of the better color analysts out there. I don't think that Palmer could make Strahan sound like a little girl the way that Dibble did when he stepped in to break up a fight between Strahan and Tom Arnold. If I had to pick one of them to have my back in a bar fight then I would go with Dibble.

Thanks Jeff...

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