Matchups: Washington Nationals - CBSSports.com Message Boards

Matchups: Washington Nationals -
Sesshomaru Reputation:99 Level:Superstar Since:Apr 7, 2007
	June 27, 2008 4:07 am Score: 99
	Baltimore Orioles (40-36) vs. Washington Nationals (30-49) Recent Trends Baltimore: - Won 6 of 9 Washington: - Lost 7 of 9 Game 1: 7:35pm Daniel Cabrera (5-3) 4.46 (1.38), 60/44 vs. Odalis Perez (2-5) 4.09 (1.54), 48/28 Cabrera has been a little better over his last two starts, but he continues to resemble the DC from past years a little too much. Here's hoping Cabrera has another decent start and rediscovers his early season form and he's going to get the advantage against Perez who is making his first start since coming off the DL. Advantage Baltimore. Game 2: 7:10pm Garrett Olson (5-3) 5.01 (1.43), 38/21 L3: 8.40 (1.47) vs. John Lannan (4-8) 3.34 (1.29), 55/28 L6: 3.25 (1.08) Olson has been horrible over the last three starts. The one encouraging thing about this situation is before this recent rough patch, Garrett made eight starts and allowed more than three runs in only one of them. The question is: Will he flame out like Burres did or will he bounce back after a handful of starts like Guthrie does? At this point, I'm going to say he starts to bounce back in this game, but I still think Lannan gets the better of us. He's been great all year and suffers from a lack of run support like a certain someone on our staff. Advantage Washington. Game 3: 1:35pm Jeremy Guthrie (4-7) 3.64 (1.21), 70/31 L3: 4.84 (1.29) vs. Jason Bergmann (1-5) 4.60 (1.35), 52/14 *L2: 1.38 (1.08) Speaking of a certain someone on our staff, Guthrie is in a bit of a rough stretch himself. He did pitch one of his better games of the year in between two bad ones though. I think he finds his groove here against the Gnats, but this may not be such a shoe-in win either. Bergmann is a very talented pitcher and has been showing it in his last two starts, but he struggles with consistency and could pitch like an A baller at any moment. Gotta go with Guthrie here. Advantage Baltimore. This series could be very unpredictable. I believe Olson will bounce back to his previous form like all the good pitchers do, but when he does it is another story. Lannan is a tough guy to have to face and I think he will stop our offense in it's tracks and Olson is going to have to find his top form to keep us in that game. With Bergmann, who knows. When he's on, you can't touch him and when he's not, he gets shelled. Hmm, wonder if he hung out with DC when he was younger? Anyways, I still think we take this series, but Bergmann makes me a little nervous and Guthrie is, hopefully, coming out of his rough patch. I worry that he will need another start before he gets it going again, but let's hope not.
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Matchups: Washington Nationals -
Bmore_birdsfan Reputation:97 Level:Superstar Since:Nov 28, 2006
	June 27, 2008 6:13 am Score: 94
	Good analysis as usual. I agree that we take two out of three, with my normal disclaimer that I hope I'm wrong and we sweep. But sweeps are pretty rare, and road sweeps are very tough. However, momentum is flowing our way right now, and I hope we take our big sticks into the Capital and kick some Gnat butt.
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Matchups: Washington Nationals -
baltoboi1134 Reputation:98 Level:Superstar Since:Aug 17, 2006
	June 27, 2008 6:48 am Score: 95
	However, momentum is flowing our way right now Understatement of the year, my friend. If this team doesn't come into this series riding a euphoric high, then they don't deserve to be baseball players. Two out of three against the best team in baseball in their own house? That would get anyone pumped. Two out of three should be very doable, but like Sess said, with Bergmann, you never know, from what I've seen of him, Lannan is the same way sometimes (I've seen him start three times this season, in one he was great, the next he was absolustely horrible, and then he was effective, but not great), so who knows a sweep might be in order.
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Matchups: Washington Nationals -
pittbaster Reputation:99 Level:Superstar Since:Jan 15, 2007
	June 27, 2008 9:35 am Score: 96
	One minor nitpick: I don't think Guthrie was even "bad" really in the two starts that didn't turn out so well. In game 1 against the Cubs he was fine until the blast in the seventh; he ran out of gas and IMO Trembley didn't recognize in time. I guess the other one, with the grand slam, was pretty bad though. He had to let the bases get loaded first. Loved the post as usual, though, and I expect similar results to those you suggest. I'm going to see Guthrie pitch! I'm excited! However, it's a Sunday game...here's hoping I can cheer the Orioles out of their Sabbath Curse. I have a question: does anyone know which bullpen in the Nats stadium is home and which is away? Is that standardized across baseball? I never noticed, lol. I ask because my seats are behind the RF bullpen and I'm not sure which team's arms I'll be watching.
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