Battle of the Beltway Predictions

The Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles are going head to head for 4 games this season; twice at Nationals Park and twice at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The first game has concluded with the Orioles taking it 6-2 from 2 RBI from Nick Markakis and Yamaico Navarro as well as RBI from Matt Wieters and Adam Jones.  Manny Machado had 3 hits for the O's and he scored once while Chris Davis had 2 hits and scored twice.  Jason Hammel had a great showing, allowing 8 hits and 2 runs over 8 innings while striking out 4 men, 8 times including Stephen Lombardozzi 3 times and Tyler Moore twice.  For the Nats, Ryan Zimmerman and Tyler Moore had RBI and Gio Gonzalez pitched 5.2 innings allowing 4 runs on 8 hits and 4 walks.  He struck out 3.

Tonight at Nats park the pitching matchup is rookie Kevin Gausman for the O's making his 2nd career start, with an 0-1 record and a 7.20 ERA vs. Nationals rookie Nate Karns making his MLB debut.  Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Danny Espinosa are still out of the lineup for the Nats and Tyler Moore and Roger Bernandina don't do nearly the job that Harper and Werth do, giving the Nats a short hand.  I think Karns will have a hard time in the wet weather in his first start and the O's will take it.

Wednesday the matchup is going to Camden Yards in Baltimore.  Jordan Zimmermann is going against Chris Tillman in this one and Zimmermann has had an excellent year so far, 8-2 with a 1.71 ERA.  Tillman has also been productive this season but Zimmermann is going to deliver a great performance and the Nats will take game 3.

Thursday is the last day of the series.  Dan Haren is going up against Freddy Garcia.  Both pitchers have a losing record this year, Haren is 4-5 while Garcia is 1-2.  Both pitchers have an ERA higher than 4.50 with Garcia having a 4.61 and Haren holding a 5.43.  This will be a game with many runs but the O's are a better batting team and will jump on Haren early leading them to a victory.

Overall I think that the Orioles will win the series 3-1 over the Nationals.  The Orioles have too much firepower in their lineup and the Nats won't be able to matchup.

Ace on the Nats rotation? Jordan Zimmermann

  Stephen Strasburg.  Sports Illustrated has had him on 2 covers in his career, labeled "National Treasure" and "Mr. October."  Jordan Zimmermann.  No fame at all.  No Sports Illustrated covers and when he was 4-1 and Strasburg was 1-4, and Gio Gonzalez was 1-2, ESPN said that Jordan Zimmermann is pitching great and he is "only the third best pitcher on the Nationals".  Wrong.  Currently he is the best.  Of course, Gio and Stephen have more of an upside.  If I was starting a franchise I would take Strasburg.  Currently, however in the 2013 season, Zimmermann is #1.  There is no arguing about that.  I don't care if Strasburg isn't getting run support.  He is pitching worse than Zimmermann.  Gonzalez is itching worse than Zimmermann.

   You don't have to go beyond the stat book.  Complete games by Nats pitchers this year: 2.  Complete games by Jordan Zimmermann this year: 2.  8 innings pitched by a Nats pitcher: 3.  Jordan Zimmermann: 1.  Stephen Strasburg: 0.  The wins by Nats pitchers are as follows; Jordan Zimmermann: 5, Dan Haren: 3, Gio Gonzalez, Tyler Clippard and Craig Stammen tied with 2, and finally Ross Detwiler and Stephen Strasburg with one a piece.  In the starting rotation, Jordan Zimmermann has the best ERA followed by Detwiler, Strasburg, Haren and Gonzalez.  In the starting rotation Jordan Zimmermann has the best WHIP followed by Strasburg, Gonzalez, Haren and Detwiler.  In the starting rotation, Jordan Zimmermann has the best WAR followed by Detwiler, Strasburg, Gonzalez and Haren. Jordan Zimmermann is not only leading his team, but he is 2nd in the Major League in wins and 1st in WHIP.

  With all these stats is it fair to call Stephen Strasburg a bad pitcher.  No way.  He is still a good pitcher along with Gonzalez and they deserve to be in a rotation that has potential to be the best in the big leagues.  But is it fair to Zimmermann to not mark him as the ace of the rotation this season? No, as he is clearly the best pitcher on the Nationals and one of the best so far this year in the MLB.