Week 4 (I Guess) Beltway Baseball Breakdown

So, remember that time that I decided to try to do a weekly beltway baseball breakdown? Yea, well maybe it should’ve been monthly or tri-weekly or something along those lines. Anyway, 3 weeks passed, some stuff happened, some games were played, and we’re pretty much at the same place we were on August 8th…well, almost. Let’s get to it.

How ‘bout them O’s, hun? Back on August 8th, Baltimore was 59-51 amidst completing a 3 game sweep of Seattle. They had just come off their 11th straight win in 1-run games, which had them 4.5 games back of New York for the division lead and right in the thick of the Wild Card race. This was all despite an unfathomable -54 run differential. Fast-forward 3 weeks later, and that streak is up to 13 in a row, they are only 3.5 back of the suddenly vulnerable looking Yankees, and they would be in the do-or-die Wild Card game if the regular season ended today. At 71-57, they’ve actually improved on their still abysmal run differential (-39), and now they are doing it with guys I’ve never heard of like Lew Ford and Nate McLouth to boot. They clearly have befuddled all the so-called baseball experts, and it’s gotten to the point where they don’t even know what to write about the Orioles anymore. In the little blurb about the O’s in ESPN’s latest power rankings, the Worldwide Leader mentioned a totally irrelevant Baltimore trade involving Steve Trachsel that happened 5 years ago…what?

My beloved Nats, on the other hand, have been scuffling a little as of late, losing 5 in a row and 6 of their last 10. Those same power rankings mentioned before still have them number 1 in the whole league, and they own a 4 game margin over Atlanta in the NL East, but they don’t look quite as invincible as they did a week or 2 ago when they were nearing a double digit win streak. Their bats all cooled off at once, and last night Strasburg actually appeared human, getting shelled for 7 runs in only 5 innings in a 9-0 loss to Miami. It could just be a bad 5 games in what has been a very good season for Washington up to this point, but you have to wonder if this whole “Stras-gate” thing is going to eventually take its toll on the clubhouse (if it hasn’t already). The idea that you are going to lose your best player at some point prior to the postseason has got to be a serious mind-f***. Let’s hope GM Mike Rizzo and company know what they’re doing.