Comprehensive coverage of Washington, D.C. sports by local writers
The Washington Nationals bullpen failed to hold a late-inning lead once again and the Baltimore Orioles completed a three-game sweep beating the Nats 5-4 at Nats Park.
Up 4-3 going to the eighth courtesy of a two-run seventh-inning rally, Blake Treinen was summoned to keep the status quo. He did not, allowing a single and homer to the first two batters he faced — the latter to lefty swinging Matt Wieters — and the Nats were unable to scratch anything out against the O’s pen. [Read more…]
LATE HOME RUN IS DIFFERENCE-MAKER AS ELIMINATION NUMBER DROPS TO FIVE
A late home run by Manny Machado ruined Washington’s night on Wednesday. As Nationals fans celebrated the arrival of the Pope — in part hoping for a miracle — the Orioles doused the coals of the Nationals season. Max Scherzer racked up 11 strikeouts, but surrendered a pair of home runs. The Nationals assembled 3 runs on extra base hits from Anthony Rendon and Wilson Ramos.
There’s a point in every season where a fan’s emotional investment evaporates. Some years, that’s after the last out of the last game your team plays, others it’s late in the season when your team has moved from dark horse to longshot. [Read more…]
The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Nationals 4-1 in D.C. on Tuesday night after starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez gave up all four of Baltimore’s runs.
Gonalzez pitched 4 2/3 innings while giving up six hits, four runs, walking two, and striking out six batters. He threw 82 pitches and 51 strikes. [Read more…]
Max Scherzer allowed one run and recorded seven strikeouts in 8.2 innings of effort, and a three-run fourth inning propelled Washington to a 3-2 win over Baltimore on Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards.
Danny Espinosa hit a three-run home run in the sixth, and the Nationals’ bullpen allowed just one hit over four innings as Washington beat the Orioles 7-4 on Saturday night in Baltimore.
Jonathan Schoop homered to left field off Tanner Roark in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday night to give Baltimore a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Washington in front of a sellout crowd at Camden Yards.
The best thing about the Nationals’ upcoming series with the Orioles is that they’re not playing the Reds anymore. The Nationals just haven’t been able to figure out Cincinnati this year — going 0-5 before Wednesday’s postponement.
The other good thing is that after they finish with the Orioles (43-42) on Sunday, the Nationals (46-38) will be off until Friday, and for a team bitten more than its fair share by the injury bug this season, those four days of rest could be key for a player like Denard Span, who will miss the Baltimore series, and it gives the team recovery days without players missing game time for those already on the disabled list, like Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth, Anthony Rendon, and Stephen Strasburg.
The Nationals could be catching the Orioles at a good time — Baltimore has lost six of its last seven and eight of ten overall. Washington enters the weekend with a three game lead over the Mets, who went 4-2 against the Dodgers and Giants in a west coast swing. The Mets close out the first half schedule against Arizona in New York.
The Last Time…
The last time the Nationals played the Orioles was Aug. 4, 2014 in a makeup game, which the Orioles won 7-3. It was postponed from July, when the Orioles and Nationals matched up in a four-game series with two home games apiece. The Nationals lost both games in Washington (including the makeup game), and the teams split the two games in Baltimore. They’ll meet again this year in late September in Washington…when a lot could be at stake.
In The Other Dugout
No one is out of it in the American League East. The Boston Red Sox are four games below .500 and are just five and a half games out of first place. So while the Orioles might not be thrilled about the fact that they are just a game above .500, they have to be happy that record is good enough for second place in the division. They’re three games behind the first-place Yankees.
Matchup To Watch
Two former Orioles All-Stars who have had less-than All-Star-caliber seasons for Baltimore are worth watching against the Nationals this weekend: Matt Wieters is 8 for 14 (.571) with a home run and a double against Friday night starter Gio Gonzalez, and Chris Davis is 5 for 13 (.385) against Sunday’s starter Doug Fister, with two of those hits home runs.
Probables
Friday, 7:05pm: Gio Gonzalez (6-4, 4.16 ERA) vs. Chris Tillman (6-7, 5.57 ERA)
Saturday, 7:15pm: Jordan Zimmermann (7-5, 3.04 ERA) vs. Miguel Gonzalez (7-5, 3.87 ERA)
Sunday, 1:35pm: Doug Fister (3-4, 4.08 ERA) vs. Wei-Yin Chen (4-4, 2.82 ERA)
The Hagerstown Suns have been a minor league affiliate for several different teams, including the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets and Washington Nationals, over the last thirty-five years so the anniversary promotional schedule will feature a variety of giveaways.
The first bobblehead will be handed out on Saturday, June 13, and will feature former Suns pitcher Mike Mussina. See press release below for the full promotional schedule.
Suns Announce 2015 promotional schedule
HAGERSTOWN, MD – The Hagerstown Suns announced today their promotional schedule for the 2015 season, which is the team’s 35th anniversary season. Many of the events highlighting the promotional schedule are part of a season-long anniversary celebration, and will bring some important parts of Suns history back to life, including the highlighting of some former Suns players who have made their mark in Hagerstown over the years.
Fittingly, the promotional schedule kicks off on the night of the home opener on Thursday, April 16. Dane Anthony, who threw the first pitch in Hagerstown Suns history back in 1981, will be on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Also that night there will be a ceremony in the beer garden as Antietam Brewery will be unveiling a special 35th anniversary brew and tap, which will be sold throughout the season. 2015 Magnet Schedules will be handed out to fans on opening night and throughout opening weekend, and on Friday and Saturday April 17 & 18, the first 500 fans will receive a Suns specialty beer mug that they will be able to use throughout the season to receive discounts on beer.
Also, on Saturday, April 18, the Suns players will debut their special 35th anniversary throwback jerseys sponsored by the Hagerstown Suns Fan Club, as well as throwback hats that were both designed to combine several looks of the past. These will be worn each Saturday home game, and live auctions will be held for both later in the season (hats – July 11, jerseys – August 29).
Another alternate jersey the Suns will wear this season will be a camouflage jersey. This jersey will be worn for most Friday home games, as well as some of the military appreciation games. On Friday, August 21, the jersey will be auctioned off following the game with all proceeds going to “Folds of Honor”, which is an organization that provides annual educational scholarships to the military families of those who have been killed or disabled while in active duty.
In total there will be three bobbleheads given away during the 2015 season. The first bobblehead will be handed out on Saturday, June 13, and will feature former Suns pitcher Mike Mussina. A little more than a month later, on Saturday, July 25, a Dane Anthony bobblehead will be handed out to the first 1,000 fans. The final bobblehead giveaway of the year will take place on Saturday, August 22, and is presented by the Hagerstown – Washington County CVB. That bobblehead will be revealed at a later date.
Bobbleheads aren’t the only items that fans will get to take home from a game at Municipal Stadium this season. Other giveaway items include a poster with various program covers from previous seasons (May 2), a special 35th anniversary logo hat (May 30), a pink mini-bat key chain as part of pink weekend (June 12), a poster with various baseball cards of Suns players from previous years (June 20), and a Suns logo baseball (August 8).
Many of the Suns traditional weekly promotions will be back this season as well, including “Thirsty Thursday”, “Eats for Seats Tuesday”, and “Sunday Funday”. In addition, there will be new weekly promotions on Monday and Wednesday. Every Monday home game in 2015 will be a “Mega Monday”, when fans will have the opportunity to purchase four GA tickets loaded with $5.00 each to be used in the stadium for a total of $40.00 (a $16.00 savings). Or, fans on Mondays can purchase a single loaded GA ticket for a discounted price. The majority of Wednesday home games this season will be “Guaranteed WinsDay”, which means if the Suns don’t win on that particular Wednesday all fans in attendance will receive a free ticket to the next Wednesday home game.
As is custom at Municipal Stadium, there will be a bunch of Fireworks shows throughout the season as well. The first Fireworks show will take place following the game on Friday, May 15. In total there will be nine Fireworks shows throughout the season, and all of them will be on Friday nights.
Once again this year there will be happy hour pricing on 16-ounce cans of select domestic beers prior to every home game. The happy hour pricing will begin as soon as the gates open and will last until the first pitch is thrown. There are four games this season (May 29, June 12, July 3, and August 7) when there will be an extended happy hour, meaning the gates will open earlier than normal (4:30pm) and there will be live entertainment prior to the start of the game.
New in 2015 will be theme nights to go along with each “Thirsty Thursday” game. The themes this season include college night (April 30), country night (May 14), ladies night (May 28 and August 20), golf night (July 9), 80’s night (July 23), and 90’s night (August 6). For some of the theme nights, fans who dress up in that night’s theme will receive a discounted GA ticket. Details on all of the specific theme nights can be found on the promotions page of the Suns website.
Another new promotion in 2015 will be the “Weekday Matinee”. The Suns will have four weekday games (May 4, June 3, August 5, September 2) begin at 1:05pm. Fans can get tickets to these matinee games for just $5.00 (GA ticket) or $7.00 (Reserved ticket). Once inside the stadium, fans can grab a hot dog for $2.00 and/or a domestic draft beer for $3.00, making these games the perfect lunch break entertainment (and no one will tell your boss if you decide to stay for the whole game).
Additional special events taking place this season will include two Education Days (April 22 and May 20), four Antietam Cable Date Nights (April 28, May 17, June 30, and August 18), a college fair (May 1), four Nora Roberts Reading Challenge games (May 2, May 3, May 16, and May 17), five military appreciation games (May 16, May 29 – 31, July 3), Craft Brew night (July 2), Kids night (July 22), two movie nights (July 12 and August 28), Christmas in July (July 25), Camp Day (July 28), First Responders night (August 7), and Teacher and School Staff Appreciation night (June 12).
Lastly, the Suns organization will be hosting an inaugural Beer Tasting Festival, which will take place on Saturday, June 27 from 3:00pm – 7:00pm. There is no game that day as the Suns will be away on the road. Tickets are already on sale.
For more information on all of the promotions and giveaways throughout the 2015 season and to reserve your seats at Municipal Stadium, call 301-791-6266, or go to www.hagerstownsuns.com.
Torrential rains prevented the Washington Nationals from posting a Curly W against the Baltimore Orioles on July 8. But, on Monday night, it was the Orioles’ late push – and perhaps some poor bullpen management – that short-changed the Nats of a win opportunity.
Despite the fact the Nats entered the seventh inning up 3-2, they headed to the clubhouse with a 7-3 loss, bringing them to 60-50 with a three-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. [Read more…]
After splitting a four-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies, the Washington Nationals now welcome the Baltimore Orioles to town for a make-up game to settle their series from July 7-10. [Read more…]