Breaking down the Battle of the Beltway: Game 1

What an interesting series. It started off terribly for us but great for the Nats, then got good for us offensively, then got good for both teams pitching wise. I’m breaking each game down and telling you what it means from here.

Friday: Nationals 17 Orioles 5
Yes, the score says it all. A HUGE offensive game for the Nationals and a TERRIBLE pitching game for the O’s, especially after coming off the 13-run game the Yankees put up against us. This was surprising to me because Arrieta got the start and I’ve been going on and on about how he’s the second best of the rotation and is very consistent and a guy we can count on to get wins. Obviously, a 3 2/3 inning 6-hit 6-run outing is not one worthy of a win and due to this horrible outing, he went to 5-2 and his ERA is now sitting at 4.75.

It’s difficult for the O’s to win when the starting pitchers suck because the bullpen is even worse and since the pen is giving up runs left and right, that means the offense needs to score even more runs and obviously the offense isn’t doing that either. Berken was put in after Arrieta. He was even worse going one inning giving up 6, yes SIX, runs (including two 2-run homers and hitting Jayson Werth with his first pitch with the bases loaded). Rapada went 1 1/3 inning and gave up a run. Gonzalez pitched 2 innings giving up 2 runs and of course Kevin Gregg gave up 4 hits and 2 runs to top it off. Not one pitcher throughout the night didn’t not give up a run (sorry, that’s a double negative; basically, every pitcher did give up at least one run). This game reminded me of the game against the Red Sox except we never had a 6-0 lead in this game, we battled back from a 6-0 lead to only be down 6-5.

It was disappointing because the offense got going a bit but not like the Nats’ offense. These games won’t happen all the time and every starter is allowed to have a bad outing every once in a while but there is absolutely no excuse for how pathetic the bullpen is. I mean I guess the excuse is that they all just aren’t good so fans can’t expect them to be something they’re not, it’s just very difficult to not do that.