Interleague

Who would have thought that one of the highlights of the first weekend of interleague play would be - the Orioles and the Nationals? But that's the case. This year's beltway series will feature two teams that are among the best teams in baseball. The Orioles (25-14) will head to Nationals Park this weekend just a half-game behind the Dodgers for the best record in baseball.  And the Nationals (23-15) have been regularly atop the competitive NL East. They're a half-game behind the Braves.

With a win tonight against the Nationals at Camden Yards, the Orioles can seal their fifth interleague series win out of six this season. The Orioles lead the season series with the Nats 3-1 and have won eight of their last 12 games against the National League. The O's are 12-7 all-time against Washington here at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Here are the lineups for tonight's game, which will be broadcasted regionally on FOX. Orioles Brian Roberts 2B J.J. Hardy SS Chris Davis RF Adam Jones CF Matt Wieters C Wilson Betemit 3B Mark Reynolds 1B Nick Johnson DH Steve Pearce LF Wei-Yin Chen LHP Nationals Danny Espinosa 2B Bryce Harper CF Ryan Zimmerman 3B Michael Morse DH Adam LaRoche 1B Ian Desmond SS Tyler Moore LF Xavier Nady RF Jesus Flores C Edwin Jackson RHP

How the leagues are faring in interleague games:Record .. .. .. .. ..AL, 48-36Total runs .. .. .. .AL, 435-363Avg. runs .. .. .. ..AL, 5.2-4.3Homers .. .. .. .. ..AL, 88-78Shutouts .. .. .. ...NL, 4-2Complete .. .. .. ...NL, 7-6gamesPub Date: 6/19/97

The Orioles are looking to continue their interleague success this season and get a series win with a victory this afternoon in Atlanta. Left-hander  Wei-Yin Chen  takes the mound for the Orioles. He's struggled a bit on the road, going 2-2 with a 4.81 ERA and going six or more innings just twice in six road starts. But with a Chen win, the Orioles could have two seven-game winners this early in the season for the first time since 1999, when Mike Mussina and Sidney Ponson both had seven by June 17. The Orioles are 8-3 in interleague play this season and have won all three previous interleague series.

It's still rivalry gold Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune Has Jim Leyland ever been to a White Sox-Cubs game in the regular season? A Yankees-Mets game? An A's-Giants game? I don't think so. Interleague matchups are hardly guaranteed to tingle your spine across the board — hey, Ethel, grab the kids, the Astros are playing the Blue Jays! — but so what? Interleague play breaks up the monotony of the 162-game schedule — name me an American League team that doesn't want to play at Wrigley Field or a National League team that doesn't look forward to going to Fenway Park — and the cross-town matchups remain gold, even when they are no longer a novelty.

Like a lot of you, I've long had mixed feelings about interleague play. I was for it at the beginning, turned against it soon thereafter and now apparently owe commissioner Bud Selig an apology for insisting that it was a get-richer-quick gimmick that eventually would lose its appeal to the masses. Clearly, it hasn't, if the attendance numbers from the past weekend are any accurate representation of how much the nation's baseball fans like it. Nearly 1.65 million fans showed up to watch a weekend of what was largely non-rivalry interleague play.

With a win tonight against the Nationals at Camden Yards, the Orioles can seal their fifth interleague series win out of six this season. The Orioles lead the season series with the Nats 3-1 and have won eight of their last 12 games against the National League. The O's are 12-7 all-time against Washington here at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Here are the lineups for tonight's game, which will be broadcasted regionally on FOX. Orioles Brian Roberts 2B J.J. Hardy SS Chris Davis RF Adam Jones CF Matt Wieters C Wilson Betemit 3B Mark Reynolds 1B Nick Johnson DH Steve Pearce LF Wei-Yin Chen LHP Nationals Danny Espinosa 2B Bryce Harper CF Ryan Zimmerman 3B Michael Morse DH Adam LaRoche 1B Ian Desmond SS Tyler Moore LF Xavier Nady RF Jesus Flores C Edwin Jackson RHP

Interleague baseball arrived in Baltimore last night with a, well, with a what?A bang? Let's not get carried away. Even though Camden Yards was sold out and the Orioles almost rallied from five runs down to win, it would be an exaggeration to say the park was electrified with any special current resulting from the visitors' National League roots.The Orioles' 6-4 loss to the Montreal Expos had the aura of just another game -- and an exhibition game at that, seeing as the two teams played about 50 Grapefruit League games in the spring.

Baseball's interleague season is upon us. Try not to get too excited.Fans in South Florida sure haven't. The crowds for the Orioles-Marlins series at Pro Player Stadium were smaller than the crowds at the nearby dog track.The same was true for the Tigers-Pirates series, which ended last night in front of a lot of empty seats at Tiger Stadium. And the "Battle of Canada" between the Blue Jays and Expos last weekend in Toronto? The total attendance for three games amounted to a reasonable crowd for one NFL game.

BOSTON -- OK, let's call it off. No Orioles-Braves. No Mets-Yankees. No interleague play, no more fun in baseball, ever again, to keep all the weepy, stuffy traditionalists happy.Sorry, too late.Interleague play starts tonight, and by the end of the first week, all the cynical motives, all the scheduling hassles, all the stupid designated-hitter tricks will seem well worth the trouble.The traditionalists will hate it, because the traditionalists hate everything. The traditionalists walk around waving asterisks, petitioning the Dodgers to return to Brooklyn and longing for the days when the players rode trains.

Who would have thought that one of the highlights of the first weekend of interleague play would be - the Orioles and the Nationals? But that's the case. This year's beltway series will feature two teams that are among the best teams in baseball. The Orioles (25-14) will head to Nationals Park this weekend just a half-game behind the Dodgers for the best record in baseball.  And the Nationals (23-15) have been regularly atop the competitive NL East. They're a half-game behind the Braves.

Buck Showalter just weighed in on the designated hitter rule and how the debate about it might change following the realignment that will require interleague series throughout the regular season starting in 2013. “Whatever's best for the fans and serves the love of the game," he said. “Personally, I'd like for it all to be the same. Grandfather it in or out. Let's all play by the same rules. If the fans want to see Vladdy DH some more, let's everybody have the DH. I don't think it is going to happen, but you'd like for it to be consistent.

Split the difference Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune The realities of making changes are a million miles away from just throwing things down on paper, as fans want to do. You can't move a team without its approval, and the outcry in Houston against switching to the American League shows why it is rare for a team to agree to a move, as Milwaukee did when the Brewers went to the NL. Houston is switching leagues because the...

Simply nonsense Steve Gould Baltimore Sun The result of the All-Star Game is perhaps the worst way to determine home-field advantage in the World Series. If the All-Star teams aren't made up of the best players at each position, it's nonsensical for the game to have postseason implications. Or, as a colleague recently said: "It's like saying that because a chicken is white, it's going to rain on Friday. " It also seems evident by the number of All-Star selections — even those on contending teams — who have backed out of the game that its result isn't very important to the players.

Like a lot of you, I've long had mixed feelings about interleague play. I was for it at the beginning, turned against it soon thereafter and now apparently owe commissioner Bud Selig an apology for insisting that it was a get-richer-quick gimmick that eventually would lose its appeal to the masses. Clearly, it hasn't, if the attendance numbers from the past weekend are any accurate representation of how much the nation's baseball fans like it. Nearly 1.65 million fans showed up to watch a weekend of what was largely non-rivalry interleague play.

Orioles designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero picked up his 2,500th career hit with an RBI double Thursday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays. His 2,501st may come as a pinch-hitter. Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he would speak to Guerrero on the flight home Thursday about Guerrero's role in the next six games, which will be played in National League parks without the option of using the DH. A final decision has not yet been made, Showalter said. But Guerrero won't be starting Friday against the Washington Nationals and it's likely he won't start most, if any, of those games in the outfield against the Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates.

NEW YORK -- In the next couple of weeks, the baseball owners' committee studying changes in league alignment and postseason playoffs will examine its first schedule for interleague play. The mock schedule would provide for 16 or 20 games between teams in the corresponding divisions in each league.The schedule is one of six the committee has commissioned for its study and for a presentation to the 28 owners at their meeting in Denver next month.The committee is studying an increase from two divisions to three in each league, and an expansion of the playoffs from four teams to eight.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter actually thought Nick Markakis looked halfway decent at first base when Baltimore's regular right fielder was asked to play there in a pinch during the team's final game against the Seattle Mariners. Showalter would prefer, however, to never see it happen again. "He enjoyed it, I can tell you that," Showalter said. "I think we all know if he played there every four or five days, he'd be above average. I thought he did a good job. He made a couple plays I've seen some first basemen not make.

It's still rivalry gold Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune Has Jim Leyland ever been to a White Sox-Cubs game in the regular season? A Yankees-Mets game? An A's-Giants game? I don't think so. Interleague matchups are hardly guaranteed to tingle your spine across the board — hey, Ethel, grab the kids, the Astros are playing the Blue Jays! — but so what? Interleague play breaks up the monotony of the 162-game schedule — name me an American League team that doesn't want to play at Wrigley Field or a National League team that doesn't look forward to going to Fenway Park — and the cross-town matchups remain gold, even when they are no longer a novelty.