The highly anticipated Battle of the Beltway ended its second round yesterday with the Nationals losing the weekend series to the Orioles at Camden Yards. The series concluded this year’s meetings between the two teams. Looking back on this budding rivalry, it is clear that the Nats and Orioles played themselves to a stalemate.

Each team won its home series by taking 2 of 3 games. Each team finds itself struggling to stay out of the basement of their divisions. The Nationals have trouble scoring runs while the Orioles can’t seem to keep their opponents from crossing the plate. The teams’ avian mascots even managed to shimmy their way to a draw in Sunday’s dance-off.

In the actual game the Nats salvaged a 9-5 win, snapping a 5 game skid. Livan Hernandez pitched six solid innings. Royce Clayton and Marlon Byrd paced the offense with 3 hits each. The Nats’ success was due in large part to the erratic pitching of Daniel Cabrera, who walked 5 and set a team record with 4 wild pitches. Cabrera also hit Daryle Ward in the upper back. Though Ward stared Cabrera down as he walked to first base, the tension never resulted in fisticuffs.

Over the last few weeks, the Nats have won only 3 games in 13 tries. Several startling trends have accompanied this slump. Alfonso Soriano has gone 8 for 51 for a batting average of .157, and has struggled to maintain his composure at the plate. Chad Cordero has taken two losses, including one Saturday night against the Orioles, and owns an ERA of 8.31 over the same period. Soriano, Cordero, and the Nationals seek to buck these trends tomorrow in Toronto against a revitalized Blue Jays team. They return home to RFK on Friday when the lowly Devil Rays come to town.