Ronnie Belliard’s walk off home run in the bottom of the 12th won the “Battle of the Beltways” for the Nats. The ten-year MLB veteran took a 1-2 pitch deep after Orioles’ reliever George Sherrill pitched around Dmitri Young, putting him on first base to pitch to Belliard. Belliard’s blast shocked those who had stayed at Nationals Park through extra innings — as it seemed the Orioles had the game all but wrapped-up.

The Belliard homer allowed the struggling Nats to take two of three from the O’s — but as impressive as the win was the interest generated by the three-game “Battle of the Beltways.” The three games drew over 115,000 fans. The bad news (that Lastings Milledge was being sent to the 15-day DL) was tempered somewhat by the promotion of AA-Harrisburg outfielder Roger Bernadina, who got his first major league hit in his first at bat. The Nats head south for a tussle with the Fish for three games before heading back to Cincinnati for a four game series against the Reds. (The Marlins are a game-and-a-half out of first, and dead last in attendance. And I don’t care what the standings say: these fish stink. Which means, of course, that they’ll probably win the series. Because that’s exactly what happened the last time they stank.)

Peripheral Greats: Tom noted that I am always talking about “PGs,” leaving it to me to explain that PGs are “peripheral greats” — a distinctive class of ballplayer who could have been, might have been, should have been, but never quite was . . . . great. Like all such categories a PG is hard to define, elegantly flying in the face of VORPs, OPS’s and the like. Even so, like pornography, you know a peripheral great when you see it — or him. One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that many MLB PG’s are power-hitters-in-waiting. They are at about .260 or so (or slightly higher), and have middling career spans (but are rarely regulars), and when they leave the game a collective groan of disappointment can be heard. They are lovable good-guys: players you can never cheer against and that you keep hoping will somehow, someday . . . arrive. Here’s one now:

Tom supposed that Willie Horton was probably a PG, but in looking at his numbers (325 career home runs) he was probably too good to be peripheral. But in studying Horton’s years with the mighty Tigers of the late ’60s and early ’70s, I noted that one of his teammates definitely fit the description. Gates Brown is definitely at PG: in his first major league at bat (as a pinch hitter) he hit a home run. Tiger fans were ecstatic — here, finally, was a great player who could hold down center field and compete with the likes of Yaz and Reggie and an emerging Charlie Finley A’s powerhouse.

Alas, it was not to be. Gates was a good hitter, a fine hitter, but not a great hitter. And the promise of power of his first at bat was not realized: he hit 84 round-trippers in thirteen seasons. Then too, like most PGs, Gates was a tad on the heavy side. The official statistics put him at 5-11, 220 — but he looked a lot heavier than that. Brown admitted that he was once caught unprepared by his manager, who called on him to pinch hit. Because he was in the middle of eating two hotdogs (and was embarrassed), he decided to stuff them into his uniform. When he hit a double he was forced to slide into second base — and got up with buns and mustard splattered across his front. Mayo Smith, his manager, fined him $100.

Brown retired in 1975 after a good, but not great, career — all of it spent with the Detroit Tigers. He is, in my book, the very definition of a lovable near-great. A clear head-of-the-class, go-to-the-front-of-the-line PG.

The Washington Felipes: The Nats’ blogosphere is filled with talk of the impending trade of Felipe Lopez to the Baltimore Orioles, but we saw little evidence this weekend that Manny Acta was showcasing Felipe’s talents. Lopez was used as a pinch runner on Sunday, went 0 for 4 on Saturday, and got an inning’s worth of work in on Friday. Hardly a marquee performance. Felipe’s in Manny’s doghouse and my bet is that he’s there to stay. Elijah will tell him and probably already has told him: it is no fun, man, in that doghouse. In all of these Blog reports it is never exactly mentioned just who the Nats think they will get for Lopez. Oh yeah: “prospects.” Prospects? What prospects? Prospects we got — it’s a team we need. I think that Ian Koski over at National’s Pride has this exactly right: it sounds as if Manny has has made up his mind and that he’s given up on Felipe. That’s too bad, because sooner or later (like when the next guy shuttles off to the Mayo Clinic), Manny will need him.