In life and as in baseball, there are times when it is full of surprises, and last night in Washington D.C. was no exception. If one was a betting man, would you have thought Danys Baez would ever serve as an offensive hero at all? Well, Baez's first major league single ignited a two-out rally in the 12th inning that setup the winning run as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Washington Nationals, 4-2, in the so-called "Battle of the Beltways".

After Baez's single -- it was more like a fluke swinging bunt that barely got 20 feet past the mound and Baez (for a guy his size) ran hard to first -- Brian Roberts followed up with a double, and Adam Jones hit a two-run double to make the difference on Friday night. Jones, who came back during the Yankee series due to a sore hamstring, was the offensive star of the game with 3 RBI's and three hits.

Baez got the victory, George Sherrill his 8th save, and the Orioles bullpen bailed out Rich Hill by going six plus innings and styming a Washington offense that ranks in the top five in the National League. Hill -- the southpaw coming back from injury -- lasted 5 2/3 innings and gave up two runs (courtesy of a Ryan Zimmerman opposite field two-run homer in the fourth). Other than that, Hill was solid and his work on the mound was encouraging to see.