What hasn't happened since April 16, 1970?

By Roch Kubatko

Nationals Orioles

May 18, 2012, 10:59am

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WASHINGTON - Give up? Until tonight, baseball teams from Baltimore and Washington hadn't faced each other with non-losing records in 42 years. On April 16, 1970, the 5-1 Orioles played the 3-3 Senators at Memorial Stadium. The Orioles suffered a rare loss in the rivalry, 4-2, with Frank Howard hitting a two-run homer off Jim Palmer. I'm guessing that Palmer remembers the count and what pitch he threw and where he located it. Ted Williams was managing the Senators that night. You know who was in charge of the Orioles. Brooks Robinson, who's celebrating his 75th birthday today, went 1-for-4. Current Nationals manager Davey Johnson went 0-for-3 with a walk. Here's the box score. The game drew a "crowd" of 4,674. The series lasted only one game. The Orioles went three days without playing, so I'm assuming that weather was an issue. Props to Mark Zuckerman of CSN Washington for being the first to actually look up the box score. The Orioles are 25-14 heading into tonight's game, the best record in the American League. They have the best road record at 13-5. The Nationals are 23-15 and own the third-best home record at 14-6. I'm still waiting for the teams to post their lineups. I'll pass them along shortly.