Soccer’s taking over ...and it’s no thanks to Orioles

WAYNE ROONEY is developing an interest in baseball. The Washington Nationals’ stadium is across the road from Audi Field, where Rooney’s DC United side play and the former Manchester United striker (right) has been to several games since he arrived in the US to join the MLS side in the summer.

As DC United make a late charge for the play-offs, though, the Nationals have slumped. Baseball is getting increasingly worried about the threat from soccer.

The way the fortunes of the two teams in the capital are heading in opposite directions is a neat symbol of the battle America’s sport faces to hang on to its position in the nation’s culture. I MADE the journey up from Washington DC to Baltimore last week so I could visit Camden Yards, the lovely, retro baseball park near the centre of the city. The only problem was it meant having to watch the Baltimore Orioles, too. The Orioles are the worst team in baseball at the moment.

They racked up their 100th defeat of the season earlier this month to it was hardly a surprise that the 45,000-seat stadium was practically deserted for the game against the Oakland As.

The night I went, the Orioles lost. Obviously. That was defeat number 103. Their players looked so demoralised that every time one of their batters was out, they slunk back to the Orioles’ dug-out looking like that cartoon duck an Australian network used to flash up on its coverage when a cricketer was dismissed without scoring.

Camden Yards is a beautiful arena but that, sadly, is no insurance against having an ugly team.