Outmanned Democrats score upset on the baseball diamond

House Democrats, a somewhat luckless bunch that rarely gets to relish the taste of victory these days, finally got to do some relishing Friday morning.

Democrats pulled off an upset win in the annual congressional baseball game on Thursday, thanks to some stellar pitching from Rep. Cedric Richmond, a rookie out of Louisiana’s 2nd District and a former player at Morehouse College.

Richmond nearly no-hit the lineup of Republicans, ultimately surrendering just two runs on a series of walks and some sloppy play in the seventh and final inning.

The annual matchup – played these days at Nationals Park – is a long-standing tradition and ostensibly an attempt to foster “friendly” competition. It’s largely a House affair, although senators are allowed to play. (Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul suited up for the GOP on Thursday.)

Since the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call started sponsoring the event 50 years ago, Republicans have dominated with a 33-16-1 record.

The GOP was favored again this year, largely because the Democratic roster was decimated in the offseason -- also known as the midterm elections.

On the field, as in the House, Democrats faced a larger, younger and arguably more energized team of Republicans. (The GOP had nearly twice as many players and roughly half the gray-haired heads as Democrats. )

But numbers aren’t destiny, Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) gloated at a news conference this morning.

“We think this is foreshadowing things to come,” he said, as he gleeful announced the results before launching into today’s talking point in the bitter debt-ceiling negotiations: “teamwork.”