The Nats square off tonight against an opposing starter whose career pattern thus far has been decidedly, well, serpentine:
YR WHIP ERA
02 1.19 3.57
03 1.57 5.82
04 1.28 3.59
05 1.41 4.90
Well, at least until this season:
W/L ERA IP/H HR/9IP
4-8 6.85 89/110 1.94
This season, Rodrigo Lopez has straight-up sucked and, along with Bruce Chen, has served to undermine what figured to be a pretty decent starting rotation (Lopez, Chen, Bedard, Benson, Cabrera). Instead, the Browns rank next-to-last in the American League in ERA. Yeesh.
Of course, Hot Rod might yet emerge tonight unscathed; Capital Weather's NatCast figures a 75 percent chance of rain, with some heavy downpours. So we'll see.