Game two of four in Houston's Minute Maid Park features:
Joel Hanrahan (2-1, 2.95) vs Wandy Rodriguez (7-11, 4.31)
Nationals right-hander Joel Hanrahan makes his fourth Major League start, so he hasn't faced Houston in his career, but he has pitched two road games so far, and he's (1-0) in two starts against the Mets and Giants, pitching 11 innings, allowing 4 hits, and 4 runs, with a 3.18 ERA.
Houston's diminutive lefty, Wandy Rodriguez, is (2-0) in 4 career starts against the Nationals, allowing 20 hits, 11 runs, and 3 dingers in 25 innings of work, with a 3.96 ERA to show for it. (6-2) in Minute Maid Park (Yes that makes him (1-9) on the road), Rodriguez is (0-2) in four starts in August this year giving up 14 runs in 24 innings.
It's in Minute Maid Park so you can bet there will be scoring aplenty. "No lead is safe in this park," I kept reminding myself last night as the Nationals cruised to a 7-0 lead. Still, it never felt like a sure thing until the last out was recorded.
The Nationals finished off a trade, which the sidebar "Nationals Newsfeed" in the left margin here at FederalBaseball and MLB.com will point out for you. The Diamondbacks got involved in the "Player to Be Named Later" part of the Nationals deal with the Red Sox, with Washington sending prospect Emiliano Fruto to Arizona for Triple AAA prospect Chris Carter, who was subsequently shipped to Beantown to end the deal.
Fruto, you'll remember, was acquired by the Nationals from Seattle along with Chris Snelling for OE(Original Expo) Jose Vidro. Snelling was traded for Langerhans and now Fruto goes to bring in Wily Mo Pena. Not a bad return...
Dimensions of Minute Maid Park...
Left -315ft
Left-Center -362ft
Deepest point of center -462ft
Right-Center -373ft
Right - 326ft
RFK
Left -335ft
Left-center -385ft
Center -410ft
Right-Center -385ft
Right -335ft
I'll check in during the game to see if anyone's watching.
* 5 hours left in the current poll. Be sure to vote for your favorite star in DC/MQC baseball history...
Current Leader...Walter Johnson, with 27% of the 18 votes cast. In a close second is my personal choice Vladimir Guerrero at 22% of the vote...Vote soon...Go Nationals...