Tonight's Starting Pitchers Are Going To Stare At You Now...
The Nationals Are Coming, The Nationals Are Coming...
The "woeful" Nationals, the "lowly" Nationals, the "traveling circus", or how about, as NY Post writer Kevin Kiernan calls them this morning in an article entitled, "Time To Turn Flushing Into Fat Citi", "the doormat Nationals". Mr. Kiernan writes, in a preview of the three-game series that starts tonight in Citi Field between the NL East's third-place NY Mets and the 5th place Washington Nationals, that the Mets, "...believe they are beginning to gain that long-lost edge they've been searching for," and what better opponent to regain that edge against, right?
The Mets took two of three from DC when the teams, uh, met, sorry, in Citi Field earlier this season, but two of the three wins came with Scott Olsen and Daniel Cabrera on the mound for Washington, and the one Nationals' win came courtesy of Jordan Zimmermann, who'll start Wednesday's finale, with John Lannan going tonight and Ohio's favorite son, Craig Stammen to pitch tomorrow.
New York returns to Citi Field following a 10-game road trip through San Francisco, LA and Boston which saw them take three-straight from San Francisco before dropping the finale to the Giants and all three to the Dodgers in Los Angeles. The Mets rebounded to take two of three from Boston in Fenway Park and finish the trip 5-5. The Nationals head out on the road having just completed an 11-game homestand which saw them go 2-9, losing seven-straight, four to Philly and three to Pittsburgh, before taking the finale from the Pirates and the third of three from the Baltimore Orioles.
DC Starting Lineup...
- The Guzzzzz - SS
- Nick "Two-Spot" Johnson - 1B
- THE KIDS CALL HIM ZIM!! - 3B
- The BIG SLAMMY - LF
- AK - RF
- TAWH - CF
- Anderson "Elvis" Hernandez - 2B
- Wil "Blocker" Nieves - C
- "Cool Hand" Lannan - Eating 40 Eggs.
Carlos Beltran - 2 for 10, .200 AVG, 1 2B, 1 BB.
Luis Castillo - 2 for 6, .333 AVG, 1 HR, 2 RBI's.
Ryan Church - 4 for 11, .364 AVG, 2 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI's.
Jose Reyes - 5 for 15, 1 2B, 1 RBI.
Fernadeo Tatis - 2 for 5, .400 AVG, 1 2B, 1 BB.
David Wright - 4 for 15, .267 AVG, 2 2B, 2 RBI's.
The Nationals vs John Maine...
Ronnie Belliard - 9 for 15, .600 AVG, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI's.
Adam Dunn - 1 for 3, .333 AVG, 6 BB, 2 K's.
Nick Johnson - 2 for 12, .167 AVG, 1 HR, 1 RBI.
Austin Kearns - 5 for 17, .294 AVG, 1 2B, 2 HR's, 4 RBI's, 1 BB, 5 K's.
Josh Willingham - 1 for 8, .125 AVG, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K's.
Ryan Zimmerman - 4 for 27, .148 AVG, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI's, 6 K's.
For a Mets Fan's Perspective, Check Out The SBN's New York Mets blog:
7:05 pm EST tonight from Citi Field. The Nationals and Mets do it again. Cue the circus music and the condescending commentary...Lannan vs Maine, DC vs NY, Doormats vs Chokers...it's the Nationals and the Mets...
Who's Watching The Nationals?