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Washington Nationals And Gio Gonzalez Take On The Phillies In Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park.

By Patrick Reddington
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• Steve Lombardozzi's leading off again, but not in place of Danny Espinosa today, this time Lombo's in left field and hitting first. Espinosa's back at second, Bryce Harper's hitting second and playing right. Ian Desmond's in the 5-spot again. The Arm's in center. Nats' skipper Davey Johnson's going left-hand heavy against the Phillies' Kyle Kendrick. In his career, the 27-year-old Phillies '07 3rd Round pick has a .263/.303/.409 line against right-handed bats and a .307/.376/.514 line against lefties. This season, in nine games and four starts, Kendrick's getting hit hard from both sides with a .321/.333/.623 line against righties and a .340/.441/.500 line against left-handed batters. Gio Gonzalez takes on the Phillies for the second time in his career tonight after holding Philadelphia to one run on four hits in 7.0 IP last time out against the Nationals' divisional rivals, and he's trying to keep a three-start winning streak going in the City of Brotherly Love. Not sure it was a good idea for Bryce Harper to mention batteries in the lead up to the three game set in Citizens Bank, but if he reacted by aggressively moving up and stealing home against Cole Hamels when he got hit with a pitch, imagine what he's going to do if he gets hit with a battery... What? C'mon Philly fans, at least Harper didn't mention Santa Claus getting hit by snowballs... Cheesesteaks, Rocky. Now all the cliched Philly jokes are out of the way... Let's Play Ball!!

• Here's Tonight's Nats' Lineup:

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