27/06/11

Washington Nationals (40-38) @ L.A. Angels (39-40)

West coast series are an unenviable task for a UK based baseball fan and with a 3:05am start, dont expect any play by play commentary. It is frustrating becuase it should be an interesting game, Davey Johnson’s first game in charge and another good challenge for the Nats up against a side that they should be beating if they want to realise their goal of hitting the Wildcard spot.

Jayson Werth needs to start pulling his finger out soon, John Lannan needs to keep pitching like a God, the Angels need to continue to post up poor results at home, and with a bit of luck the Braves might drop a game or two. No line-ups have been posted yet but fingers crossed no Brian Bixler and no major changes from the norm. If the above guidlines are followed then the Nationals should post a victory tonight/tomorrow morning (depending where you are watching).

Predition - Nationals Win

What do you think?

23/06/11

Final: WSH 2, SEA 1

The Washington Nationals finally managed to climb back up to .500 with a narrow victory against Seattle last night in a game as close as had been predicted. Ultimately hinging on errors, the Nationals’ winning runs both came off poor throws from Bedard, first a walk then a wild throw that missed the baseman. What will reassure fans in the nations capital is the ever increasing reliability of John Lannan who, since getting the Phillies monkey of his back has been terrific; he is one of those players who lets you know within his first few pitches whether or not he is going to have a good game, and last night, crucially, he started solidly.

“I knew today was a big game, you kind of felt it” stated Lannan and he couldn’t be more right; the Nationals have now achieved objective A, B is surely to sweep the series tonight with a red hot Jason Marquis on the mound, then all being well C will be to hold onto third spot in the division. That would culminate in a good season for the Nationals who have been more accustomed to the divisions basement until now, and with rumours of Prince Fielder making a move east at the end of the season, Nationals Park is fast becoming an exciting place to watch baseball.

22/06/11

Seattle Mariners (37-36) @ Washington Nationals (36-37)

The Washington Nationals will be hoping for more of the same tonight (minus the shaky start) as they enter game two of their series against the Seattle Mariners. A pitching line-up of Bedard (4-4) vs Lannan (4-5) sets the stage for a close affair with both guys possessing solid ERA’s of late. The tide appears to be going in favour of Seattle despite their defeat in the series opener yesterday; Lance Nix may miss out meaning Espinosa could be set to rise up the order, weakening the tail of a Nationals side up against one of the leanest pitchers in Interleague play. Lannan has been fairly unpredictable of late and much will depend on if he can get a solid start, suspicions are that while the Nationals had just enough to squeeze a victory yesterday, game two will require them to be at their very best and without a reliable hitter in Nix, they may struggle in the hits column.

Prediction - Mariners Win