Photo of Rafael Bautista by Chris Ernst for TalkNats
Five days ago, Tanner Roark labored through his outing, and Dusty Baker left him out there for 125 pitches. The Nationals lost that game and since then, the Nats have won 4 games in a row. We will see today,on regular rest, if Roark has any residual effects of setting a career high in pitch count.
The offense has all been cranking this weekend except for Trea Turner, Michael Taylor and Matt Wieters. The hottest hitter on the planet, Ryan Zimmerman, will get a rest day today. Rafael Bautista laced his first career hit yesterday, and Daniel Murphy seemed to find his stroke yesterday. Anthony Rendon has 17 RBIs with 5 home runs in the last week and should be receiving the Player of the Week honor. In the last 2 weeks, Rendon is slashing .405/.479/.833/1.312.
If Trea can get going with some production from centerfield, this team will look like Dusty Baker’s millennial version of the Murderer’s Row of the 1920’s.
The Nats face the Phillies best pitcher, Jeremy Hellickson, as he looks to halt the Phillies losing streak. The Nats have faced Hellickson plenty of times. There are not may secrets between the teams as this will be their 9th head-to-head game already this season.
The Talk Nats Podcast has a new episode up, and this one has Dan Steinberg from WaPo and super agent Tom O’Connell. You can hear it on this link. Steinberg discusses the state of the D.C. sports teams, and O’Connell compares the agent’s business to Jerry Maguire.
Next week, the Talk Nats Podcast will feature Jude Oz and some other special guests.
Washington Nationals at Philadelphia Phillies
Stadium: Citizens Bank Ballpark, Philadelphia, PA
1st Pitch: 2:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN2, Comcast Philadelphia , MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® (Internet 869)
Line-ups (subject to change without notice):
- Trea Turner SS
- Jayson Werth LF
- Daniel Murphy 2B
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Adam Lind 1B
- Chris Heisey RF
- Michael Taylor CF
- Jose Lobaton C
- Tanner Roark RHP
