The Washington Nationals got a much needed day off yesterday, and we don’t know what walk-off hero Chris Heisey did with his day off. Bryce Harper on the other hand was visiting museums on the national mall as he was taking selfies in the Smithsonian. Today’s starting pitcher Max Scherzer was uploading video and photos from one of his diving expeditions and Dusty as we know was on the radio doing what Dusty likes to do: Talking Nats.
Tonight’s 7:05pm match-up features Cy Young winner Max Scherzer and 23 year old righty pitcher Vincent Velasquez who was a 2nd round pick of the Houston Astros and was traded in the Ken Giles deal in the off-season. This will be Velasquez’s 11th career start. He has upgraded his fastball to average 95mph and can dial that up to 98. That is his main pitch and will throw a slow curve at 80mph and will throw a few sliders and changeups.
Scherzer has to get back on track tonight and also remember that 10 days ago Scherzer pitched 5 hit baseball giving up 1 run to the Phillies in an 8-1 win.
Here is Scherzer’s stats vs the current Phillies:
Only Stephen Drew has faced Velasquez in a regular season game before:
To nobody’s surprise, Michael Taylor is back at lead-off and we continue on with that. Today might be the day he breaks out. Wilson Ramos was moved to the bereavement list after the passing of his Grandpa Campos. Pedro Severino was called up to replace Ramos. The bereavement list is available up to 7 days.
- Michael Taylor CF
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Bryce Harper RF
- Ryan Zimmerman 1B
- Daniel Murphy 2B
- Jayson Werth LF
- Danny Espinosa SS
- Jose Lobaton C
- Max Scherzer RHP
