Once again, the Marlins and the Nationals will play an early season series. This will be a 4 game series to include a doubleheader tomorrow. We know today is Gio Gonzalez and Tom Koehler. You probably remember that Bryce Harper has 6 career HRs off of Tom Koehler which is the most that Bryce has against any pitcher. Tomorrow will be Stephen Strasburg in the 1st game of the doubleheader and Tanner Roark in the night game of the doubleheader. Dusty Baker will decide on the 26th player for tomorrow, and the other variable will be the suspension of Bryce Harper as to whether or not he sits out a game tomorrow.
In other news in revenue generation, the outfield wall signage is completely sold-out with Chipotle taking the last space. This deal comes after the large sponsorships with Anheuser-Busch and Delta Airlines were announced in March. Club officials declined to disclose financial terms as expected and it is the first year since Nats Park opened in 2008 that all signage has been sold in the outfield with the last remaining spot reserved for whoever buys the stadium naming rights. “We are differentiating our offering by focusing on strategic prospecting, creative activations and analytics to support storytelling in our sales pitches,” said Nationals VP/Corporate Sponsorships Jake Burns. Nationals Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer Valerie Camillo said, “There’s been a phenomenal amount of initial inbound interest [on stadium naming rights], but it’s still very early in the process. It’s hard to put a timetable on it. This isn’t about selling a package of signs. This is a much deeper integration into everything we do here.”
In a divergence from posting lifetime numbers, this chart uses the Joe Maddon formula of “what have you done for me lately”. Here are the Nats stats against Tom Koehler from this year. Ryan Zimmerman did not play in that game although Ryan has very good numbers against Koehler in 2013, he is 2-15 since then.
Here are Gio’s stats against the Marlins for his career, and the one big change you will notice is there is no Dee Gordon who got a lengthy PED suspension.
Line-up (subject to change without notice):
- Ben Revere CF
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Bryce Harper RF
- Daniel Murphy 2B
- Ryan Zimmerman 1B
- Jayson Werth LF
- Danny Espinosa SS
- Jose Lobaton C
- Gio Gonzalez LHP
