Home sweet home some would say. Bryce Harper sent out a ‘tweet’ at 5:16AM “Nothing like getting back to DC when the sun is coming up!” Maybe the Nats players got to bed by 6:30am if they were lucky. Ryan Zimmerman might have gone home to the sweet cries of his newborn baby daughter, and Jayson Werth hopefully drove the speed limit back to his lair off of Georgetown Pike where he falls asleep to peace and serenity and the faint sound of the Potomac River going over the falls. F.P. Santangelo reminded us once again of the reality sleep deprivation and of baseball life. Get-away days can be tough and especially when you lose those games.
The good news for Stephen Strasburg was that he was back in bed early in his Virginia residence as is customary he caught an earlier flight back to Washington DC and Strasburg says his calf is better. Stephen Strasburg once again, and for the 4th time since May 24th, must be a stopper after a Nats loss following Gio Gonzalez in the rotation.
Confirmed by Chelsea Janes:
The Washington Nationals will face Jeremy Hellickson for the 6th time in his career tonight, and the 4th time this year, and yet this will be the 1st time this year the Phillies will face Stephen Strasburg. The odds of that happening by game #61 is unusual to say the least and might be a statistical rarity that has never happened before. Tomorrow when the Nats face Aaron Nola, it will be his 4th start against the Nationals, and Roark’s 3rd time against the Phillies. The Nats have won 2 of the 3 games this year that Hellickson has faced the Nats.
Tonight seems the perfect night to play the stats and sit Anthony Rendon and play Stephen Drew if you believe in playing small sample sizes of statistics.
Here are the Nats stats against Hellickson:
Here is Stephen Strasburg’s stats against the Phillies:
Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, DC
1st Pitch: 7:05pm EDT
TV: MASN, WUSA9, NBC10-Philadelphia, MLB.tv
Line-ups (subject to change without notice):
- Ben Revere CF
- Jayson Werth LF
- Bryce Harper RF
- Daniel Murphy 2B
- Ryan Zimmerman 1B
- Wilson Ramos C
- Stephen Drew 3B
- Danny Espinosa SS
- Stephen Strasburg RHP
