The Nationals got into their San Diego hotel after midnight on Pacific time due to their afternoon game going 12 innings and ending as a ‘night’ game. It was all worth it in the end, and Dusty Baker had a happy birthday aboard Delta Nats One or is that Delta Nats Won?
“It was a crazy game. I’m just glad we ended up on the right side of it. We’ve got a long flight out to the west coast,” Werth said after yesterday’s game. “You always talk about having a happy flight. I think we should have a happy flight at least.”
This four game series against the Padres in San Diego is the Nats only trip there this year, however, for Daniel Murphy, Wilson Ramos, Bryce Harper, and Stephen Strasburg and hopefully a few other Nats, they should be back in San Diego on the evening of July 10th for some real fun in the Gaslight District.
Tonight’s west coast opener will feature Tanner Roark versus righty Erik Johnson who the Pads just got in the James Shields trade. The Nats have never faced Johnson before, and will have to rely on the limited scouting reports available.
Here is the scouting we have on Erik Johnson: He throws a straight fastball as his primary pitch about 2/3rds of the time and it sits 91mph and will occasionally top out at 93. The fastball often misses the mark, and can be hit early and often. He throws a good slider and change-up and a few curveballs to mix it up. Johnson has a 7.71 ERA in 3 big league starts this year with an awful HR/9 of 3.9.
In his career, lefties hit Johnson at a slash of .314/.409/.575/.984 and some fantasy baseball experts are predicting Bryce Harper will light him up for at least 1 home run tonight.
One familiar name you will notice on the Padres roster is Melvin Upton formerly known as BJ Upton. They also have Jon Jay and Matt Kemp along with ex-National top prospect Derek Norris who was part of the trade for Gio Gonzalez.
Here is Tanner Roark‘s stats against the Padres:
Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres
Stadium: Petco Park, San Diego, CA
1st Pitch: 10:10pm EDT
TV: MASN2, FSSD-San Diego FOX Deportes, MLB.tv
Line-ups (subject to change without notice):
- Ben Revere CF
- Jayson Werth LF
- Bryce Harper RF
- Wilson Ramos C
- Clint Robinson 1B
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Stephen Drew 2B
- Danny Espinosa SS
- Tanner Roark RHP
