Photo by Lynn G for TalkNats
Last night’s meltdown by Stephen Strasburg was hopefully a one-time occurrence and a blip on the radar. Today is a new day as the Washington Nationals close out this series in St. Louis. If the Nats win today, they will notch their first series win of the season.
The Nats are currently at a .250 winning percentage and far below the .380 the team was at when they were 19-31 on May 23, 2019. Honestly, that is how bad the situation is right now, but at 2-6, it would just take a 4-game winning streak to get back to .500. But so far the Nats have shown little ability to combine good pitching with good offense in the same game except for on Monday night when they accomplished both with Erick Fedde on the mound.
Up on the mound today is Joe Ross for the Nats. He had a solid 2021 debut game , and the Cardinals have a pitcher on the mound who will be 40 years old in August. Adam Wainwright has an 8.22 ERA and is trying to hang on as a finesse pitcher. This is the Nats opportunity to take an early lead against Wainwright. The key is not chasing that curveball out of the zone. You must see it out of his hand, and not put a fastball swing on his curveball.
Manager Dave Martinez will go with a new-look/old-look lineup with Trea Turner at lead-off and Victor Robles batting 9th.
Washington Nationals at St. Louis Cardinals
Stadium: Busch Stadium II, St. Louis, Missouri
1st Pitch: 1:45 pm EDT
TV: MASN, BALLY Sports Midwest, MLB Network (out-of-area); MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® ( Streaming Internet 869)
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
1. Trea Turner SS
2. Juan Soto RF
3. Ryan Zimmerman 1B
4. Kyle Schwarber LF
5. Josh Harrison 2B
6. Starlin Castro 3B
7. Yan Gomes C
8. Joe Ross RHP
9. Victor Robles CF
