Phillies-Nationals Preview 8/10

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Tonight, the Phillies are looking to even the series against the Nationals, and give themselves a chance to win the series tomorrow.

The Phillies have Cliff Lee (10-5, 3.13 ERA) pitching tonight, that’s usually a good thing, but he has struggled lately. He has a 6.00 ERA in his last three starts. That’s terrible. He has good career numbers against the Nationals, but his last start against them was pretty bad; he gave up 4 solo home runs in 7 innings pitched. He seems to be throwing too many strikes. He is great early in games, but he slows down late in games because his strategy is so repetitive; to throw strikes, and get batters out on the least amount of pitches possible. These are big league hitters, and if they will hit you if you throw too many strikes. They catch on. I am expecting a rough start for him tomorrow, because the Nationals have some dangerous right handed hitters, including Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth. There are a few Nationals that have good numbers against Cliff: Roger Bernadina, Kurt Suzuki, and Chad Tracy. I will predict 6 innings and 4 earned runs for Lee tonight.

The Nationals have Taylor Jordan (1-3, 3.76 ERA) pitching for them tonight. He has not been too bad in first few major league starts. He has had one start against the Phillies in his short career, and did well. He gave up 3 earned runs in 5.2 innings pitched, not bad. He does let a lot of people reach base against him, he has given up 53 base runners in 40.2 innings pitched. That’s something that I think will lead to success for him tomorrow. This is a problem I guess, but maybe not. He typically struggles against teams because he lets so many people get on base, but the Phillies are terrible when hitting with runners on base. It’s still better for him to not give up base runners, but still it might not hurt him if he does. That’s why I think he will have a great start tomorrow.  I will predict 6 scoreless innings for him tonight.

If the Phillies win tonight, then they will look to win the series tomorrow, to make it 2 straight series wins.

[Featured Image: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images]

 

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