Nats sweep Phillies in 4 game series

While it can be said that one should not put too much stock in to September games it is worth noting that with the 4 game sweep the Nats wrapped up the season series with a 10-8 record vs the Philadelphia Phillies.

Now I know that you have probably heard many times over the last couple of days how the Phillies have already clenched, that they are resting some of their players and so on and so on…. But here are some things worth considering

1. This season series win marks the first time since 2006 that the Nationals have taken the season series
2. This is the first time since becoming the Nationals that they have swept the Phillies in a series
3. This is the first time since 2006 that they have taken a series over the Phillies in September
4. Between 2007-2010 the Nats were just 21-51 against the Phillies and 9-27 when playing at Citizens Bank Park

From 2007 through 2010 the Phillies flat out dominated the Washington Nationals but the progress the Nats are making as a team shows in the way they have played the Phillies this season. Washington took two out of the three series vs the Phillies at Nationals Park and finished the year 5-5 vs the Phillies when playing at Citizens Bank Park.

So while it may not be a bad sign for Philadelphia Phillies fans this season the sweep for Nationals fans could hold some small encouraging signs of what the future may hold. In games 1 and 4 of the series we got to see two young arms in Milone and Peacock that are both highly thought of in the Nationals organization and from what I saw the signs looked good.

In game one Milone went 6 scoreless innings, allowed 4 hits, struck out 2 and walked none. For Milone it was his third time in four starts that he did not give up a walk. Which is not a surprise considering this season in the minors he struck out 155 batters and walked just 16 while playing entirely at the AAA level.

In game four Peacock went 5 and two thirds scoreless innings while giving up just 1 hit and walking 2 batters. Peacock finished the game with an era of 0.75 on the season so far in 12 innings of play.

So for Nationals fans take the series sweep as an encouraging sign because the Nationals could go in to Spring training with a good problem to have and that is too many good options for the starting rotation. With Strasburg, Zimmermann, Lannan, Detwiler, Wang, Milone and Peacock all as potential candidates to fill out the 5 man rotation next season and a number of nice young arms still in the minors the Nats future is definitely looking bright.