Jun 20, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer (31) throws to the Pittsburgh Pirates during the fourth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Nationals travel to Philadelphia to take on the Phillies for a three-game weekend set and we are here at District on Deck to preview the games and breakdown the pitching matchups.
The Nationals are riding high after two consecutive series sweeps of the Braves and the Pirates. The starting pitching has been excellent setting a, franchise record 41.1 scoreless inning streak. The bats are also supporting this excellent pitching performance by scoring 31 runs over these past six games. In other words, due to outstanding pitching and great run support, the Nats have outscored their opponents 31-5. You are not going to lose many ballgames with that type of execution and the Nationals will look to continue their winning ways this weekend.
The Nationals success rides on arguably the best position player and the best pitcher in the game in Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer. Bryce may be a little banged up going into this series as he sat out the series finale against the Braves with a cramp, but he should still be able to dominate the back-end of the Phillies rotation.
Mad Max has been nothing but fantastic for the Nationals. He was the NL Player of the week this past week, due to a one-hitter and a near perfect game/no-hitter in his last start. He is simply outstanding and should make easy work of this hobbled Phillies lineup.
The Phillies are coming off a road trip where they won two out of three to the New York Yankees, but are in dead last in the NL East at a woeful 26-48. The Phillies are not a very good team and it seems like they are going to blow up what remaining good pieces they have soon and build towards the future.
The only real threat to the Nationals would have been Cole Hamels. He has pitched well against the Nationals this year. Fortunately for the Nats, he is not pitching this series, which leaves the Phillies very vulnerable to getting swept.
The Nats are on a roll and the Phillies are ripe for the picking, but let’s look at the matchups to see who holds the advantage going into each game.
Next: Friday's Matchup