Washington Nationals: Players To Watch In Final Mets Series Of 2016

Tonight, the Washington Nationals begin their final series of 2016 against the New York Mets

This week, the Washington Nationals (85-58) went 6-1 against the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies. Over the weekend, the Nats offense only scored 12 runs in four games, but their starting pitching combined to give up six runs in 24.2 innings. One of the highlights in this series was Bryce Harper’s game winning three-run home run in the eighth inning on Saturday night, which broke a scoreless tie.

Tonight, the Nats will wrap up their ten game homestand when they begin a three game series against the New York Mets (76-67). While the Nats are 10-6 against the Mets this season, New York won two of three in the last series at Citi Field (September 2-4).

Right now, the Washington Nationals have a nine game lead in the NL East over the Mets (magic number at 11) and the division seems out of reach if the Nats win a game in this series. With that being said, the Mets have won five of their last six and 13 of their last 17 games as they have a ½ game lead on the Cardinals for the second Wild Card in the National League.

On offense, Yoenis Cespedes is starting to go on one of those runs that he went on last year when the Mets surged to the NL East title and National League pennant. The Mets left fielder has three home runs and ten RBI’s in his last five games and he is hitting .270 with nine home runs and 26 RBI’s since the All-Star Break.

As for the Mets pitching, they are still without Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz, but the team has a 2.88 ERA in the month of September (third in the NL). Two pitchers who have helped the rotation are out with those injuries are Seth Lugo (4-2, 2.62 ERA) and Robert Gsellman (Wednesday’s starter).

In the bullpen, Jeurys Familia continues to get the job done in the ninth inning as he has 48 saves in 51 chances this season. Familia and setup man Addison Reed (1.83 ERA in 70 appearances) have yet to give up a run in the month of September.

Meanwhile, in the Nats bullpen, Mark Melancon saved two games this week and appeared in the final three games of the series. The one negative from the bullpen was Koda Glover, who gave up home runs on Friday and Sunday.

Here are the three pitching matchups for this series:

• Tonight – Rafael Montero (0-0, 4.63 ERA) vs. Mat Latos (7-2, 4.64) – 7:05 p.m ET, broadcast on MASN
• Tomorrow – Noah Syndergaard (13-8, 2.48) vs. A.J. Cole (1-2, 4.56) – 7:05, MASN
• Wednesday – Robert Gsellman (2-1, 3.92) vs. Tanner Roark (14-8, 2.85) – 4:05, MASN

 For this series preview, we are going to do things a little differently. Read on to check out who my players to watch are in this series and my prediction:

Next: Mets Hitter To Watch

Mets Center Fielder Curtis Granderson

When you talk about this Mets offense, a lot of attention goes to the top of the order (Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Cespedes), but one player who is finding his swing at the right time is Curtis Granderson. With Reyes in the leadoff spot, Granderson is now hitting cleanup in the Mets order and that move is paying off (.261, three home runs, nine RBIs in seven games).

Over his last 30 games, Granderson is hitting .198, but he does have 11 home runs (leads team) and 21 RBI’s (third on the team). In that last series against the Washington Nationals, he drove in five of the Mets nine runs to help push New York to that series win.

While Granderson has 26 home runs, he only has 48 RBI’s this season and his .224 batting average is the lowest average he has had in a season over the course of his career. With that being said, he has already tied his home run total from a season ago.

Despite the early season struggles, Granderson has had his success against the Washington Nationals this season. In 16 games, he is hitting .288 with two home runs and seven RBI’s to go with a .397 on-base percentage. Plus, his nine walks are the most of any Met player against Washington this season.

As you watch Granderson this series, keep an eye on his plate discipline and his ability to work the count of the opposing pitcher. He isn’t hitting leadoff anymore, but he still has the tendencies of a leadoff hitter. His 813 pitches seen in the last month are more than any player on the Mets.

You would expect that the Washington Nationals will be careful when pitching to Cespedes in this series, but they can’t afford to make a mistake against Granderson, who is finding a way to either get on base or pick up the big hits at the right time.

Next: Nats Hitter To Watch

Nationals Second Baseman Daniel Murphy

For the final time in the regular season, Murphy will get the opportunity to wreak havoc against his former team. The second baseman for the Washington Nationals has a hit in all 16 games against the Mets this year. He is hitting .397 in those games with seven home runs and 21 RBI’s to go with a .426 on-base percentage.

Murphy did have a hit in those games against New York over a week ago, but he went 3-for-11 and did not drive in a run. Since that series, he is 10-for-22 (.455) with four doubles and four RBI’s, which got his RBI total over 100 for the season (102).

Going into this series, Murphy seems to be due for a home run. He has already reached a career-high for home runs this season (25), but he hasn’t hit a home run since August 26 against the Colorado Rockies (15 games).

The home runs haven’t come, but Murphy is still a doubles machine. He has eight doubles in his last 30 games, but that total is third on the team behind Harper (nine) and third baseman Anthony Rendon (ten).

When you go back to that last Mets series, the Washington Nationals had their issues hitting with runners in scoring position (2-for-23). Out of those 23 at-bats, Murphy had only one of them. If Trea Turner can get himself into scoring position, Murphy will get more of those opportunities to drive in runs. Going into this series, I think Murphy will make one more statement against his old team.

Next: Mets Pitcher To Watch

Mets Starter Noah Syndergaard

Syndergaard will take the ball for the Mets tomorrow night against A.J. Cole, which is my favorite matchup of the week. Of course, with all of the Mets injuries in the rotation, they need Syndergaard to pick up a win almost anytime he takes the mound.

Against the Reds on September 7, Syndergaard threw five shutout innings against the Reds in a win. With that being said, his command was a concern as he walked four batters and threw 95 pitches just to finish five innings. The right-hander is 4-1 in his last six starts, but that one loss was against the Nats on September 2.

This season, the 24-year-old right-hander is 1-3 against the Washington Nationals with a 4.15 ERA in four starts. The Washington Nationals offense only has one home run against Syndergaard, but they have 19 hits in 21 innings and have been able to excel on the basepaths.

In those four matchups, the Washington Nationals are 9-for-10 on stolen base attempts. Turner and Harper each have two of those stolen bases. Back on September 2, the two of them each stole third and came around to score in that 4-1 win.

Since the beginning of spring training, there has been an emphasis on aggressive baserunning and stealing bases by the Washington Nationals. In these matchups against Syndergaard, he doesn’t hold runners on. That allows them to utilize that strategy and it allows them to have success on offense. I would expect the same thing to happen tomorrow night.

Next: Nats Starter To Watch

PREDICTION

Right now, the Washington Nationals would love nothing more than to bury the Mets in this series, something they couldn’t do at Citi Field a couple weeks ago. Just like that last series, Max Scherzer will not be pitching for the Nats, so the Mets get a break there.

When you look at tonight’s matchup, I expect a lot of runs to be scored. Latos gave up two runs over two innings against New York on September 4, which included a home run by his former teammate in Cincinnati, Jay Bruce. Montero has done a good job filling in for deGrom, but he does have ten walks in those two starts.

As for Wednesday’s matchup, I am leaning towards taking Roark to get the win over Gsellman. With that being said, the Nats offense didn’t have a hit with men in scoring position on September 3 and only had four hits after the first inning.

Roark only went five innings against New York in that matchup against Gsellman, but he struggled with his command as he walked four batters, which lead to New York scoring two runs. While he hasn’t beaten the Mets this season, he does have a 1.88 ERA in three games (two starts).

Next: Nats Need Gio Now More Than Ever

Looking at this matchup, I think this series means more to the Mets as this is their last series against a playoff team for the rest of the regular season. Both of these teams come into this series on a roll, but I think New York’s offense will carry them to another series win as they take two out of three, with the Nats beating Syndergaard on Tuesday.