Washington Nationals: 5 To Watch In Weekend Matchup Versus Mets

The Washington Nationals are in Citi Field tonight to begin a series with the New York Mets. Here are five players to watch in this NL East battle

It wasn’t easy, but the Washington Nationals (10-5) got off to a great start to their ten game road trip this week as they swept the Atlanta Braves in their first visit to SunTrust Park. Despite making a closer change, the team has won five of its last six games.

The Nats scored 20 runs in the three games in Atlanta, included 14 in a blowout win Wednesday night. Ryan Zimmerman led the charge on offense as he hit two home runs and drove in seven runs in the three games.

On the mound, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg gave up a combined three runs in 14 innings in their starts as each of them picked up the win.

Now, the Nats are at Citi Field tonight to begin a three game series against the New York Mets (8-8). These two teams will play six times in the next ten days to finish out the month of April.

On offense, the Mets are a team that relies heavily on the home run. New York has hit 25 home runs as a team (second in the National League), but they have the third lowest batting average in the NL (.220) and a team on-base percentage lower than .300 (.299).

But, the offense has been hit with injuries lately. First baseman Lucas Duda (elbow), catcher Travis d’Arnaud (wrist), and infielder Wilmer Flores (infection) were out of the lineup tonight. Then, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes (six home runs) had to leave the game with a hamstring injury:

This weekend, the Nats catch a break as Noah Syndergaard is not pitching for New York. The right-hander known as Thor has 20 strikeouts, no walks, and a 0.95 ERA in three starts. Without Steven Matz, New York’s rotation has the second lowest ERA in the NL (3.14).

Here are your three pitching matchup for this weekend’s series:

Tonight: Tanner Roark (2-0, 3.50 ERA) vs. Matt Harvey (2-0, 2.45) – 7:10 p.m ET, broadcast on MASN/MLB Network

Tomorrow: Gio Gonzalez (1-0, 1.33) vs. Jacob deGrom (0-0, 1.89) – 4:10 p.m, MASN/Fox Sports 1

Sunday: Max Scherzer (2-1, 1.37) vs. Zack Wheeler (1-1, 5.52) – 8:08 p.m, ESPN

Before this series, be sure to listen to my guest segment with Gary McDonald of Mets Musings as I went on his show to preview the series. Gary will be joining me on the DoDcast postgame show next Friday night when the Mets and Nats begin their series at Nats Park.

Also, J.T. Teran of Rising Apple will be joining me Sunday night after the game on ESPN as we will record a DoDcast postgame show to recap that game on our Youtube channel.

Without further ado, here are my five players to watch, starting with a pitcher who is very comfortable at Citi Field:

Gio Gonzalez

Gonzalez has been by far the biggest surprise in this rotation in the first couple of weeks of the season. He has gone six innings or more in each of his first three starts and kept the Nats in every game.

Last Sunday, against the Phillies, the left-hander struggled with his command as he walked three batters and only threw 14 first pitch strikes to the 29 batters he faced. Despite those problems, he went 7.1 innings, threw 105 pitches, and gave up two earned runs.

So far, the difference in Gonzalez compared to last year has been his ability to work in and out of trouble. This season, he has yet to give up an earned run with runners in scoring position to go with five strikeouts.

During his career, Gonzalez has been very comfortable pitching at Citi Field. In 13 starts at that venue, he is 8-1 with a 1.64 ERA and has given up a total of four runs over his five starts (dating back to 2015). Last season, Cespedes and Jose Reyes each had two home runs against him.

Gonzalez’s opposition for this game is Matt Harvey. Harvey has had three good starts since coming back from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. The right-hander has given up two runs in each of his first three starts, but hasn’t thrown more than 92 pitches.

The key for this game is going to be whether or not the Washington Nationals see the Matt Harvey from 2015 or the Harvey that had a 9.53 ERA in three starts against the Nats a season ago.

With the way the pitching matchups are set up, this could be the game that ultimately decides who wins the series this weekend.

Jacob deGrom

After missing the final month of the 2016 season due to injury, deGrom has been dominant to start the 2017 season. He has given up a total of four runs in three games and is coming off one of the best starts of his career.

On April 15 against the Marlins, the 28-year-old right-hander gave up a pair of solo home runs, but he struck out 13 batters in seven innings. Due to the Mets bullpen giving up the lead in the eighth inning, deGrom wasn’t able to get the win.

Mets manager Terry Collins is going to be very careful with his pitchers to start the season, which is why deGrom has yet to throw 100 pitches in any game so far. Despite the pitch count being low, he has induced 24 groundball outs in three starts (second most in the Mets rotation).

Against the Nats in his career, deGrom is 2-2 with a 3.12 ERA in seven starts. However, he hasn’t faced Washington since 2015 and the Nats had a .198 average against him in those starts. Bryce Harper was 7-for-15 against deGrom that year with two doubles and a solo shot.

It will be a tough task for Tanner Roark to go head-to-head with deGrom. Roark is coming off of an outing against the Phillies last Saturday where he got 15 groundball outs in seven innings, but ended up getting the no-decision.

Out of the likely Mets starters tonight, the player with the most success against Roark lifetime is Curtis Granderson (7-for-25, four doubles, four RBI’s). But, the Mets center fielder was 1-for-9 against him last year with three strikeouts.

Daniel Murphy

This post will go up before tonight’s game, so it is unknown if Murphy will be in the lineup. The second baseman missed last night’s game against Atlanta due to right leg tightness, but Dusty Baker said he should be good to go today.

Of course, Murphy heads back to the stadium he used to call home and faces his old team, which he dominated last year. He had a hit in all 19 games and had a .413 average with seven home runs and 21 RBI’s. 14 of those RBI’s were at Citi Field.

Revenge has to be on Murphy’s mind all the time whenever he faces the Mets because he wants to prove it was a mistake to let him go. But, the 32-year-old has found the perfect situation for him right in the middle of this Nats lineup.

After having a hit in each of the first ten games, Murphy is 1-for-16 in his last four games. Now, everyone is going to slump once in a while and it’s rare that the Nats have a 20 hit night as a team (like they did Wednesday) and Murphy doesn’t get a hit.

Without the right leg tightness, it wouldn’t have surprised me if he got the day off yesterday against a knuckleballer like R.A. Dickey. Everytime the Nats and Mets get together, Murphy is at the center of it and he just enjoys getting big hits against his former team.

Jay Bruce

If there’s one position where the Mets have a lot of depth on their roster, it’s the outfield. All offseason, the talk was around whether or not New York would trade Jay Bruce after he struggled in the second half of last season (.226 average).

But, Bruce is proving all the doubters wrong and looking like the hitter like he was in Cincinnati. On Wednesday night, he had all five RBI’s against Philadelphia, including a game-winning two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth.

So far, Bruce is tied for the team lead in home runs (six), has the team lead in RBI’s (14), and is second in hits (17). He is known for his power, but the 30-year-old has had three three-hit games already this year.

While Bruce only hit .229 against the Washington Nationals in 2016, he did have three home runs and drove in seven runs. He is one of the few Mets who have success against Scherzer in their respective careers (3-for-7, one home run, two RBI’s).

With the injuries to Cespedes and Duda, Bruce had to play first base last night, a position he doesn’t play that often. If the Cespedes injury ends up being serious, the Mets will need Bruce to keep up this great start.

It is safe to say that as of right now, the Mets fans have to be happy that Bruce wasn’t traded over the winter. But, they are still trying to figure out how to get third year outfielder Michael Conforto in the lineup against right-handed pitching.