Washington Nationals: Five To Watch Against Spiraling Phillies

Jayson Werth

Jayson Werth has gotten off to an outstanding start to his age 37 season, batting .299 with six homers in his first 30 games. He has greatly benefited from facing his former team so often to begin the season. In eight games, he boasts a slash line of .433/.485/.767. He also has three homers, which is a tenth of his 30 at-bats. Werth has absolutely crushed the Phillies so far, and he should be looking forward to another three great games.

Unfortunately for Werth, this series is being played at Nationals Park and not Citizens Bank Park. In six games at his former stomping grounds, he owns a slash line of .478/.520/.913. Everyone boos when Werth returns to Citizens Bank Park, including Max Scherzer, possibly providing a little extra motivation to haunt his former team. After his last trip to Philadelphia, Werth jokingly said, “All I hear is cheers. There’s a lot of love going on out there.”

Werth’s offensive success has carried over into May, and he has already recorded four multi-hit games in just nine games played. To make this even more impressive, he has been battling an illness for a few days. He talked his way into the lineup on Wednesday after not being included in the original lineup due to his illness, and it paid off big time.

He ended up going 2-for-3, and was arguably the player of the game. He led off the bottom of the ninth, with the Nats losing 6-4, and set the tone for the inning with an epic 11 pitch at-bat capped by a home run. The Nationals went on to win the game 7-6 on a Matt Wieters walk-off single, but that may not have been possible without Werth’s unbelievable home run.

Werth is currently on fire at the plate and always does damage to his former team, so he appears ready to have another outstanding series against the Phillies.