Washington Nationals: 5 to watch at Dodger Stadium
The Washington Nationals wrap up their road trip with a three game series at Dodger Stadium. Here are our five players to watch in this series.
It wasn’t a pretty end to the West Coast trip, but the Washington Nationals (35-20) found a way to take two out of three games from the Oakland Athletics. In the three games, the Nats scored 28 runs, including two games where they scored ten or more runs.
Most of those runs in the series came via the long ball. During the three games against the A’s, the team hit a total of nine home runs. Michael Taylor and Daniel Murphy each hit two home runs during the series.
Tonight, the Washington Nationals will begin the last portion of their nine game road trip and it will be arguably their toughest test of the season. They will begin a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers (35-23), who are a half game behind the Colorado Rockies for first place in the National League West.
Last postseason, the Dodgers knocked off the Nats in an action-packed five game series in the NLDS. If you include the six regular season games these two teams played against each other last season, there were only three games decided by more than three runs (all three won by the Washington Nationals).
While the Nats lead the league in runs scored, the Dodgers aren’t that far behind. They are fifth in all of baseball in that category (283) and they are second in the NL as a team in on-base percentage at .335 (Nats are first – .348).
Right now, Justin Turner is out of the lineup since he’s on the disabled list with a strained hamstring. But, Los Angeles still has many good players in their lineup. Shortstop Corey Seager has a .OBP of .382 with 55 hits, but the big story is rookie left fielder Cody Bellinger and his 12 home runs.
On the mound, the conversation starts with Clayton Kershaw, who is off to a great start to his 2017 campaign and just surpassed 2,000 strikeouts for his career. The Dodgers are second in the NL in starters’ ERA (3.52), but one of their best pitchers, Alex Wood (5-0, 1.90 ERA) is on the DL as well with joint inflammation in his pitching shoulder.
In the bullpen, the microscope will be on the Nats after they nearly blew a 11-4 lead in the ninth inning yesterday. When you look at Los Angeles’s bullpen, they have one of the best closers in the game in Kenley Jansen and they lead the NL in ERA (2.70) and strikeouts (238).
This is a big litmus test for the Washington Nationals as they try to make a statement that they can win a series on the road against one of the best teams in the NL. They did that in April against the Rockies, but a series win over LA on the road in a series that includes Kershaw would put a great end to this trip.
Here are the pitching matchups in this three game series:
Tonight: Gio Gonzalez (4-1, 3.03 ERA) vs. Hyun-Jin Ryu (2-5, 3.91) – 10:10 p.m ET, broadcast on MASN/ESPN
Tomorrow: Max Scherzer (6-3, 2.56) vs. Brandon McCarthy (5-2, 3.38) – 10:10 p.m, MASN2
Wednesday: Stephen Strasburg (7-1, 2.91) vs. Clayton Kershaw (7-2, 2.28) – 3:10 p.m, MASN/MLB Network
Now, here are our five players to watch, starting with a second baseman who is having an excellent west coast trip:
Daniel Murphy
Yesterday, Drew Douglas chose his player of the week for the Washington Nationals from the Giants and A’s series. His selection was… Daniel Murphy. Since the Nats arrived on the West Coast, Murphy has been red hot at the plate.
In the last six games, he is 14-for-28 with a pair of home runs and seven RBI’s. He drove in at least one run in four of those games and had four multi-hit games (three or more hits in three of them).
With Bryce Harper missing the first two games of the A’s series due to suspension, Murphy slid into the number three spot and didn’t miss a beat as he went 4-for-6 with a home run and two RBI’s. Right now, he is in the top five in the NL in batting average (.340) and in the top ten in RBI’s (40).
Murphy tends to play well when the lights shine the brightest. Of course, everyone remembers the great 2015 postseason when he had seven home runs in 14 games. But, keep in mind, he did have six RBI’s in the NLDS against the Dodgers and hit .438 last year in those five games. The Washington Nationals did not lose that series because of him, that’s for sure.
Last year, Murphy did not have success against the Dodgers in the regular season as he went 3-for-23 with two RBI’s in the six games. With the way that Murphy is coming into the series, he should put up better numbers this week. He does have at least one career hit against each of the three Dodgers pitchers in this series.
Cody Bellinger
If the last name Bellinger sounds familiar, Cody is the son of former Yankees player Clay Bellinger. He won NL Rookie of the Month in the month of May and for good reason. While his batting average was only .245, he had nine home runs and 27 RBI’s in 28 games.
Before the season began, Bellinger was one of the top prospects in all of baseball. Now, he is their starting left fielder since Andrew Toles is out for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL.
Bellinger has 12 home runs in 38 games and his home run in the 12th inning on Friday ended up sealing the win for Los Angeles. Out of his 12 home runs this year, eight of them have come in the seventh inning or later. He is .300 in those spots with 19 RBI’s (leads the team in both categories).
Without Justin Turner in the lineup, the Dodgers are relying on Bellinger’s power to be a key piece in the middle of that lineup. Dave Roberts likes to use him in different spots in the batting order. Plus, he can play both first base and left field, which is an added bonus.
If the Washington Nationals are going to have success in this series, they need to find a way to strikeout Bellinger. It’s a tough task, but keep in mind that the 21-year-old leads the Dodgers in strikeouts (52). That is three more than Corey Seager, who has played in 14 more games.
The Dodgers have a lot of good players offensively. But, Bellinger has made the biggest splash as he has adjusted to big league pitching in a big way.
Gio Gonzalez
Gonzalez will look to shake off a bad month of May (4.37 ERA in six starts) when he makes his first June start tonight in Dodger Stadium. While he got the win on Tuesday against the Giants, he wasn’t at his best. He went 6.1 innings, gave up three runs on eight hits, struck out six, and walked three on 108 pitches.
The big issue for Gonzalez this season has been the walks. He has 35 walks this year, which is the most of any National League pitcher. Plus, he has walked three or more hitters in nine consecutive games. You can get by with three walks against San Francisco, but the Dodgers have a much better lineup.
Last year, the Dodgers struggled mightily against left-handed pitchers. This year, it’s been a little better as they’ve hit .247 (eighth in the NL) with 19 home runs (tied for fourth). One reason for that is the play of infielders Logan Forsythe and Chris Taylor (both hitting over .400).
While Gonzalez hasn’t lost against the Dodgers since 2012, his start in the postseason last year wasn’t good. He didn’t make it out of the fifth inning and gave up three runs on 83 pitches. Forsythe is 4-for-6 against him with a pair of RBI’s in his career.
This start tonight will be key for the Washington Nationals because it could go a long way in deciding who wins the series. The team has won four straight series openers and has yet to be swept in any series this season. Plus, with Kershaw looming later in the series, any win you can get against Los Angeles without him on the mound is one you have to get.
Clayton Kershaw
Speaking of Kershaw, he was able to record his 2,000th career strikeout against the Brewers in his last start. In that game, he went seven innings, gave up one solo home run on two hits, and struck out a season high 14 in a no-decision.
Now that he’s fully healthy, the three-time Cy Young Award winner is looking like the favorite to win the award for the fourth time in 2017. Right now, he leads the NL in wins, innings pitched, and ERA, and trails only Max Scherzer in strikeouts (92).
Kershaw has a strong fastball, but the one pitch to look out for is his breaking ball. According to Brooks Baseball, teams are hitting .103 against that pitch with two home runs (six hits overall).
Throughout his entire career, Kershaw has dominated the Washington Nationals. The 29-year-old is 10-2 with a 2.02 ERA in 14 career games (13 starts) against the Nats and hasn’t lost to them since 2010. This does not include his win in Game 1 of the NLDS and a save in Game 5 last year.
The player to watch on the Nats in this one has to be Bryce Harper. Harper is only 1-for-15 with ten K’s in his career against the left-hander, but Harper is also the last Washington Nationals player to hit a home run against Kershaw (2014). It’s always fun to watch these two superstars battle against each other.
With Kershaw having given up four home runs in his last two games, maybe the time is right for the Nats to end that slide on Wednesday. Otherwise, he could be in for another dominant outing against a formidable opposition.
Stephen Strasburg
In two of the last three series the Nats have had with the Dodgers, Strasburg has to miss those because of injuries. This year, he’s healthy and pitching like an ace. During the month of May, he went 4-0 with a 2.78 ERA and had 43 strikeouts in five outings.
While Strasburg didn’t have another double-digit strikeout game against the Oakland Athletics on Friday, he still had another good outing. He went seven innings, gave up two runs on seven hits, struck out seven, and walked three as he picked up his seventh win of the year.
Pitching out of the stretch has done wonders for Strasburg this season. His fastball is still electric, but the pitch that teams have trouble hitting is the changeup. According to Brooks Baseball, teams are hitting .083 against that pitch with three singles, a home run, and 22 strikeouts.
This Strasburg-Kershaw matchup was supposed to happen last year in the regular season at Dodger Stadium , but Yusmeiro Petit got the start instead as Strasburg got scratched. Also, the Dodgers handed him his first loss of the season last year on July 21.
If there is one hitter to watch in this game for Los Angeles, it’s first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. He is 6-for-12 against Strasburg with a pair of doubles and a pair of RBI’s in his career.
Next: Joe Ross At A Crossroads
Who are your hitters to watch in this rematch of last year’s NLDS? Send us your thoughts in the comments section below.