Washington Nationals: 5 storylines to watch in trip to Houston

Tonight, the Washington Nationals begin a three game series against the Houston Astros in what could be a World Series preview. Here are 5 storylines to watch

Despite Ryan Madson and Max Scherzer both going on the disabled list this past weekend, the Washington Nationals (74-48) were able to win three out of four games against the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park. The offense scored 14 runs in the four games, with six of the 14 runs driven in by Adam Lind and Howie Kendrick.

With Scherzer scratched from his start against the Padres, Matt Grace and the bullpen gave up one run in the victory. Right now, the Nats are ahead of the Marlins by 14 games and their magic number to clinch the NL East is at 27.

The Washington Nationals will wrap up their seven game road trip this week as they will be at Minute Maid Park to take on the Houston Astros (76-48) in a three game Interleague series.

While the Nats probably won’t catch the Dodgers for home field in the NL Playoffs, if they have a better record than Houston, they would have home field in the World Series should those two teams meet.

For most of the year, the Astros have been the best team in the American League. But, in the second half of the year, A.J. Hinch’s club is 16-19. However, with a 12 game lead in the AL West, they are pretty much a postseason lock at this point.

Like the Nats, the Astros have had their fair share of injuries. On offense, shortstop Carlos Correa is on the disabled list with a torn ligament in his thumb. However, despite Correa’s absence, the Astros still have one of the best offenses in the game with George Springer’s 28 home runs and Jose Altuve’s .362 average in the top two spots of the lineup.

When you look at the Astros, starting pitching is probably their weakest unit. Dallas Keuchel has pitched better lately since coming off the DL, but Lance McCullers Jr. is on the DL with a back issue. Charlie Morton has ten wins, but is that enough to get Houston to the World Series this year?

Let’s take a look at the pitching matchups in this series

Tonight: Tanner Roark (9-8, 4.70 ERA) vs. Charlie Morton (10-5, 3.69) – 8:10 p.m ET, broadcast on MASN2

Tomorrow: Edwin Jackson (4-2, 3.43) vs. Mike Fiers (7-8, 4.32) – 8:10 p.m, MASN2

Thursday: Stephen Strasburg (10-4, 3.24) vs. Dallas Keuchel (11-2, 2.58) – 8:10 p.m, MASN2

Now, here are our five storylines for this series, starting with a player on the Astros that has played well at shortstop in Correa’s absence

Bregman flling in nicely at shortstop

With Carlos Correa on the disabled list, it has been up to Alex Bregman to fill in at shortstop. Bregman was a shortstop at LSU when he was teammates with Andrew Stevenson, but has played mainly third base during his major league career.

In August, Bregman is hitting .309 with 12 extra-base hits and 14 RBI’s. His 23 hits are tied with Jose Altuve for the second most on the Astros this month (Yuliesky Guerriel leads with 25).

During the Astros weekend series against the Oakland Athletics, Bregman had a RBI in each game and had two home runs. In addition to his success this past weekend, he has four multi-hit games in his last six.

When you look at this Houston lineup, they are so deep that the 23-year-old Bregman finds himself hitting in the seventh spot in the order on most nights. As a team, Houston is tied with the Yankees for the most hits in baseball out of that spot in the order and they are second in home runs with 26.

If you contrast that to the Washington Nationals bottom of the order, Houston gets good production with Carlos Beltran, Marwin Gonzalez, or Bregman. Meanwhile, the Nats are waiting for Michael Taylor to find his rhythm again and they are hoping for more consistency from Matt Wieters.

Bregman hasn’t reached the star levels like Correa, Springer, and Altuve have, but he is working his way towards that and that is scary for the rest of the league.

All-Star second basemen on display

With all the Washington Nationals injuries lately, you won’t find many head-to-head positions where these two teams have an even edge. One of those exceptions is at second base between Daniel Murphy and Jose Altuve.

First, let’s start with Altuve, who is looking like he will win the American League MVP award this year. The three-time Silver Slugger leads the AL in batting average (.362) and stolen bases (29). Plus, he is the top three in runs, slugging percentage, and .OPS.

Since the All-Star break, Altuve has been putting up great numbers. Over his last 34 games, he has a slash line of .396/.433/.612 with 55 hits (leads the league), six home runs, and 17 RBI’s. If you thought those numbers were crazy, the .485 batting average he had last month at-bats) is a number that is absolutely absurd.

It’s a severe understatement that the Washington Nationals pitchers will have a tough time getting Altuve out this week. Against the three starters the Nats will throw in this series, the 27-year-old is 5-for-11 with a triple. In addition, he is 6-for-16 with a home run against Joe Blanton in his career. Dusty Baker needs to keep that stat in mind.

As for Murphy, he did have three RBI’s during the Padres series, but he was also 2-for-14 at the plate. Some of his swings and at-bats were not prototypical of the way Murphy plays, so that set off some concerns and Baker gave him the full night off on Saturday.

This year, Murphy has done some of his best work away from Nats Park. His 80 hits on the road are the most in the National League and the fourth most in baseball (Altuve leads with 97). His 49 RBI’s are tied for fourth in the league with Nelson Cruz and Marcell Ozuna.

Heading into this series’ it’s a mixed bag for Murphy in terms of his career numbers against the first two Astros starter. On the positive side, he does have a home run against Mike Fiers. Meanwhile, he is 4-for-21 with three strikeouts lifetime against Charlie Morton.

It’s rare that a runner up for MVP in one league a year ago gets a chance to face the frontrunner for MVP this year in the other league. Enjoy this position battle.

Strasburg vs. Keuchel

The final game of this series should be a fun one to watch as two pitchers with ten or more wins will go head-to-head. Keep in mind that we will have Eric Hyusman of Climbing Tal’s Hill on the DoDcast postgame show after the game to talk about what happened in this series.

Strasburg made his return to the rotation on Saturday and did not disappoint against the Padres. He did get the loss, but he gave up two runs (one home run) and struck out eight over six innings. Out of those eight strikeouts, five of them came via the changeup and the fastball got up to 98 miles-per-hour.

Now, Max Scherzer would’ve been on turn to start this game and make it a battle of Cy Young award winners, but he went on the disabled list Friday night. Nevertheless, this should still be a good pitching matchup.

One hitter to watch against Strasburg is Astros catcher Brian McCann. McCann is on the disabled list right now with an injured knee, but he’s expected to return to the team Thursday. If he plays, he is 7-for-20 with a home run against Strasburg in his career from his time with the Braves and Yankees.

As for Keuchel, he’s only made 16 starts this season because he spent nearly two months on the disabled list due to a pinched nerve in his neck. His first couple starts coming off the disabled list weren’t great, but now he’s returned to form.

In his last two starts, Keuchel has given up one run, struck out ten, and walked four over 13.2 innings. Before he went on the DL, the 29-year-old left-hander was undefeated in his first 11 starts and was looking on pace to win another Cy Young award (won the award in 2015).

Keuchel is tough to hit in any ballpark, but when he pitches at home, it’s extremely tough for opposing hitters. In seven home starts this year, he is 5-1 with a 1.35 ERA and has given up seven runs in 46.2 innings. That’s nothing compared to two years ago when he was 15-0 with a 1.46 ERA in 18 starts at home.

Two names to keep an eye on against Keuchel on the Nats are Howie Kendrick and Ryan Zimmerman. Kendrick is 8-for-18 with a double, a home run, and two RBI’s against him while Zimmerman is 4-for-6 with two doubles and four RBI’s.

When it’s time for October, both of these pitchers will be under pressure to perform for their respective ballclubs. For now, with both teams basically playoff locks, this will be a matchup that will be fun to watch.

Bullpen battle in Texas

Early in the season, if you told someone the Washington Nationals would win Bullpen Of The Week in August, I’m sure there would be some people who would find you crazy. Well, it happened after the Nats bullpen gave up two runs in four games against the Padres over the weekend.

The bullpen has had its fair share of injuries with Ryan Madson recently going on the disabled list with a finger sprain. However, Brandon Kintzler and Sean Doolittle have done a good job in the eighth and ninth inning respectively. Kintzler has a 0.90 ERA in ten games and Doolittle is 11-for-11 in saves.

The Nats added to their bullpen at the trade deadline and so did the Astros. Houston didn’t asd an elite arm into the mix, but they did acquire Francisco Liriano as another left-handed option and former Nats right-hander Tyler Clippard is now part of their bullpen.

Houston’s closer, Ken Giles, is 24-for-27 in saves this season with an opponents batting average of .185. One name to watch is their setup reliever, Luke Gregerson. In his last 14 appearances, the right-hander has an ERA of 5.27 and he’s given up three home runs (six in 37 first half outings).

Both of these teams have good depth in their bullpen and that should be on display in this series. Neither team has one of the elite relievers in the game, but both bullpens have shown good success as a unit.