Nats at Phillies

[Jollay]

Well, if they can take two of three from the Braves, maybe the Nats can slow down the Phillies now, right? Probably not, but it certainly would be nice.

Oswalt goes for the Phils, and he's been awesome since his very mediocre Phils debut at Nats Park. Since August the little ace is 6-0 with a 1.56 ERA. He goes against Jason Marquis, who has been very respectable of late, with a 2.40 ERA in his last five starts.

Nyjer Morgan finally got suspended, but he had the seven games he got for supposedly throwing a ball at a fan in Phily eliminated. He will serve eight for the other stuff with the Marlins/Cardinals upheld starting tonight, though.

The Nats will have to try and test the Phils by running, but it'll be tough with Victorino back in center patrolling the gaps. Carlos Ruiz usually has a pretty good arm, but he and the Phils are below the league average in catching runners stealing, so expect the Nats to try and steal a decent amount to scrape for runs.

[craig01]

And the march to 70 continues.

Nats have a chance to be a real PIA to the Phillies....who are due for a mini slump in the W/L column.

I bet the Nats take 2 out of 3 this weekend.

[Jollay]

Definitely was some optimism coming out of the Atlanta series, but the Phillies have won the first two. They smashed Marquis early Friday in a 9-1 win, and last night they won 5-2 as Howard, Werth, and Ibanez homered off Jordan Zimmermann. Zimmermann has only really had one good outing since his MLB return and falls to 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA. He was responsible for all five Phillies runs.

Yunesky Maya goes up against Joe Blanton in the series finale.

[craig01]

And the quest for 70 runs into a roadblock.

8 more W's needed

[Jollay]

Drew Storen gives up four runs in the ninth as the Phillies take the final game 7-6. Tough place to pitch, and shouldn't be a major setback for Storen, but a disappointing loss nonetheless.

Willie Harris and Danny Espinosa had solo shots, and Michael Morse, who could be the Nats' regular first baseman next year, had a three-run shot.