A little over a week ago the Washington Nationals were playing like they wanted to pack up their lockers for the season. A week later they are playing like they want to stay awhile. Owners of the longest winning streak in the Majors currently at seven, the red-hot Nationals look to continue to rise in the NL East standings and shock the baseball world against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 P.M. at Nationals Park.
The NL East third place Nationals will be sending their young gun Jordan Zimmermann (4-6, 3.10 ERA) to the mound to face off against the Birds' Brian Matusz (1-1, 5.11 ERA). Zimmermann is experiencing a rise in his career. After starting the season a little lackluster, Zimmermann has dropped the hammer and gone into the red going at least six innings in eight straight starts and he has held opponents to two runs or fewer in seven of those starts. A future tandem of Stephen Strasburg and Zimmermann should put butterflies in the stomachs of Natstown and Nationals opponents alike.
Matusz has not been overly impressive this season and that bodes well for the Nationals offense who have been terrorizing pitchers throughout the seven-game win streak. The Orioles bullpen is atrocious as the Nationals gratefully found out Friday night and if they for some reason can't get to Matusz they know they still have a chance to get at the Baltimore relief that has been anything but.
The current win streak is the longest for the Nationals since 2009 and they are two games away from returning to .500.
Nationals Line-Up
Jayson Werth - RF
Ian Desmond - SS
Ryan Zimmerman - 3B
Michael Morse - 1B
Danny Espinosa - 2B
Jerry Hairston Jr. - LF
Ivan Rodriguez - C
Jordan Zimmermann - SP
Roger Bernadina - CF