The Washington Nationals will be going for the series win Wednesday night against the Chicago Cubs at Nationals Park. The Nats currently lead in the four game series 2-0, and a third straight win would put them on the doorstep with brooms in hand for a possible sweep of the struggling blue bears on Thursday.
To get to that point, they will have to get to and get past Chicago's Randy Wells (1-3, 6.59 ERA) who is 0-for-3 in seven starts since coming off the DL. His opponent will be someone the Cubs know. The Nationals will send Tom Gorzelanny (2-6, 3.77 ERA) to the mound to face off against his former team. Though his record might not reflect it, Gorzelanny has been hot as of late and looks to continue to build on his 2011 campaign. Gorzo went seven innings allowing one unearned run on six hits last Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Nats are happy to welcome back first baseman Michael Morse to the lineup. Morse missed a few days with a bruised arm after getting hit by a pitch. Morse's presence will make the Nationals line-up the most formidable it has been in the series with Chicago as power hitter Laynce Nix has been the brute force in the line-up lately and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman returned to the lineup on Tuesday after a day of rest.
To take some pressure off him, manager Davey Johnson has right fielder Jayson Werth batting sixth after going 0-for-4 on Tuesday which continued Werth's abysmal late June/July slump.
Nationals Lineup
1. Roger Bernadina, CF
2. Danny Espinosa, 2B
3. Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
4. Laynce Nix, LF
5. Michael Morse, 1B
6. Jayson Werth, RF
7. Wilson Ramos, C
8. Ian Desmond, SS
9. Tom Gorzelanny, SP