When the Washington Nationals return to Nationals Park on Friday night to face the Florida Marlins, starter John Lannan will have two goals: get the Nationals their sixth straight win and firm up their hold on third place in the NL East and get his 10th win of the season.
For Lannan (9-12, 3.65 ERA), his tenth win has been elusive. He could have achieved double digits wins in 2011 on Sept. 10th against the Houston Astros, but instead he had one the worst and shortest outings of his career. He merely made it to 2 1/3 innings while giving up six runs, four earned. The outing broke a six-game streak of Lannan not allowing more than three runs during a game. The Nationals southpaw is a lot better than his last start so it would be safe to say chances are the Nats will get a much better performance out of him Friday.
Outfielders Jayson Werth and Michael Morse have been given the night off so Laynce Nix and Roger Bernadina will be filing in against Javier Vazquez (10-11, 4.13 ERA) and the Fish. First pitch is 7:05 P.M.
Nationals Line Up
Ian Desmond - SS
Roger Bernadina - LF
Ryan Zimmerman - 3B
Laynce Nix - RF
Rick Ankiel - CF
Danny Espinosa - 2B
Chris Marrero - 1B
Wilson Ramos - C
John Lannan - SP