The Florida Marlins always seem to have the Washington Nationals number. Friday night was no exception as the Marlins were able to shutout the Nats 3-0 at Nationals Park. Florida leads the season series between the two teams 9-4 and are 13-3 at Nationals Park since 2010. The Fish smell blood in the water and circling in for the series kill Saturday night, but they are going to have to face the deadly harpoon of Washington's Ahab.
Stephen Strasburg (0-0, 1.13 ERA) will be taking the mound for his third start of the 2011 looking to change the tide in the series. Strasburg is looking for his first win since coming back from Tommy John surgery recovery. In his last outing he went three innings against the Houston Astros and threw 57 total pitches. He was pulled before his pitch count was up (he was set at 70) by manager Davey Johnson who was concerned the heat was reason for Strasburg's fastball losing effectiveness and a drop in velocity. The young ace pitcher assures everyone he is fine and is ready to go wishing he didn't have a pitch limit.
Jayson Werth and Michael Morse both return to the line up Saturday after having a night off. If the Nationals can pull off one more home win it will set a new single-season mark for home victories. Right now the Nationals have 41 in 2011.
Strasburg and the Nats do battle with Chris Volstad (5-12, 5.31 ERA) and the Marlins at 7:05 P.M.
Nationals Line Up
Ian Desmond - SS
Roger Bernadina - RF
Ryan Zimmerman - 3B
Michael Morse - LF
Jayson Werth - CF
Danny Espinosa - 2B
Chris Marrero - 1B
Wilson Ramos - C
Stephen Strasburg - SP