All good things must come to an end and that includes the baseball season.
On Wednesday afternoon the Washington Nationals and Florida Marlins will finish off their 2011 campaigns with a 4:10 P.M. game at Sun Life Stadium. It will be the last game to be played at Sun Life and the last game the Marlins will be known as the "Florida Marlins." In 2012 the Miami Marlins will open up a new stadium and a new chapter of Florida baseball.
Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg (0-1, 2.00 ERA) will get the honor of being the last opposing pitcher to face the Florida Marlins in Sun Life Stadium and he hopes to spoil the Marlins send off much like the Marlins ruined the Nationals chances at finishing the season with a winning record on Tuesday night in a 3-2 walk-off win. In order to do that Strasburg will have to overcome his last start where he only lasted four innings and allowed three runs in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves. Manager Davey Johnson seems unconcerned about the outing citing Strasburg was too "pumped up":
"He really started to overthrow and not pitch," manager Davey Johnson said. "He got into a little trouble stepping back. He just got pumped up. He was just throwing the ball and not pitching. It was pretty obvious. ... He just quite couldn't get it under control, he was too hyped up."
Strasburg usually rebounds well from bad starts and the Nationals hope he can do it again Wednesday afternoon against the Marlins and pitcher Chris Volstad (5-12, 4.96 ERA).
Nationals Line Up
Ian Desmond - SS
Roger Bernadina - LF
Jayson Werth - RF
Chris Marrero - 1B
Danny Espinosa - 2B
Rick Ankiel - CF
Ivan Rodriguez - C
Steve Lombardozzi - 3B
Stephen Strasburg - SP