My Team - Nationals at San Diego

Probable starters -

Thursday: Strasburg versus Volquez
Friday: Gonzalez versus Stults
Saturday: Zimmermann versus Cashner
Sunday: Haren versus Marquis (?)

(Starters subject to change)

After losing two of three at Los Angeles, the Nationals go 100 or so miles south to take on the Padres. San Diego is one of my favorite cities in the continental United States. I wish I was there.

The Padres are 18-21 on the year, slightly better than most experts expected. They're 4.5 games out of first place, and just swept a two-game series at Baltimore. This isn't a bad team, just unknown in some parts of fandom.

What do they do well? Steal bases (Everth Cabrera with 12). Strike out batters (the staff is second in the National League, with 238). Hit a bit (Yonder Alonso, Chase Headley).

Yeah, folk are talking about the Strasburg homecoming. Ya still gotta execute pitches, and he has to work through his struggles regarding that one inning that derails an otherwise solid start. With Detwiler getting injured in Los Angeles Wednesday night, the first four in the rotation have to find consistent excellence. Nats' pitchers must keep San Diego runners off base/minimize the big inning. Minimize damage, so even when a Padre drives an extra-base hit, it won't start the "merry-go-round" of runners.

For Washington, Adam LaRoche and Ryan Zimmerman are starting to heat up, joining Desmond, Harper and Span as offensive sparks. The bench is still struggling, so hopefully a Tyler Moore or Roger Bernadina can get a couple of hits to start the get-well process.

I guess the series is a split, with the Nationals winning Thursday and Saturday, while the Padres win Friday and Sunday. Looking forward to seeing the Padres up close.