Stephen Strasburg will be looking to pay back the Braves for one of his two losses this season when the Washington Nationals begin a three-game series with Atlanta.
A pair of hard-throwing right-handers square off tonight as Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals play host to Tommy Hanson and the first-place Atlanta Braves.
The Braves (57-41) are coming off just their second series loss in nearly three months after losing two out of three to the Marlins. Atlanta’s once healthy lead in the National League East has been trimmed to 4.5 games over the hard-charging Phillies who have won five straight.
The Braves hope to get back on track against Strasburg who lost in his only appearance against them on June 28. In that game Strasburg worked 6 1/3 innings allowing three earned runs in dropping a 5-0 decision to Tim Hudson.
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Strasburg (5-2, 2.32 ERA) has won his last three starts, posting a 2.08 ERA and a WHIP of 1.08 in the process. He’s also been feeding opposing batters a steady diet of ‘Special K’ striking out 75 batters in his first 54 1/3 big league innings. And while Strasburg has lived up to the hype and then some, he’s still got a ways to go to equal or exceed the numbers Hanson put up in his rookie season.
The 23-year-old Braves hurler took the NL by storm going 11-4 over the last four months of the 2009 season. Hanson, who was called up when Tom Glavine was released, posted back-to-back victories over the Yankees and Red Sox en route to a third-place finish in balloting for the National League Rookie of the Year.
Hanson is 2-0 against the Nats in his young career with an ERA of 2.94, a 1.01 WHIP and 35 strikeouts in 33 innings. He enters tonight’s game with a season mark of 8-6 and an ERA of 4.12.
Pitching has keyed the Braves' surprising run to the top of the NL East. They have a pair of 10-game winners in Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe plus Billy Wagner is closing like the Wags’ of old with 22 saves, a 5-1 record and an ERA of 1.73.
Atlanta’s offense is less than overpowering but yet the Braves continue to find ways to score. They’re eighth in the majors at 4.70 per game but are hitting just .262 and rank near the bottom in home runs with 83. Atlanta scores runs the old fashioned way by scratching them out, and the Braves will need to manufacture a few tonight against Strasburg.
The Nationals offense has been a source of frustration in D.C. and the blame starts at the top of the batting order. Nyjer Morgan and Cristian Guzman have a .314 on-base percentage this year, 22nd in the majors. Since June 1, Washington is averaging just 3.3 runs per game. Ryan Zimmerman (17, 52, and .295) and Adam Dunn (23, 63, and .283) have been dependable but the rest of the lineup has struggled.
Strasburg and the Nationals opened as 140 MLB odds favorites with the total set at seven. The teams split have their first six meetings of the season. The ‘over’ has cashed in 12 of Hanson’s 17 starts and seven of Washington’s last eight games have topped the total.
With all due respect to Strasburg, the wrong guy is favored tonight. Hanson, who hasn’t pitched a full MLB season yet, is 19-10 in 41 career starts with 230 strikeouts in 241 career innings. That’s not bad for a 22nd-round selection who I suspect will more than hold his own tonight against the 2009 No. 1 overall pick.