Mets vs. Nats series preview

The New York Mets (10-9) will travel to the new Nats Park for the first time to take on the Washington Nationals (6-15) in another short 2 game series. The Mets come into the series needing to capture a win having dropped three in a row, including one to Philly and two at Chicago. The Nats will continue their home stand also in desperate need of a victory, because…well they’re the Nationals.
The struggling hitting won’t catch a break after an Atlanta series that saw the Nats face Hudson and Smoltz, as the they will have to face a pair of lefty’s in the Mets ace Johan Santana, and arguably the most effective starter for them so far, Oliver Perez. Look for another heated series between these two intertwined National League East teams who both have something to prove as both see themselves currently underachieving.

Mets Last Series

The Mets last series resulted in them being the victim of a two game sweep against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley. The Mets combined to only score two runs and give up fifteen as both the bullpen and the starting pitchers could not stay away from the big inning

Hot: actually…no one
Not: David Wright- 0-6, 2 BB, 1 K 0 RBI
Jose Reyes- 1-8, 0 BB, 1 K

The Starters/Losers
John Maine- 6IP, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Nelson Figueroa- 5IP, 3 ER, 5 BB, 2K

Probable Starters:

Tim Redding (3-1, 3.27 ERA) vs. Johan Santana (2-2, 3.25 ERA)
Shawn Hill (0-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Oliver Perez (2-0, 2.49 ERA)

The Hefty Lefties

The Nats will have to go against two of the games best left handed pitchers in back to back nights in this series. Neither Santana nor Perez are prototypical lefties either, they both are power pitchers with lefty type movement which means when they are on…they are two of the harder pitchers to hit around. This is not a good sign as the team as a whole has done very poorly against lefties so far this season.

Good Nats vs. Lefties
Cristian Guzman- .462 BA, .464 OBP, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 1/1 BB/K
Lastings Milledge-.370 BA, .414 OBP, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 2/3 BB/K

Bad Nats vs. Lefties
Ryan Zimmerman- .192 BA, .222 OBP, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1/0 BB/K
Nick Johnson- .150 BA, .308 OBP, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 4/7 BB/K
Austin Kearns- .105 BA, .292 OBP, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5/3 BB/K

Overall vs. Lefties- .227 BA, .299 OBP, 4 HR, 24 RBI, 20/33 BB/K

What to look for:

The Nationals got outscored 14-4 in the last series against the Mets, but there have been some slight signs that their bats are starting to wake up. If the Nats can weather the storm against Santana and Perez and get to the bullpen, they may be able to match the Mets bats.

Tonight will Tim Redding (of the Redding Railroad express) will be going for his fourth win of the season. So far as long as he keeps his pitch count down he has been very effective regardless of whom he has pitched against. Shawn Hill will make his second start of the season Thursday as well. Look for Hill to improve upon his last outing in which he showed signs of fatigue after a great start. The bottom line is the Nats have the starting pitchers to win both games this series, but they will need to match the Mets great bats.