The Phillies need a strong series in DC. That is stating the obvious. The two clubs are currently tied for last place in the NL East. Both teams could be considered underachieving considering the talents that are on both rosters. The only difference is that the Nationals did not construct their bullpen to resemble a dumpster fire.
The Phillies will send out Arrieta tonight. He is due to pitch well after not having his best stuff the last few outings. He will be opposed by Erick Fedde. I’ll be the first one to say that I am intimidated by the nickname Feddeccini. If you have a pasta nickname, I’m scared. Game 2 will feature Nola and Corbin. This should be a good one. Corbin pitched well against the Phillies last year and the same should be expected. Nola dominated the Nats in a preseason exhibition and you hope to see the same. The series wraps up with Spencer Howard going up against Max Scherzer. Nothing quite like making your fourth career start against a crazy eyed future Hall of Famer. Scherzer usually strikes out about 15 Phillies in 6 innings, but somehow they scratch off 4 runs. If the Phillies need an accidental homerun off Max, they can always call upon Eliot Shorr-Parks who could come off the bench and deliver.
This will be the first full series having the new members of the bullpen, Vince Velasquez included. I think that Vince can strut out there with the undeserved confidence that he always has and pitch better out of the pen. Vince notoriously gets in trouble when he goes through the lineup multiple times. It would be nice to see someone lock down the closer role. Ultimately, I still think it is Workman’s job to lose.
Both lineups have the ability to explode. The Nationals are lead by the absolutely scorching hot Juan Soto. Soto doesn’t just hit a baseball, he beats them like an old Italian woman hitting their fat grandson with a rolling pin for touching the cannoli before Sunday dinner. The Phillies have been lead by Harper. Harper has done everything that we expected him to do. He has simply been the best player on the team (JT close second, Knapp 3rd don’t @ me). I still enjoy watching Bryce return to DC last year. I know that they won the World Series last year, but I still like seeing the Nats fans faces watching Bryce play for us.
Series Prediction: Phillies win 2 out of 3. One of those wins falls in line for Spencer Howard who will earn his first career win.
Burbs of Philly 