Braves to Cross the Potomac to Play Nats

The Atlanta Braves (14-14) head to the nation’s capital to take on NL East rival Washington Nationals (14-15) for a three game set this weekend.  Washington is playing well of late, winning 7 of their last 10 games and Atlanta got itself back to .500 Wednesday with a 7-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.  Whichever team wins this three game set will be at or above .500 and in second place in the division.

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Tonight’s starters are LHP Eric Stults (1-2, 4.91 ERA) for the Braves and LHP Gio Gonzalez (2-2, 3.86 ERA) for the Nationals.  In this matchup featuring two lefties, expect Fredi Gonzalez and Nats Manager Matt Williams to have more right-handed lineups for this evening’s game.  I have a good feeling that Jonny Gomes will get the start in leftfield and Phil Gosselin might get a spot start at either second or third.

For Saturday’s 4:05 PM ET start, RHP Julio Teheran (3-1, 3.82 ERA) will face off with RHP Doug Fister (2-1, 2.61 ERA).  The Braves’ ace has yet to pitch into the seventh inning in any of his six previous starts this season.  Much of that has to do with the amount of walks Teheran has issued (14 in 33 IP), inflating his WHIP to 1.42.  When Julio gets settled into the 2015 season, the Braves might have two aces on their roster as Shelby Miller has looked great thus far.

The series finale Sunday will feature LHP Alex Wood (1-2, 4.32 ERA) versus Jordan Zimmermann (2-2, 4.15 ERA).  Wood has not looked good in his last two starts (0-2, 8 earned runs in 9.1 innings pitched).  It seems like his mechanics are off as he’s struggling to get outs, just two quality starts on the season.  I’m not excited about facing Zimmermann as I feel that he is the one Nationals pitcher that gives the Braves the most consistent trouble.

Atlanta needs to bring the hot bats of Andrelton Simmons, Freddie Freeman, and Jace Peterson with them to the District if the Braves want to win the three game series on the road.  Let’s hope that Bryce Harper got all the home runs out his system for a while as he hit three in the Nationals series finale with the Marlins.

This weekend is about one thing for Atlanta: beating Washington.  Here’s to the Braves and Hawks taking care of business in DC these next few days.