Tonight's Game

We said yesterday that the Nationals had less of a disadvantage in last night's game than they did in their recent games against the Braves or Marlins. A lot of good that did us. We won't make the same mistake again today, but we will say that the Nationals are facing a pitcher who has been having some problems.

DJ Houlton's stats for July weren't pretty:

ERA --- K/BB -- K/9 -- BB/9 -- HR/9
6.20 --- 1.43 --- 3.65 -- 2.55 -- 1.09

Tony Armas pitched better than Houlton in July, but he wasn't all that good, either:

ERA --- K/BB -- K/9 -- BB/9 -- HR/9
3.67 --- 1.45 --- 5.33 -- 3.67 --- .67

So, it's a matchup that favors the Nats, but perhaps not by a wide margin. That's OK, though, because Armas had a great HR/9 ratio in July, and RFK doesn't yield many homers, right? Oh, we guess that argument doesn't work after last night, when the Dodgers acted like the fences had been moved in to correct the stated dimensions. Let's hope that's the last time we see an opponent hit four home runs at RFK!