Tonight's Game

Tonight's game.

John Halama starts tonight against Vincente Padilla. Although Halama is certainly not the ace of the staff, he has been very good since he joined the Nationals. In 12 1/3 innings, his ERA is a miserly 1.46. In his only outing as a starter, he pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up two earned runs. He's been very good for the Nationals, but his poor performance for the Red Sox this season suggests that he can't keep it up for long. Padilla isn't the star of his staff, either, but he's been good recently. Vincente's ERA is 4.76, and his VORP is 11.8, but his August ERA was only 3.05.

With Vidro out the Nationals start both Deivi Cruz (at second) and Cristian Guzman (at short). Cruz will bat second, and Guzman will bat eighth. It isn't the strongest lineup in baseball--in fact, it's one of the worst--but if Halama can keep it close the Nats can narrow the Phillies' wild card lead to two games.

The Nationals have to take two out of three from the Phillies this weekend, and there's no reason why they can't do it. Go Nats!