Where: National’s Park
When: 1:35 EST
The Starters: Nova (8-2, 4.64) vs. Jackson (3-3, 3.02)
The Line: Yanks -125, Nats +105, O/U 8 Runs, Yanks -1.5
Starters – The Nationals will send Edwin Jackson to the mound in search of his 4th win of year. Jackson has been great all year long for the Nats, holding opposing hitters to a .206 average and maintaining a WHIP just over 1 (1.01). EJ seems to be getting better as the year goes on as well, allowing 3 earned runs or less in each of his last 7 starts. He’ll have a tough task today shutting down this Yankee lineup, but he has the stuff to get the job done. 25 year old righty Ivan Nova will take the ball for the Yankees in an attempt to complete a Yankee sweep and claim his would be AL leading 9th win. Nova is one of the most overrated pitchers in baseball due to his great win loss record (25-8 career) due to getting tons of run support almost every time out. Opponents are batting nearly .300 off him (.290) and his WHIP is a less than steller 1.42. Nova does excel at pitching out of jams though, so the Nats will have to take advantage of their opportunties with runners on. Advantage Nationals
Lineups – The Washington lineup has gotten a little more exciting every week recently with the injection of youth (Bryce Harper, Tyler Moore, Steve Lombardozzi) and return of Mike Morse, but their still somewhere in the slightly below average to average range. The good news is that with the Nat’s having the best pitching staff in baseball, average is good enough. Tyler Moore had his coming out party Wednesday in Toronto, going 3-4 with 2 HR a double and 5 RBIs, if he’s anywhere near as productive in the big leagues as he was in the minors he’ll be a big addition to the lineup. The Yankees lineup is the typical Yankee lineup we’ve got used to seeing the last 20 years; a lot of home runs, a lot of walks, a lot of runs, and a lot of 0′s on their paychecks. The Yanks lead the league in homers and rank top 10 in AVG, R, OBP, SLG, and OPS, pretty much everything but stolen bases. Advantage Yankees
Bullpens – The National’s bullpen continues to do a great job and drop their era a few points on a weekly basis. It’s now down to an even 3.00 which is good for 8th best in the majors. They’re rock solid from top to bottom with no active pitcher who’s thrown more than 10 innings having an era over 3.26 and their back end guys (Sean Burnett, Craig Stammen, Tyler Clippard) have been virtually untouchable. The Yankee pen has also been great despite losing future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera to a freak injury back in April. They have the 3rd best era in baseball at 2.70 with Rafael Soriano doing a great job taking over for Rivera. Like the Nats the Yankees also don’t have a weak link, with the no reliever having an era over 3.50. Advantage Push
Game Summary – One night after being robbed of a win by a botched call at the plate the Nationals come out swinging, picking up the curly W to avoid the sweep.
Prediction: Nationals 5, Yankees 4
Key Players (Stat Prediciton): Jackson (6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 6 K, 2 BB), Zimmerman (2-3, HR, 2 RBI), Nova (5 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 4 K, 2 BB), Granderson (2-3, HR, 2 RBI)
Jesse’s Picks W/L: 37 – 26
Jesse’s Picks ATS: 31 – 31