WASHINGTON NATIONALS (1 – 3) at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (2 – 2)
CITIZENS BANK PARK
SCHEDULED START – 7:05PM EDT
PHILADELPHIA, PA
SCHEDULED STARTING PITCHERS:
Doug Fister, Washington (16-6, 2.41 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 98/24 K:BB, 153 hits over 164 IP across 25 starts in 2014)
Cole Hamels, Phillies (0-1, 7.20 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 6/3 K:BB, 5 hits over 5 IP in first 2015 start on Opening Day vs Boston)
TV coverage: The Comcast Network (TCN)
Radio: 1210AM WPHT, 94FM WIP, 1480AM (Spanish language)
WEATHER FORECAST
This Afternoon
Sunny, with a high near 63. Breezy, with a northwest wind around 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.
Tonight
Clear, with a low around 43. Northwest wind 3 to 8 mph.
INJURIES
Phillies: Cliff Lee & Mario Hollands (60-day DL); Domonic Brown, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Pettibone (15-day DL), Odubel Herrera (Day-to-day, sore left foot, has made appearances each of last two games)
Washington: Erik Davis (15-day DL, may be out for season); Anthony Rendon, Jayson Werth, Denard Span, Nate McLouth, and Casey Janssen (15-day DL, none due back this series)
NOTES
The weather finally breaks in Philly, and tonight’s game should be played under near ideal early spring conditions down at Citizens Bank Park.
The Nationals were named as the hosts of the 2018 MLB All-Star Game at Nationals Park. It will be the first time that the Nats have hosted the Mid-Summer Classic. The franchise previously hosted the game as the Montreal Expos in 1982 at Olympic Stadium. The game was last held in D.C. in 1969 at RFK Stadium with the A.L.’s Washington Senators as hosts.
The Nats gave a start last night to a historic Phillie killer, former Braves 2nd baseman Dan Uggla. While he has just a .224 career average vs the Fightings, he also has 30 homers and 86 rbi. He went 0-3 with a pair of strikeouts on Friday.
Fister is in his 7th season, with a 60-56 career mark, including a 3.34 ERA and 1.191 WHIP across 982.2 innings in which he has allowed just 981 hits. It’s his 2nd season in Washington, after coming from Detroit in a December 2013 trade for 3 players.
Last night’s crowd of 19,047 was the smallest in the history of Citizens Bank Park. The awful weather of last night and the past couple certainly contributed, but the state of the team in general, and the moribund Thursday night performance didn’t help. The Phillies should see some crowd bounce-back tonight, and certainly for the typically popular Sunday game.
Domonic Brown, on the 15-day DL, continued his rehab assignment due to a sore left Achilles tendon last night with the team’s High-A Clearwater Threshers affiliate. He went 0-2, and is now 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. It is expected that he will take 2-3 weeks, and will get a few games with AAA Lehigh Valley at some point just before returning.
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