Series Preview: Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals come to visit off the heels of an ugly Marlins loss. As Marlins fans are well aware, nothing beats that ugly taste out of your mouth after some bad baseball like three games against the Nationals, whom the Marlins normally harass. We’ll see if that trend continues.

Washington Nationals (1-2) @ Florida Marlins, April 5-7, Games 4-6

NL East Standings

Tm	W	L	Win%	GB
PHI	3	0	1.000	—
ATL	3	1	.750	0.5
NYM	2	1	.667	1.0
FLA	1	2	.333	2.0
WSN	1	2	.333	2.0

Stadium: Sun Life Stadium
Five-year Run PF*: 1.01
Five-year HR PF*: 0.97
Stadium Dimensions:
Left Field: 330 ft.
Left-Center: 361
Center Field: 404
Right-Center: 361
Right Field: 345

*Five-year regressed park factors provided by Patriot here

Projected Pitching Matchups

April 5: Anibal Sanchez vs. Jason Marquis
April 6: Chris Volstad vs. Livan Hernandez
April 7: Josh Johnson vs. John Lannan

ZiPS In-Season Projections

Proj. FIP	Win%	Marlins	Date	Nationals	Win%	Proj. FIP
3.65	.558	Sanchez	April 5	Marquis	.465	4.46
4.42	.469	Volstad	April 6	Hernandez	.499	4.15
2.73	.677	Johnson	April 7	Lannan	.468	4.43

Projected Lineup

Lineup	Player	Current wOBA	Proj. wOBA v. RHP	Proj. wOBA v. LHP
1	Chris Coghlan	—	.352	.327
2	Omar Infante	—	.329	.339
3	Hanley Ramirez	—	.392	.410
4	Gaby Sanchez	—	.337	.361
5	Logan Morrison	—	.368	.343
6	John Buck	—	.316	.342
7	Donnie Murphy	—	.299	.321
8	Emilio Bonifacio	—	.293	.293

Notes

– I won’t be posting in-season wOBA or ERA until a month into the season. I don’t want people reading more into it than is necesary. At the moment, the only thing listed is preseason projected wOBA (for hitters) and FIP (for pitchers) from ZiPS.

– The Marlins will be without Mike Stanton for the series, as he has been diagnosed with a mild hamstring strain. Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports that Stanton’s return would come on Friday at earliest. The team is looking to avoid placing him on the DL.

– The team will be with Donnie Murphy tonight, as he will make the start at third base.

– Replacing Stanton in the lineup is Emilio Bonifacio, which you can clearly see is just a terrible move all in all. I would much rather see Scott Cousins, and I’m not sure why the Marlins wouldn’t either.

– The Washington Nationals pitching staff looks like a bit of a mess. With Hernandez, Marquis, and Lannan, they have three guys who cannot miss bats at all. In the meantime, the Marlins counter with only one starter, Volstad, who struggles in doing the same thing.

– At the same time, the Fish have struggled against Hernandez for some reason. Something about mediocre, slow-ball stuff always used to confound the team’s hitters. No reasoning behind it at all. I suspect a loss to come from game two of the series if at all.

Bold Prediction: Marlins win two of three games.

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