With the thrill of Sunday night’s win still fresh in the minds of Phillies’ fans, the team traveled to the nation’s capital to face the depleted reigning champions. The Nationals have endured free agent departures, injuries to a key pitcher and slow starts on offense to enter the game four games back of the Braves, tied with the Phillies in the basement of the National League East.
Jake Arrieta was on the hill for the Phillies and Ricky Bottalico made it a point on the pregame show to state the obvious: if Arrieta is getting his pitches to dart around the edges of the zone, he’s going to be hard to hit.