Nationals Favored
Washington, DC – The lowly Nationals look to avoid a fifth straight loss as they continue their home series with the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night.
Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn each homered, but Washington (43-79) fell 7-3 to Milwaukee in Friday’s series opener that dropped the Nationals to 0-4 on a seven-game homestand.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Nationals -135 moneyline favorites for Saturday’s game against the Brewers. Current MLB Public Betting Information shows that 57% of more than 182 bets for this game have been placed on the Nationals -135.
The week of futility on the field still might be difficult to overshadow what the Nationals – owners of the majors’ worst record – did off it.
On Monday, the club signed highly touted No. 1 overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg, who made his first visit to Nationals Park on Friday – one day after the team promoted Mike Rizzo to general manager.
One game after recording four hits in a 4-1 loss to Colorado, Washington had five Friday and has scored 11 runs while batting .223 during its current skid.
Despite the team’s current struggles, the Nationals are 17-13 since July 21, and 17-18 under interim manager Jim Riggleman.
"The positive stuff we hear from fans – that makes you feel good about humanity, you know,” Riggleman said. "These people are not howling and screaming at us.”
Zimmerman set a career high with his 25th homer – his first in 12 games. The All-Star third baseman, though, is batting .316 with three home runs and eight RBIs against Milwaukee this season.
Prince Fielder hit his 33rd homer and Felipe Lopez drove in two runs Friday for the Brewers (59-62), who snapped a four-game losing streak while improving to 1-3 on a seven-game road trip that started by being swept at last-place Pittsburgh.
"You never know what can happen,” Friday’s winning pitcher Braden Looper said of the Brewers, who are 5-8 during a 22-game stretch against teams with losing records. "We’ve seen crazy things in this game before, and hopefully it’s the start of a winning streak.”
Fielder is batting .353 with seven home runs and 15 RBIs in his last 12 games, but is 0 for 4 with two strikeouts against Washington’s scheduled starter John Lannan.
Lannan (8-9, 3.68 ERA), who makes his third attempt to match a career high in wins, is 0-1 with a 7.84 ERA in his last two starts. He allowed four runs in 5 2-3 innings, but didn’t receive a decision in Washington’s 5-4 victory at Cincinnati on Sunday.
The left-hander, who went 9-15 in his first full major league season in 2008, is 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA in two starts against the Brewers.
Milwaukee counters with Mike Burns (3-4, 5.36), who gets a second straight start after winning his last contest. He allowed two runs and four hits while striking out seven in seven innings of a 6-2 win over Houston on Saturday.
"My off-speed stuff is probably average to below-average," Burns said. "What I do well is command my fastball and I like to pitch inside."
While the right-hander is making his first start against Washington, it could be his last for the time being with injured starters Dave Bush (triceps) and Jeff Suppan (oblique) expected to return to the Brewers’ rotation next week.
Posted: 8/22/09 6:00AM ET
