NL East: Strasburg debut coming at right time for Nationals

Baseball Betting Lines

06/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Everyone who follows baseball knew that Stephen Strasburg's 2010 debut for the Washington Nationals was a matter of when, not if.

Now we all know the date -- Tuesday, June 8 versus the Pittsburgh Pirates -- and it couldn't be coming at a better time for Washington.

Though not expected to be playoff challengers this year, the Nationals found themselves five games over .500 (20-15) and just a game back of first place in the National League East on May 13. However, Washington has dropped 14 of 20 games since, including three straight and five of its last six. That has the Nationals back to their usual spot of last place in the division, 6 1/2 games off the pace.

So, with nothing left to prove in the minors the Nationals are getting ready to begin the Strasburg era, and with the NL East still wide open, it isn't a reach to say that Washington could be battling for a playoff spot down the stretch if the top pick of the 2009 draft can live up to the hype.

His minor league numbers can't dispute that. The 21-year-old went 7-2 with a 1.30 earned run average in 11 combined starts with both Double-A and Triple-A. In what was scheduled to be his final minor-league game, Strasburg threw five scoreless innings on Tuesday for Triple-A Syracuse.

"It's going to be a great feeling on Tuesday," the right-hander told Washington's website.

"We believe he is ready to go," general manager Mike Rizzo told his team's site on Monday. "We like that Stephen could bounce back from tough outings."

Interestingly, the Nationals will host Strasburg's debut one day after they select the top pick of the 2010 draft. While Rizzo isn't saying who he has decided to pick, it seems likely that catcher/outfielder Bryce Harper will be negotiating a contract with the team not too long after Monday's draft.

Harper would be the offensive answer that Strasburg likely will be for the pitching staff. In 62 games at Southern Nevada, Harper hit .442 with 29 homers, 89 RBI and a by far team-leading .986 slugging percentage.

Harper's road to the majors will likely be a longer one than Strasburg, especially if Washington decides to keep him at catcher. Plus, Harper doesn't turn 18 until Oct. 16.

METS: CAN'T BUY SANTANA A VICTORY

The ace is usually known as the stopper, a pitcher a team can count on to halt losing streaks.

But the offense needs to help too.

Nobody knows that better than New York Mets ace Johan Santana, who is just 1-0 over his last five starts despite a 0.74 ERA. He has yielded just three earned runs over that 36 2/3-inning span, but the Mets are a mere 1-4.

Not that Santana hasn't done his part. In fact, he hasn't allowed a run over his last two starts, a string of 15 innings, but the Mets have lost both games. They dropped a 2-0 contest to the Brewers on May 28 despite eight shutout innings from their lefty and then squandered seven scoreless Santana frames on Wednesday in a 5-1 extra-inning loss to the Padres.

"He's had nothing but scoreless innings for us and we can't seem to get him a win," New York manager Jerry Manuel said. "He goes out there, competes, gives us every chance to get some things going but it looks like we kind of shut down offensively."

How much does Manuel need to rely Santana? Figure that on Wednesday, in a one- run game and Santana having already thrown 106 pitches, the skipper allowed his 31-year-old hurler to lead off the seventh inning at the plate.

Manuel was trying to avoid using his bullpen too much before going to closer Francisco Rodriguez, but even that formula didn't work. After Pedro Feliciano and Elmer Dessens combined to work a scoreless eighth inning, Rodriguez gave up the game-tying run in the ninth frame in a game Santana kept his team in all night.

"You know when [Santana] takes the mound you're going to be in the game at some point," Manuel said. "Whatever [the other teams] allow, he's not going to allow anything more than that. That's just who he is."

Wednesday's loss sent the Mets back home following a 2-4 road trip and an 8-18 mark overall as the guest this year. New York sits five games back of the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East.

PHILLIES: LOOKING FOR AN OFFENSIVE SPARK

If the Philadelphia Phillies' hitting woes continue much longer, they will move past ice cold and into absolute zero territory.

The two-time defending NL champs have lost nine of their last 11, scoring just 14 runs in that span. That skid has the Phillies out of first place in the NL East as they now trail the Braves by three games. Philly was just swept in three games by Atlanta prior to Thursday's off day and wrapped a nine-game road trip 2-7.

Philadelphia's offense has been so bad as of late that one of its two wins was a perfect game by Roy Halladay on May 29. The Phillies, who have been shut out five times in their last 11 games, won that contest 1-0 on an unearned run.

"Our pitching has been great lately, but we haven't been scoring any runs for them," catcher Brian Schneider said after Wednesday's loss to the Braves. "I know every game counts but at least we have a lot of season left so we'll be ok."

Philadelphia hasn't scored more than three runs in any of its last 11 games for the first time since the first 11 games of the 1997 season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Manager Charlie Manuel has tried some different player and lineup combinations to get things going, but with no luck. One player who could provide that spark is injured shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who is in the midst of his second disabled-list stint due to a strained right calf.

In 12 games this year, Rollins is hitting .341 with two homers, seven RBI and 11 runs scored.

Philadelphia could also use some production from the middle of its lineup, especially three-hole hitter Chase Utley.

"We're not really swinging the bats well obviously," said Utley, who is hitting .143 (6-for-42) over his last 11 games with no homers and one RBI. "Our pitching staff's doing a great job keeping us in a lot of games, which is a good sign.

"We've been through this before and we're going to come out of it. We just got to keep working and battling every day."

As a team, the Phillies are batting .197 over its last 11 games with just two home runs and 77 strikeouts. The pitching staff, meanwhile, has compiled a 4.11 ERA.

BRAVES: ROLL INTO FIRST PLACE

The Braves have seen hard work translate into a rocket trip up the NL East standings.

The Braves looked left for dead early on after a nine-game losing streak from April 21-29 had them last in the division and 4 1/2 games off the first-place pace. That deficit even reached 6 1/2 contests in mid-May, but a nine-game winning streak, the club's longest since a 15-game run from April 16-May 2, 2000, has the Braves three games up on the Phillies for the top spot in the NL East.

Atlanta is 19-4 over its last 23 games and opened a four-game set in Los Angeles on Thursday with a victory following home three-game sweeps of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

"We have a streak; [the pitching] is the reason we're in first place," Brian McCann said on Atlanta's website. "Now we're getting everything. We've been swinging the bats really well the last few weeks, the last month, and we're playing good baseball."

Nobody is swinging the bat better for Atlanta right now than Troy Glaus. Brought in over the winter to add pop to the Braves' lineup, the first baseman has put a slow start behind him (.194 in April) and leads all of baseball with 33 RBI since May 1. He is also hitting .379 (11-for-29) over a nine-game hitting streak with four home runs and was named the Player of the Month for May.

Glaus wasn't the only one honored for a strong May, as Jason Heyward picked up his second straight Rookie of the Month award. The much-hyped outfielder hit .327 in May with four homers and 19 RBI, becoming the first rookie since the Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun in 2007 to claim the honor in consecutive months.

"He's amazing," Braves' third baseman Chipper Jones told MLB.com of Heyward. "Nothing surprises you. He's playing like an All-Star."

MARLINS: JJ BIG FISH IN MARLINS' POND

Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla said after Thursday's 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers that his club left a lot of runners on base, yet he gave the impression that he wasn't really worried.

That's because ace Josh Johnson was on the hill.

"He put us on his back, and you go along for the ride," Uggla said.

That wasn't something Johnson was able to do in 2007, when his season was limited to just four starts due to an elbow injury that led to Tommy John surgery for the right-hander. He has been outstanding since his return in July of 2008, going 28-8 in 59 starts since the surgery.

Johnson's efforts on Thursday allowed the Marlins to break even at 5-5 on a 10-game homestand with victories in four of the residency's final five games. He also showed his ability to bounce back from some tough luck last time out, when he was on the losing end of Phillies starter Roy Halladay's perfect game on Saturday.

The 26-year-old suffered the loss despite allowing just one unearned run over seven innings.

"It didn't even cross my mind the whole time," said Johnson on Florida's website after beating Milwaukee with seven innings of one-run ball. "Not even in the past five days."

The 2002 fourth round pick is 6-2 on the season with a 2.10 ERA and won the 40th game of his career on Thursday. He has allowed just two earned runs over his last five starts, going 3-1 with a 0.53 ERA.

Florida, 4 1/2 games back of the first-place Braves in the NL East, plays its next nine on the road at the Mets, Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.