When the Pirates signed Francisco Liriano back in December, who would've thought that his season stats would match up pretty favorably with Stephen Strasburg when the Pirates and Nationals met in late July?
Anyway, the Pirates and Nats have both played five games since the All-Star Break, which means that the last two games of this series will feature Liriano and AJ Burnett vs. Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez. The Nats are in pretty bad shape right now, having lost five in a row after the break and falling about a million miles out of the wild card race. They really, really, need a win right now and obviously, Strasburg is the guy they'd want on the mound to get it. The Pirates, meanwhile, have won three in a row and should try to keep accumulating wins against the Nats and Marlins before next week's Marlins' series.
I suppose what I'm saying is that the last two games of this series are going to be awfully interesting. First pitch tonight is at 7:05.
