”(Not) the playoff watch”

the heart says playoffs, the head says golf course

A new feature here at Donutball. The Nationals are out of the playoffs. So, we won't be following the wild card race.

At the start of play today:

              W  L  GB GL
Houston      73 64  -- 25
Philadelphia 73 65 0.5 24
Florida      72 65 1.0 25
Washington   72 66 1.5 24
NY Mets      70 67 3.0 25

University of Nevada Health Ecology major, Darrell Rasner, gets his first career MLB start tonight for the Nats. Rasner was 6-7 with a 3.59 ERA in 26 starts at Harrisburg. Rasner features a heavy sinker and is a control pitcher. He won't strike out many.*

Florida starts veteran Ismael Valdez, who gets just his sixth start of the season.

Pretty tough matchups tonight in the other wild card games

Houston (Oswalt) at Phailers (Lieber)
Mets (Pedro) at Atlanta (Smoltz)

Best case: 0.5 games behind Phailers
Worst case: 2.5 back of the 'Stros
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*N.B. - More on Rasner over at the Nats Farm Report.