Lineups for 7/21

Mets:

Pagan – CF

Castillo – 2B

Wright – 3B

Francoeur – RF

Tatis – LF

Murphy – 1B

Santos – C

Cora – SS

Perez – P (LHP, 2-2, 7.99)

Nationals:

Morgan – CF

Guzman – SS

Zimmerman – 3B

Dunn – 1B

Willingham – LF

Kearns – RF

Gonzalez – 2B

Nieves – C

Lannan – P (LHP, 6-7, 3.64)

Did You Know: Lannan has allowed three earned runs or less in 15 of last 17 starts. During the 17-start span beginning on April 17, he is 6-5 with a 3.12 ERA (38 ER/109.2 IP). He’s induced a major league-high 17 GIDPs this season, including six in two starts against the Mets (two in five innings on May 25, four in nine-inning complete game on June 6).

The Nationals are one of only eight MLB teams to improve their batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and runs per game outputs this season compared to 2008. The other seven are LAD, LAA, NYY, OAK, PHI, TBR and TOR.

Here is a look at the Nationals increases compared to ’08:

BATTING AVG.

2008: .251

2009: .261 (+.010, fourth highest improvement)

ON-BASE PCT.

2008: .323

2009: .343 (+.020, the highest improvement)

SLUGGING PCT.

2008: .373

2009: .402 (+.010, fourth highest improvement)

RUNS PER GAME

2008: 3.98

2009: 4.28 (+0.30, eighth highest improvement)

Capture the Caption: Submit your caption to natstown@nationals.com or in the comments section. The winning caption receives a free NatsTown T-shirt.

The winning caption is… “And the slide… ouch!”