Stat break: 2017 Washington Nationals

Hitters

Name              AB   R   H   RBI  2B  3B  HR  BB  SB  Avg,
Difo                   4     1     2    1        1   0     0      0      0    .500
Goodwin           6     1     1    0        1    0     0     1      0    .167
Harper             43   10   16    5        2    1    1      3      0    .372
Kendrick         11     4     4    3        1    0    0      0      0    .363
Lind                  6     1     1   0        0    0    0       2      0    .167
Lobaton            3     1     0    1        0    0     0     0      0    .000
Murphy           43     4   17  10        8    0    2      0      0    .395
Rendon           39     7   12    8        3    0    2       1      0    .308
MA Taylor      40     6   10  12        3   1    2       1      2    .250
T Turner          40   11   10    5        1    0    2      4       0    .250
Werth              21     1     6    0        1    0    0       2      0    .286
Wieters            37    7   13     5        2    1    0       3      1    .351
Zimmerman    40   11   15   12        3    0    4       3      1    .375

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.   W    L     ERA

Albers              3      0       4.6        1     1       1      2     2       0      2    0        1.93

Blanton            3      0       3           2     1       1      1     2       0      0     0       3.00

Cole                 2      0       1.6        1     0      0       2     0       0       0     0      0.00

Gonzalez         2      2     12           7     4      4       5     7       0      2    0        3.00

Grace               2      0      4           3     0      0       1      4        0      0     0      0.00

Kelley              6      0     3.6         4     0      0       1      0        1      0     0      0.00
Kintzler           1      0      2           1     0       0       0      1       0      0     0       0.00

O Perez           4      0      3.3        3     0      0       1       3       0      0     0       0.00

Roark              2      2    14         13     3       3       1      8       0      2     0       1.93
E Romero        5      0      2.6        8     6       6       1      4       1      0     0     20.22

Scherzer          3     3     21         18     8       7      8     20        0      1      0      3.00
Solis                2     0       0.6        1      1      1      0       0        0      0     0     13.43
Strasburg         2     2    12.3       11     4       4      2       8       0       1    1        2.92 

Stat break: 09 Nationals

Hitters

Name                AB   R   H   RBI   2B  3B   HR   BB   SB   Avg,
Bard                  24     1     5    1        1    0      0        0      0     .208
Dukes                18     5     4    3         1    0      0       8      2     .222
Dunn                 37     5     6     5        0    2      1     11      0      .162
Flores                  1     0     0     0        0    0      0       1      0      .000
A Gonzalez       33     3     8     6        2     1      0       0      0      .242
Guzman             47     7  13     4        2    0      0        1      0      .277
Harris                21     4    7     4        1    1      0        2      1      .333
Kearns               17     4    5     0        0    1     0        4       0      .294
Morgan              35    6   13    4        0    0      0        8      8       .371
Morse                13     1     3     2        1    0      0       2      0      .231
Nieves               21     4     4     2        0    0      0       3      0      .190
Orr                     14    0     3     0        0     0      0      1      0       .214
Willingham       41     5     9    13       2    1      2       2       0     .220
Zimmerman      41   11   13    11       1    0      4       9       0      .409

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.     W    L   ERA

Bergman            4      0       4          2     3      3      1      4        0      0    2       6.75
Burnett               6      0       8          5     1      1      2      6        0      0    0       1.13
Clippard            3      0       6          4     3       3      3      9        0      0     0      4.50
Detweiler          1      1       6           3    1       1      3      2        0      1     0      1.50
L Hernandez     4      4     26.3     30   12     12      5      7        0      1     3      4.10
Lannan              3      3     20        18     6       6      2      7        0      2     0      2.70

MacDougal       2      0       3          2     1      1      2      1        1      0     0       3.00
Mock                 2      0       3          3     0      0      0      3        0      0     0      0.00
Olsen                 1      1       5          5     3      2      2      4        0      0     0      3.60

Stammen           1      1       6          7     4      4      4      3        0      1     0      6.00
Tavarez             3      0       2.3        3     2     2       4     3        0      0     1      7.23 

Villone              5      0       5.3       5     1      0      0      6        0      0     0       0.00
Zimmermann    1     1        6          6     3      3      1      3        0       0     0      4.50

John bracket: Twins (69) defeat Nationals (09) in five games

Game One: 69 Twins 5, 09 Nationals 2
WP: J Perry (3-0)
LP: L Hernandez (1-2)
Save: Chance (1)
HR: Reese (1)

Game Two: 09 Nationals 3, 69 Twins 1
WP: Detweiler (1-0)
LP: Boswell (1-1)
Save: MacDougal (1)

Game Three: 69 Twins 9, 09 Nationals 6
WP: Woodson (1-0)
LP: Bergman (0-2)
Save: Chance (2)
HR: Oliva (2), Tovar (3)

Game Four: 69 Twins 5, 09 Nationals 4
WP: Worthington (1-0)
LP: Tavarez (0-1)
Save: Perranoski (2)
HR: Dunn (1)

Game Five: 69 Twins 4, 09 Nationals 3
WP: J Perry (4-0)
LP: L Hernandez (1-3)
Save: Perranoski (3)
HR: Oliva (3)

The heavily favored 1969 Minnesota Twins made quick, if competitive, work of the 2009 Washington Nationals.

The Twins never trailed in Game One, held in Metropolitan Stadium. Tony Oliva singled home two runners in the first inning. The Nats pieced together a pair of one-run innings in the second and fifth to even the score, but the Twins broke the tie in the eighth on singles by John Roseboro and pinch-hitter Charlie Manuel followed by a Rod Carew sac fly. Rich Reese hit a two-run homer in the ninth to widen the final margin.

Ross Detweiler and four relievers held the Twins to just one run in Game Two. The Twins had men in scoring position in seven of the nine innings but only plated one of them. Cristian Guzman doubled home two runs in the third inning for a lead Washington never relinquished. Willie Harris had a pinch-hit triple in the seventh to drive in the third Nationals run.

The series move to Nationals Park for Game Three, and lefties Jim Kaat and John Lannan were both knocked out early. The Twins ripped Lannan for five runs in the third, highlighted by Oliva's two-run homer. But the Nats scored six in their half of the inning, aided by a Harmon Killebrew error. Three of the six runs were unearned.

Dick Woodson, Al Worthington and Dean Chance fired off six shutout frames for the Twins after Kaat's departure, combining to allow three singles and two walks. The Nats also used three relievers in the final six innings, but Julian Tavarez, Jason Bergman and Tyler Clippard combined to allow four runs, including a two-run homer by Cesar Tovar in the eighth off Clippard.

Game Four was an odd duel of sacrifice flies and passed balls. The Twins scored five runs without an RBI hit; they got four sac flies and scored the remaining run as a double-play consolation. Twins catcher George Mitterwald was charged with three passed balls, two if them in one inning one of which let in a run. And one of the Twins runs was set up when Leo Cardenas led off the fourth inning by reaching on a strikeout-passed ball by Josh Bard.

Tom Hall started for the Twins, but gave up a two-run homer in the first to Adam Dunn and was victimized for two unearned runs in the third on a Cardenas error and two of Mitterwald's passed balls. The Blade lasted just four innings. But the Twins pieced together five innings from Bob Miller (two innings), Worthington (one), Chance (two outs), Joe Grzenda (one out) and Ron Perranoski (one inning). The Twins got sac flies from Mitterwald, Tovar, Ted Uhlaender and Cardenas.

With a depleted bullpen, the Twins looked to Jim Perry to get them through Game Five, and their ace came through after allowing two runs in a shaky first inning (two walks, a hit batter and a single). Uhlaender and Roseboro hit doubles in the second, and the Twins scored three in the fifth (featuring a double by Carew and a homer by Oliva) to take a 4-2 lead. Killebrew's throwing error in the seventh let the Nats pull within one, but Perry escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth, and Perranoski threw a scoreless ninth to wrap up the game and the series.

Player of the series: We'll split it up among the Twins bullpen. Dean Chance, Joe Grzenda, Bob Miller, Ron Perranoski, Dick Woodson and Al Worthington combined for 16 innings in the five games without a run allowed, earned or otherwise, picking up two wins and four saves in the process.

Player availability: With four days off, everybody will be fully rested for the third round.

Projected rotation: Perry-Dave Boswell-Kaat-?-(Perry)-(Boswell)-(Kaat)

Stat break: 09 Nationals

Hitters

Name                AB   R   H   RBI   2B  3B   HR   BB   SB   Avg,
Bard                   16     1     3    1        1    0      0        0      0     .188
Dukes                10     2     3    3         1    0      0       5      2     .300
Dunn                 18     4     3     1        0    2      0       9      0      .167
Flores                  1     0     0     0        0    0      0       1      0      .000
A Gonzalez       16     2     4    3        1     1      0       0      0      .250
Guzman             27     3     4     0        0    0      0        0      0     .148
Harris                15      3     5     3       1    0      0        1      1      .333
Kearns                 7     4      2    0        0    1     0        1       0     .286
Morgan              25     5   11    4        0    0      0        7      8      .444
Morse                  6     0     0     2        0    0      0        2      0      ,000
Nieves                 9     2     2     1        0    0      0        2      0      .222
Orr                      9     0     1     0        0     0      0        1      0     .111
Willingham       22     4     7    10       1    1      2        2       0     .318
Zimmerman       22    9     9    10       1    0      4        7      0      .409

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.     W    L   ERA

Bergman            3      0       2          3     1      1      1      2        0      0    1       4.50
Burnett               2      0       3          1     0      0      0      2        0      0    0       0.00
Clippard            2      0       3          3     1      1      1      6        0      0     0       3.00
L Hernandez     2      2     12.3      15    4      4      2      3        0      1     1       2.92
Lannan              2      2     17        12     1      1      0      6        0      2     0       0.53

MacDougal       1      0       2          1     1      1      1      1        0      0     0       4.50
Mock                 2      0       3          3     0      0      0      3        0      0     0      0.00

Stammen           1      1       6          7     4      4      4      3        0      1     0      6.00

Villone              3      0       2.6       2     1      0      0      4        0      0     0       0.00
Zimmermann    1     1        6          6     3      3      1      3        0       0     0      4.50

John bracket: Nationals (09) defeat Expos (69) in six games

Game One: Expos 1, Nationals 0
WP: Stoneman (1-0)
LP: L Hernandez (0-1)

Game Two: Nationals 4, Expos 0
WP: Lannan (1-0)
LP: Robertson (0-1)
HR: Zimmerman (1)

Game Three: Nationals 14, Expos 4
WP: Stammen (1-0)
LP: Renko (0-1)
HR: Willingham (1), Staub (1), Zimmerman (2)

Game Four: Expos 6, Nationals 5 (13 innings)
WP: Waslewski (1-0)
LP: Bergman (0-1)
HR: Bateman (1), Jones (1)

Game Five: Nationals 10, Expos 4
WP: L Hernandez (1-1)
LP: Stoneman (1-1)
HR: Willingham (2), Zimmerman (3)

Game Six: Nationals 7, Expos 1
WP: Lannan (2-0)
LP: Robertson (0-2)
HR: Zimmerman (4)

The Expos won the one-run games, the Nationals won the blow outs, and there were more blowouts than competitive contests in this series.

Bill Stoneman got Montreal off with a win in the opener, holding the Nats to just three hits. The Expos got the game's only run in the first inning, with Ron Fairly smacking a double and scoring on Rusty Staub's single. Stoneman walked six and struck out six in his complete game.

John Lannan returned the shutout favor in Game Two. The lefty held Montreal to just three hits himself. The Nationals scored all four of their runs in the first inning off Jerry Robertson, with Ryan Zimmerman bopping a three-run homer and Adam Dunn getting a triple.

Game Three, the first in Montreal's Parc Jarry, was the first of the routs. Staub gave the Expos a 2-0 lead with a first inning homer, but a pair of errors by Montreal shortstop Bobby Wine opened the doors to a four-run third. Zimmerman and Josh Willingham homered in the fifth. The Nats picked up runs in the sixth and eighth innings and then blasted Claude Raymond for five more in the ninth

Game Four was a beauty. The Expos pieced together three runs in the first two innings against Jordan Zimmermann, only to see the Nats tie it in the seventh in an inning based on an Alberto Gonzalez pinch-hit triple. Willingham's pinch-hit double in the eighth put the Nats up 4-3, but John Bateman promptly tied it again with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning. The Nats took the lead again in the 11th -- Austin Kearns tripled and scored on Gary Waslewski's error -- but Mack Jones greeted Mike MacDougal with a homer in the bottom of the inning, Aldolfo Phillps threw out Elijah Dukes at the plate in the 12th inning, and the Expos finally won it in the 13th on Staub's single and Jones' triple. Nyjer Morgan was seven-for-seven with four steals but never scored a run.

From there the Nationals took control. The blasted Stoneman for five runs in the first inning of Game Five -- Willingham with a bases-loaded triple -- and were never threatened the rest of the way. Willingham wound up with five RBIs. Morgan ran his on-base streak to nine before finally being retired.

Back in Nationals Park, Lannan spotted the Expos a run in the first, then blacked them for seven innings. The Nats hit for the cycle in the first inning -- homer from Zimmerman, triple by Dunn, double for Willingham, single by Dukes -- for three run of Robertson, who then left with an injury. The Nats scored three more off Howie Reed in the fourth and clinched the series easily.

Player of the series: Morgan had 10 hits and seven walks. Zimmerman hit four homer and 10 RBIs. Willingham also had 10 RBIs. But Lannan allowed just one run in 17 innings over two starts. He's my pick.

Pitcher availability: Hernandez can pitch Game 1. Lannan can start game Two with penalty, Game Three without.

Projected rotation: Hernandez-Stammen (or replacement)-Lannan-Zimmermann-(Hernandez)-(Stammen or replacement)-(Lannan).