Phillies-Nationals Thoughts: Aaron Nola Tries to Get Back on Track for Good

Phillies (53-86) at Nationals (83-54)
7:05 p.m. on CSN; streaming live on CSNPhilly.com and the NBC Sports App

In an attempt to capture their second straight series victory, the Phillies began to rally against the Mets on Wednesday after facing a 6-0 deficit.

The Phils cut that lead in half in the top of the sixth inning, but the game was called in the bottom frame after a 57-minute rain delay. 

After dropping two of three to the Mets, the Phillies will go from facing one of the worst teams in baseball to the class of their division in the Nationals. 

•With seven games remaining between the two clubs, the Nationals hold a 7-5 advantage over the Phils in the season series. The last time the Phillies came out on top of the season series with the Nats was in 2014 when they went 11-8. Since, the Phils have gone 17-33 against Washington.

•Aaron Nola has hit a bit of a rough patch in what has otherwise been a strong season for the right-hander. After a string of 10 consecutive starts where Nola allowed no more than two earned runs, he was tagged for five and seven runs, respectively, in two straight mid-August starts. He appeared to snap out of that funk in his start against the Braves on Aug. 28, when he allowed one run on five hits over seven innings. 

But Nola was roughed up yet again in his last start, allowing six runs on 10 hits in a loss to the Marlins. Nola will look to get back on track for good against a team he had success against earlier this season. In his only start against Washington, back on April 14, he held a daunting Nationals lineup to just one run over five innings.

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•That daunting Nationals lineup has been without Bryce Harper, who is hitting to the fine tune of .326/.419/.614 in 2016, since Aug. 12, when the superstar outfielder went down with a knee injury. It's unclear when Harper will return, but a very strong pitching staff and a deep lineup have kept the Nats afloat in Harper's absence. They're 16-9 since and trail the reeling Dodgers (who have lost nine of 10) by seven games for the top spot in the National League.

•Giancarlo Stanton and Paul Goldschmidt have gotten most of the of buzz for NL MVP, but Anthony Rendon deserves to at least be in the conversation. Rendon is hitting .303/.403/.539 with 23 home runs and 91 RBIs on one of the best teams in baseball. Oh yeah, and he's currently leading all of MLB in WAR (6.5), per FanGraphs.

•Three of the top five ERA leaders in all of MLB hail from the Nationals' pitching staff, in Max Scherzer, Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg. The Phillies are currently scheduled to face just Scherzer from that uber-talented trio in this four-game series, but the Nationals have yet to announce their starter for Sunday's game.

Tanner Roark will take the mound for the Nats on Thursday. After boasting a 2.83 ERA across 33 starts last season, Roark has struggled in 2017. His ERA has risen to 4.48 and his WHIP is over 1.3. The good news for Roark? He's been better than his season averages across three strarts against the Phillies this season, pitching to a 3.06 ERA and 1.019 WHIP.

•On Wednesday, J.P. Crawford started at third base in favor of Maikel Franco for the second straight game since being called up. Pete Mackanin plans on getting Crawford as much playing time as possible down the final stretch of the season and, while Mackanin said Crawford will get time in the middle infield as well, it will be interesting to see just how many more starts Franco gets in the final 23 games. Franco, who is slashing .223/.278/.387, has been substantially worse than Cesar Hernandez and Freddy Galvis this season. 

•Bryce Harper had the best hair in baseball. Notice that last sentence says had and not has. Harper on Wednesday reveled his new look and it was a far cry from his awesome flow. 

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