Gamethread 5/12: Phillies at Nationals

The Phillies try to take the first series of the season against the Nationals, sending their rotation co-ace to the mound to try and do so. They’ll be without the starting services of J.T. Realmuto, who will sit out tonight with a knee issue. You of course recall last night his taking one of the 3,000,000 foul balls hit in the game off of his knee, resulting in his needing to be removed. Andrew Knapp, best backup catcher in baseball, will start in his place.

The Nationals look to get their offense going after somehow failing to solve Chase Anderson until the sixth inning last night. Whether they should have even faced Anderson in the sixth inning is a different matter entirely.

You came here for lineups, so here they are. For the Phillies:

Zack Wheeler gets the ball tonight, hoping to build off of his last start where he dominated Milwaukee for nine innings. He’ll face this lineup from Washington:

To get that offense started, the Nationals are shuffling things a bit.

Let’s talk about it!