Hello one last time from Turner Field, where the regular season ends today and the Nationals look to become the first team in major league history to begin a season on a seven-game losing streak and then end it on a seven-game winning streak.
The Nats will attempt to do that, however, with their three biggest hitters on the bench. Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham all are out of the lineup as Jim Riggleman gives his bench guys a chance to start for a change.
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That means Dunn will end the season with 38 homers (unless he comes up to pinch-hit, of course) and thus his streak of 40-homer seasons will end at five. I know that’s probably a disappointment to a lot of people, but Dunn doesn’t look at it that way. He told Riggleman earlier this week he wanted to take this game off and let one of his lesser-known teammates get a chance to play.
“Yeah, it would have been cool, and yeah, I should have hit 40 this year,” Dunn said. “But I didn’t. I’m not going to sit there and cry about it. Numbers — and I mean it when I say this — they don’t mean anything, unless you win. If you win, then you should get the accolades. But if you lose 100-something games, who cares?”
So here’s the lineup Riggleman will field against the Braves, along with Bobby Cox’s counter-lineup…
NATIONALS
CF Justin Maxwell
SS Ian Desmond
3B Pete Orr
RF Elijah Dukes
1B Mike Morse
C Josh Bard
2B Alberto Gonzalez
LF Jorge Padilla
P J.D. Martin
BRAVES
CF Nate McLouth
RF Omar Infante
3B Martin Prado
LF Garret Anderson
1B Adam LaRoche
SS Yunel Escobar
2B Kelly Johnson
C Clint Sammons
P Tim Hudson
