The Atlanta Braves entered Monday five games behind the Nationals in the NL East and they'd love to put some pressure on Washington as September approaches. In order to do that, though, they'll have to hit better than they did in Los Angeles over the weekend. They'll also need a strong effort from the pitching staff to halt some of Washington's hot bats.
As noted in Talking Chop's preview of this series, Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse have been doing a lot of damage for the Nationals of late.
Ryan Zimmerman continues to lead the Nationals with his torrid hitting, posting a .327/.400/.513 line over the past month. Zimmerman leads the Nats in WAR (1.4), wOBA (.386), and wRC+ (145) over that time frame, and shutting down his bat will be top priority for Braves pitching this week. Michael Morse continues to be a slugging force in the middle of the Nats' order, cleaning up behind Zimmerman. Morse has hit .295 over the past month while slugging .545 including 7 home runs.
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