WASHINGTON — With their NL East lead now down to just one game, the Mets will try to bounce back from Sundayâs bullpen-fueled disaster when Pedro Martinez (pictured) takes on the Nationalsâ John Lannan here tonight. Martinez, who is pitching on seven days rest, is coming off one of his worst outings of the season. He allowed six runs on seven hits in just four innings of a 6-2 home loss to the Phillies on Sept. 7.
Lannan, meanwhile, is a Long Island native and is making his fourth start against the Mets this season. The Nationals are 0-4 in those starts, and Lannan was rocked for five runs on eight hits in just three innings last week at Shea Stadium.
As for the lineup, the 83-65 Mets will look like this:
Jose Reyes SS
Ryan Church RF
David Wright 3B
Carlos Beltran CF
Carlos Delgado 1B
Fernando Tatis LF
Luis Castillo 2B
Brian Schneider C
Pedro Martinez RHP (5-4, 5.44)
The 56-93 Nationals, who have dropped five in a row, will counter with:
Willie Harris LF
Cristian Guzman SS
Ryan Zimmerman 3B
Lastings Milledge CF
Elijah Dukes RF
Aaron Boone 1B
Anderson Hernandez 2B
Wil Nieves C
John Lannan LHP (8-13, 4.09)
Game time: 7:10 p.m.
TV: SNY.