Visiting the Capital

The Mets go south of Flushing to face their hated rivals, the team that has spited them all these years: The Washington Nationals. Everybody's psyched for Guillen-Pedro round 2, but I'm going to watch for so many other reasons. Mostly because the Mets are playing.

Starters:
Game 1: Tuesday, 1:05
Brian Bannister vs. Ramon Ortiz
Game 2: Wednesday, 7:05
Pedro Martinez vs. Tony Armas
Game Three: Thursday, 1:05
Victor Zambrano vs. Livan Hernandez

WAS Breakdown: Record- 2-5
The Nationals are not a very good team. They have too many All-Star second basemen, not enough pitching, nor enough offensive output from pretty much every other position. So far, they've played against the Mets (1-2) and against Houston (1-3). Most of their key players are contributing with the exception of Brian Schneider, who is hitting .174 on the year. While Nick Johnson, Jose Vidro and Alfonso Soriano all have .300 averages or better, they just haven't been delivering at this point in the season.

Players to Watch for:
WAS: Jose Guillen. Come on. The man's angry. I wouldn't want to mess with an angry Jose Guillen. And I don't think Mets pitching will be able to conquer him this series. Also look for a performance that is decidedly on either end of the spectrum as Alfonso Soriano makes his home debut since being acquired in the offseason's worst move.

NYM: Cliff Floyd. Three right-handers without overpowering velocity will start against the Mets this series and Cliffy will have a field day after a tough start to begin the season. Expect him to bash multiple homers before the Mets check out of the DC Hilton. Even though that's not where they stay.

Player of the Series: Cliff Floyd

Picks: The Mets will take two of three in this one, though they will unfortunately experience a shaky debut from Zambrano. Expect the talk radio bums to be outraged.

Sex can wait! Prognosticate:

David Wright is the man in New York right now. Here's hoping it doesn't get to his head.Paging Gregg Jefferies...

There will be one hit batsman this series. It will be by a mediocre Nationals reliever in a lopsided game.

Hot starts are nothing to get ants in your pants about. Hot finishes will be much better.

If Wagner doesn't get a 1-2-3 outing this series, you will hear rumblings of an injury. They will be correct.

Tony Armas will make the best start of any pitcher during this series, but he will lose.

Jose Valentin's release will not be a news story, but if he doesn't get a hit, it will happen next week.