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Nationals-Rays Preview

Jun 12, 2009 - 4:58 AM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Writer

Washington (15-42) at Tampa Bay (30-31), 7:38 p.m. EDT

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon says his team hasn't yet played its best baseball of the season. If the Rays keep hitting like they have in back-to-back wins, they could be on the verge of that run.

The Rays look to continue their hot hitting Friday night when they open a three-game interleague series against the Washington Nationals, who will try to post consecutive wins for the first time in more than a month.

Tampa Bay (31-31) totaled nine runs and 17 hits during a three-game losing streak earlier this week. But the defending AL champions snapped that with a 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday before capping that series with an 11-1 rout Thursday.

Despite those convincing victories, Maddon sees room for improvement.

"We have not even come close to playing our best baseball yet," he told the Rays' official Web site. "I like it because I know our run is coming."

Carlos Pena hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs, and Dioner Navarro homered and had three RBIs in the finale. Known in large part for their speed - they lead the majors by a large margin with 96 stolen bases - the Rays are also fourth with 80 home runs.

"The combination of speed and power, I really believe we are that," said Maddon, whose team has 22 homers over its last 12 games.

The Rays expect to get a key player back in their lineup with designated hitter Pat Burrell set to rejoin the team Friday after missing 29 games with a neck strain. Burrell, though, wasn't producing much before his injury, totaling one homer in 30 games after hitting 33 with Philadelphia last year.

Burrell hit .211 (12 for 57) with no homers and 17 strikeouts in 17 games against Washington last season.

The Nationals (16-42) are coming off a 3-2 win over Cincinnati, just their sixth in 30 games since a three-game run from May 7-9. Cristian Guzman scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error in the eighth inning, a mistake that could have been forced by Alberto Gonzalez's hard slide into second base.

"You play hard - good things happen," Nationals manager Manny Acta said.

Adam Dunn, in his first season with Washington, hopes that becomes a trend.

"We haven't had that big blowout game the entire year," he said. "Hopefully, something clicks and everyone relaxes."

Matt Garza (4-4, 3.55 ERA) will take the mound for the Rays hoping to snap a four-start winless streak. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 3.65 ERA during that drought.

Garza held the New York Yankees to one run and four hits over five innings of the Rays' 4-3 loss Sunday. He said his "lower half didn't feel right" during that game, but he didn't miss any time.

Garza, who was 2-1 with a 3.76 ERA in four interleague starts last year, has never faced Washington.

Craig Stammen (0-2, 6.45) will go for the Nationals. In his fourth career start Sunday, the rookie right-hander gave up five runs in five innings of a 7-0 loss to the New York Mets.

This is the first meeting between these teams since Washington took two of three at home in 2006. The Nationals lead the all-time series 9-6.