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Nationals-Reds Preview

Aug 13, 2009 - 4:55 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Washington (40-73) at Cincinnati (49-63), 7:10 p.m. EDT

With two of the worst records in the NL, neither the Washington Nationals nor Cincinnati Reds are preparing for playoff baseball. They are playing better baseball, though.

Both teams look to continue their improved play when they open a four-game series Thursday night in Washington slugger Adam Dunn's return to Great American Ball Park.

On pace to lose 105 games, the Nationals (40-74) have been baseball's worst team this season. They were 40 games below .500 on Aug. 1, but suddenly came to life and reeled off eight straight victories. The winning streak ended Tuesday with an 8-1 loss to Atlanta, which also defeated Washington 6-2 on Wednesday.

Dunn, who signed a free-agent contract with the Nationals on Feb. 12, was instrumental to Washington's eight-game run, batting .375 with four homers and nine RBIs.

This will be Dunn's first trip back to Cincinnati, where he played from 2001 until being traded to Arizona last August. He hit 270 homers with the Reds, including 124 in 437 games at Great American Ball Park since it opened in 2003.

"I spent a lot of my career there," Dunn told the Nationals' official Web site. "It will be fun to get to play in that stadium again. I love that stadium."

While Dunn and the Nationals have been out of the playoff race the entire season, Cincinnati (49-64) looked like it could possibly make its first postseason appearance since 1995 with strong play through the first three months.

That's not the case anymore.

After moving within two games of first place in the NL Central on July 4, the Reds went on to lose 22 of 27 to essentially fall out of the playoff picture. Cincinnati has managed to win four of seven since, but is still 13 1/2 games behind division-leading St. Louis.

The Reds, who took two of three at Nationals Park from June 9-11, are coming off Wednesday's 5-2 loss to the Cardinals.

Although Cincinnati is turning things around, it hasn't had much success with Bronson Arroyo (10-11, 5.04 ERA) on the mound, losing 10 of his last 13 starts.

Arroyo allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings in Saturday's 4-2 loss to San Francisco, his third straight quality start without a win. The right-hander has been pitching better lately, posting a 3.02 ERA in his last six starts, but has just two victories in that span, as his offense has backed him with a 3.24 run support average in those games.

"You just hope you continue to feel good and things will work out in the end," Arroyo said.

This will be Arroyo's first start against the Nationals since allowing five hits in six innings of a 3-0 win on July 4, 2008.

Washington counters with Collin Balester (1-1, 5.21), who tries to bounce back from a difficult outing.

After recording a 3.68 ERA in his first three starts, Balester permitted five runs and eight hits - including three home runs - in 4 1-3 innings of a 7-6 win over Arizona on Friday.

Balester suffered his first career loss at Cincinnati on July 6, 2008, yielding five runs in 5 2-3 innings of a 6-5 defeat. The right-hander was much more composed when facing the Reds a month later, allowing one run and six hits in 5 1-3 innings of a 4-2 victory on Aug. 3, 2008.