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National League lowly square off in middle match

Sep 20, 2008 - 10:12 AM San Diego (59-95) at Washington (58-96), 7:10 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The San Diego Padres are trying to avoid their first 100-loss season in 15 years. The Washington Nationals are trying not to be the National League's worst team.

Despite such humble goals, the clubs played through a gritty, 14-inning marathon in the series opener that saw the Padres use a five-run rally to roll to an 11-6 victory. They two square off again on Saturday.

San Diego will give the ball to Chris Young (5-6, 4.43 ERA), who gave up three runs and seven hits with nine strikeouts through seven innings of the Padres' 7-0 loss against the San Francisco Giants last Saturday.

Young has been decimated by injuries this season, landing on the disabled list twice. He suffered a broken nose in late May and missed nearly two months. Upon returning, he made three starts before suffering a strained right forearm.

In his last three starts, he is 1-2 with a 3.43 ERA.

The Nationals counter with John Lannan (9-13, 3.97), who has won three of his last four decisions. The 23-year-old lefthander had a 3.40 ERA in the first half, but has posted a pedestrian 4.92 mark after the All-Star break.

In his last start, he allowed one run and one hit over seven sparkling innings en route to a 7-2 win against the New York Mets on Monday.