Jake Irvin will take the ball tonight with the responsibility of keeping the strong Mets lineup at bay. In 5 career starts, Irvin has a 3.78 vs the Mets, including his signature 8 inning performance on the 4th of July last year.

New York clearly has the better bullpen numbers. But expected-ERA figures reveal a Nats pen with worse-than-deserved stats. The opposite holds true for a Mets relief corps which has leveraged a .283 BABIP and a low percentage of fly balls carrying over outfield fences.