Game 19 lineups: Nats vs. Phillies

This should be Joe Ross' turn in the Nationals rotation, but the club decided to be cautious with the young right-hander's blister and skip his turn (made possible by yesterday's off-day). So it'll be Max Scherzer, still on normal rest, taking the mound for tonight's series opener against the Phillies.

Scherzer is coming off a ragged start in Miami in which he was tagged for five runs and eight hits in only five innings. Afterward, he described his problem as "not finishing my pitches," something he believed would be a quick fix and not something that required a lot of time tinkering in the bullpen. We'll get a sense tonight whether he has ironed that out.

Vincent Velasquez, one of the Phillies' promising young arms, will start opposite Scherzer, and there's some question which version of the right-hander will show up. He was utterly dominant his first two times out, tossing a combined 15 scoreless innings while striking out 25 total batters. But then he gave up five runs to the Mets in 4 1/3 innings last week.

Jose Lobaton gets the start behind the plate tonight instead of Wilson Ramos, a bit of a surprise. But Dusty Baker may have just wanted to give his No. 1 catcher a double off-day of sorts. We'll find out shortly ...

Update: Ramos has been placed on the bereavement list following the death of his grandfather. Pedro Severino has been called up from Syracuse to take his roster spot for at least the next three days.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, XM 184, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 80 degrees, wind 10 mph out to right field

NATIONALS (14-4)
CF Michael A. Taylor
3B Anthony Rendon
RF Bryce Harper
1B Ryan Zimmerman
2B Daniel Murphy
LF Jayson Werth
SS Danny Espinosa
C Jose Lobaton
RHP Max Scherzer

PHILLIES (9-10)
CF Odubel Herrera
SS Andres Blanco
3B Maikel Franco
1B Ryan Howard
C Cameron Rupp
LF David Lough
2B Cesar Hernandez
RHP Vincent Velasquez
RF Peter Bourjos