Strasburg vs. Harvey is league's marquee pitching matchup today (with lineups)

Buckle up for the marquee pitching matchup today at Nationals Park between two power pitchers that can pump it in there in the mid-to-high 90s. Nationals manager Matt Williams sends right-hander Stephen Strasburg to the mound, while Mets manager Terry Collins trots fireballer Matt Harvey to the hill for his first start regular season start since Tommy John surgery.

"High-powered arms that have come back successfully from a really serious surgery," said Williams. "It's good. Matt's one of the great stars in our game. So is Stephen. From a baseball perspective and a fan perspective, it's nice to see them lock horns. We want to get to Matt early and often and let Stephen cruise. That would be a formula that we'd love today. But it's good for baseball for sure."

Williams faced some of the game's great arms in his decorated 17-year career. He has a tremendous amount of respect for what both of today's starters bring to the table.

"As a hitter, I wouldn't necessarily be comfortable facing either one of them," said Williams. "I'd try to limit what I swing at. Pick a side of the plate or pick a pitch I'd want to hit. From a manager's perspective, we know Matt's not going to throw, Terry's not going to run him out there for 115 pitches. So he's gonna be limited in that regard. From a manager's perspective, we want to be patient with him today. We want to make sure he's throwing the ball over the plate, not chase balls, elevate that pitch count as much as we can in hopes to get him out of the game.

"From Stephen's perspective, he's been 85 pitches, he's good to 100, depending on stress innings and all of that. We can push him into the seventh inning, maybe the eighth inning, and see where he is after that. So there's all kinds of different ways to look at it. But from a baseball perspective, it's a lot of hard work from both of them to even get back to pitching, let alone having success."

Williams will give Clint Robinson his first Nats start today in left field. Robinson won a spot on the roster after lighting it up at the plate throughout the spring.

"On the surface, it seems like a good matchup for Clint because we've got a good fastball pitcher, short swing, powerful guy at the plate," said Williams. "That's not to say he's gonna get four hits today, but we give him an opportunity to get in there and face a guy who really runs it in there. Which he will do coming off a bench. He'll get the back of the bullpen. Good fastball guys. So it gives him an opportunity to get some at-bats."

For the Mets

RF Curtis Granderson
3B David Wright
1B Lucas Duda
LF Michael Cuddyer
2B Daniel Murphy
CF Juan Lagares
C Travis d'Arnaud
SS Wilmer Flores
RHP Matt Harvey

For the Nationals

CF Michael A. Taylor
3B Yunel Escobar
RF Bryce Harper
1B Ryan Zimmerman
LF Clint Robinson
SS Ian Desmond
2B Dan Uggla
C Jose Lobaton
RHP Stephen Strasburg