Nats Flat In Viera
Atlanta limits Washington to just three baserunners in a 5-0 shutout
Former prospect Ross Detwiler will be the talk of an otherwise abysmal game for the Nationals, who were shut out by the Atlanta Braves 5-0 on Sunday. Detwiler struck out five in his three innings of work and allowed one unearned run on one hit, all of which make a strong case for the 25-year-old as the #5 man in the rotation.
Just three Nats reached base — Michael Aubrey on a third-inning walk, Laynce Nix on a fifth-inning single, and Brian Bixler on a ninth-inning single. All three are longshots to make the Opening Day roster.
Danny Espinosa got the start again at second base but went 0-for-3 with strikeouts. Wilson Ramos also started at catcher and went 0-for-2 with a strikeout. Defensively, Espinosa was the key cog in an 8-4-2 relay to gun down Jason Heyward.
Bryce Harper came off the bench and struck the ball well, but his sinking liner to left field was snagged by Martin Prado. Harper fielded both singles hit his way but had no official defensive chances.
With the loss, the Nationals drop to 4-3 for the spring and host the Astros tomorrow.
Sue,
Ross D looks like the pitcher he was drafted to be….what a change form the last few years and last summer for sure. I was hard on him and thankfully wrong!
Ian D looks like he still does not know how to charge a routine ball….he is looking like 650AB’s and 40 Errors…..what did you see on that ball?
JayB,
You should already know the answer to that? Sue Dinem is one of the few (if not only blogger) brave enough to come and ask why Espinosa isn’t tried at shorstop (surer cannon arm) and Desmond at second base. A swap? If Riggleman can stick Guzman in right field and Willie Harris at third base … why not try something that actually makes sense? No one knows the answer to that.
Oh I know but that is not going to happen so now we I want to see if Sue is seeing the same basic issue with Ian that I do…….He sits back on his heels on 4 hoppers right too him….it seems so easy to fix….I was a SS in college…..it seems so strange that Ian D does not have this skill ingrained into his DNA by now.
JayB – Reach for your nitro pills because, yes, I agree… and it gets worse: He’s been doing that since I first saw him in 2006. It just seems like the more time he has to think, the worse he does. Ironically, that may be a reason against shifting him over, but I feel like the discomfort of the position change may offset that tendency.
CF?…..Did you see those Morgan throws…..and that route to the ball that rolled to the wall…..I have to assume Rizzo sees this stuff If I do?
SpringfieldSpouse and I are just back from a quick couple of days in the land of sunshine and baseball, with some very quick impressions about things that you didn’t get to see on TV
– Brad Meyers looked good in a scrimmage against Houston yesterday. (Livo started the game and looked just like Livo.) Meyers gave up a couple of hits but got himself out of trouble — drew a double play, got the outs. No obvious evidence that the injury is plaguing him.
– Solis came in after Meyers, and we were able to watch for an inning. Allowed a baserunner, drew the DP. Easy peasy.
– On Saturday, Wilkie just looked overmatched against the Yankees in Tampa …. except Pena and Granderson. He was fine against them.
– Gaudin looked really solid for three innings on Saturday, and then the wheels fell off.
– Jeff Frazier was impressive in Saturday’s game, both in the field (LF) and at the plate.
– Bixler … I’m surprised to see that Bixler’s biggest problem when he had his chances in the ML was his batting, because in both Saturday and Sunday’s games, he did not appear to have the stellar middle infield stuff that we expect to see. He had a cringe-inducing Buckneresque error at 2B in Saturday’s game at the Yankees, and just didn’t seem to have the response that we want in a SS yesterday. But his bat was not cold.
– In the scrimmage yesterday, most of the players on our side ended the year at Hagerstown, but there was a mix. Norris, Moore, Lyons, Antonelli, King, Hague, Hood, Kobernus, Martinson, Freitas, and Souza all got in the game at one point or another. Most notable event was Hood’s two stolen bases. Again, I apologize for not scoring the game — I’d have a lot more to report.
And finally:
Pudge, hanging out in a golf cart, watching Livo pitch in a scrimmage. Livo finishes up, Pudge picks him up in the cart. Pudge and Livo hanging in a golf cart, 20 feet away from us. Spring Training, man. Nothing beats it.
Well, according to Byron Kerr’s story, my memory is already terrible about Solis’s pitching, because Solis said that he didn’t allow a baserunner. All I know for sure is that it looked easy for him.
First batter HBP, then a DP. That was it.
Thanks for the dispatches… I’m personally rooting for the ST digs to move to Kissimmee so that I can campaign for a “combo trip” to Disney World.
Great article in today’s Post on Harper begining a 9-6-5 putout at third in the Yankee’s game.
How are the ex-A’s kids looking especially 3b Valdez in the B fields???
While I realize it’s still early, the 1st week results from Viera are starting to smell like both Storen & Mock are headed for the minor-league side of camp sometime soon. Storen should go down because he apparently neglected his off-season throwing regimen, and Mock should go down because he can’t throw strikes at the MLB-level.
Others looking like early culls to the minor-league camp could include: Maldonado(CA), Solano(CA), Aubrey(1B), Barker(1B), Nix(OF), Van Every(OF), Atilano(SP), JDMartin (SP), Wilkie(RP), & Mattheus(RP). Harper might just force his hand & stay with the big club for another few days – Just my two-cents worth so far.
I didn’t put it in today’s gamer, but today’s little breakout is part of what I am envisioning: He starts to hit so much that sending him to Hagerstown looks too conservative, so he’s “promoted” to Potomac, which is where they had planned to send him all along. Just getting it on record. Again. 😉
I’ll second Sue’s comment….but the Suns have been slamming their website with “harper starting here” for the past 2 months. The suns start on the road this season – my bet is that he plays for the Suns, but never sees the Muni and sent to the Pnats after the first few away games 🙂