Lombardozzi Shines Against Yankees… Again

Going into Spring Training, the feeling was that Steve Lombardozzi was battling for a bench job but would more likely get sent to Syracuse to play everyday. After these two games against the Yankees, Mike Rizzo’s bluster that Davey Johnson could use him for up to 350 ABs is becoming more believable.

Lombardozzi went 3-for-3 this afternoon with a line-drive home run down the left field line and scored two runs. More importantly, he showed again that he can fill in at 3B in a pinch, though he showed both his weakness (arm) in the process of showing his off his fielding range and accuracy during his four innings of work. The home run came off C.C. Sabathia and his third and final hit came off the enigmatic Phil Hughes.

For the spring, Lombardozzi has .333/.367/.481 line in 11 games, appearing at second base, shortstop and third base.

As for the game itself, the Nats blew an early 3-1 lead and ended up losing 4-3 in 10 innings. Atahualpa Severino took the loss, allowing an unearned run on a sacrifice fly.

Bryce Harper got his first hit since returning from a calf injury, going 1-for-4 with two strikeouts on the afternoon while playing CF. He had no defensive chances, but once again strayed too far afield on the game’s final play, and arguably distracting RF Brett Carroll, whose throw was well up the 1B line.

Tyler Moore subbed again at 1B but turned in another 0-for-2 effort, grounding out to SS and flying out to CF. He did save an error by Seth Bynum to close out the 6th, coming off the bag and tagging the runner as he went by.

The loss drops the Nats spring record to 5-7 as they return to Viera to host Miami. Jordan Zimmermann is scheduled to make his third start of the spring, opposed by Tom Koehler for the Marlins. The game will be broadcast on the radio by the Nationals on 106.7 FM.