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Make It Eleven

The starter got rocked, the bullpen was so-so, and the offense was sparse. It’s been a familiar theme for the past 11 games for the Nationals, losing today to the Orioles in Sarasota, 12-3.

The new wrinkle is the bugaboo that always shows up in the midst of a losing streak: errors. Four today, with two by Steve Lombardozzi while playing third base (both on throws). Lombardozzi singled once in three ABs to improve his spring average to .302 and notched two assists.

Corey Brown also got a start. He went 0-for-4 with an RBI and snagged two flyballs in LF. Other notable minor-leaguers to get in the game were:

  • Adrian Sanchez took over for Danny Espinosa at second base, going 0-for-1 at the plate and handling all three chances on defense over the last four innings
  • Michael Taylor pinch-ran and scored a run but struck out in his sole AB. He manned CF for the last three innings but had no errors, putouts, or assists.
  • Brett Newsome also scored as pinch-runner and flew out to LF in his lone plate appearance. He took over at 1B and notched three putouts in three innings.
  • Chris Rahl pinch-ran but did not score, going 0-for-1 while taking over RF duties from Brett Carroll. He had one putout.
  • Josh Johnson took over 3B for Lombardozzi, and grounded out to end the game for his 0-for-1 line.

The Nats return to Viera tomorrow afternoon to host the Mets. Stephen Strasburg makes his fifth spring start. The game can be heard locally on 106.7FM and 1500AM.

14 Commments

  1. I guess they start getting ready for real tomorrow.

    Still looks like plenty of defense but no hitting. Have to assume that gives the more advanced minor leaguers a shot at promotion if offensive production continues as expected? To be anemic.

    Interesting that Nick Johnson is trying to make the O’s roster with massive cattle call by their new GM. Shades of Nats recent past! Looks like he may make but surprisingly Matt Antonelli may not?

  2. Nats injury situation may give some farmhands a crack at the big leagues to start the season off. Some pretty sketchy injury reports / lack of Spring Training for Storen, LaRoche, Morse, Burnett, Bernadina, Kimball, Marrerro, Wang …. Hopefully all will heal quickly but if not, a few may get a shot in April it would seem.

  3. Aparently, Adam Carr is back in the org, or was at least at ST with the Nats.

    Source is behind a pay wall, but I know that he is legit.

    1. Carr was re-signed in late September. He had shoulder surgery last summer and from what I’ve been told could be headed out of XST in late May.

      1. Cool, dont remember that. Carr was looking good before the injury, so we might have another bullpen piece on the way

        1. Its ironic … both Carr and Kimball kind of blossomed at the same time and ended up with the same type of injury?

  4. Byron Kerr is reporting that Sandy Leon will be the starting catcher in Harrisburg. His sources claim he could be in the majors in 2012?

    1. I read that same article by Kerr and wondered how Leon could see the bigs yet this year, short of a couple trades anyhow.

      1. The way it would work is this …………… Flores gets traded, as his value is going back up to where it was pre-injury. Solano becomes the new backup in Washington, Leon gets promoted to AAA & Leon gets a callup in September.

        Isn’t this more fun than reading about the Nats losses?

        1. True, but I’ve been dusting off some bon mots, too. Unfortunately, it’s sometimes a challenge to keep it PG-13, even if it is the big boys that are foundering.

      2. Remember who owns MASN. Well, at least part of it. Suffice it to say, Kerr is going to be critical like a small-town Chamber of Commerce. That’s not a knock, mind you. That’s his job.

        Leon can field the position at the MLB level, that’s nearly without question. But he’s going to have to make a quantum leap this year as a hitter to get there — something like .275/.335/.415 from last year’s .251/.312/.362 marks. Not an easy task, when you consider that chasm that is High-A vs. AA.

  5. Not living in the greater DC area or anywhere close to the MASN footprint means I miss out on a lot of the background behind certain aspects of the franchise! Am I correct in assuming the Lerners own a piece of MASN?

    I would think if Flores can get enough ABs and does well with them, that he could move into the category of trade material. And with the development of both Solano and Leon, the Nats seem to have enough depth to at least consider a trade. And although no one talks about it, Ramos could also potentially be considered as a higher end player for trading. Again that will likely depend on how they all do to start the season.

    1. Here’s the WikiPedia page on MASN, which is probably the closest you’ll get to an unbiased overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MASN

      Point being is that the folks at MASN indirectly work for the Nationals and Orioles. Of course, if you ask some people, the same is true for the Washington Post and the local NFL team…

      /ducks for cover.

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