Tigers Edge Nats, 2-1
Davey Johnson got his wish for a fast game, but not the result as Washington dropped a 2-1 decision to Detroit in a brisk two hours and twenty-five minutes this afternoon in Lakeland.
Dan Haren was stretched out to four innings in his third spring start, giving up both Tigers runs on five hits as both LF Tyler Moore and 1B Chris Marrero made defensive misplays that weren’t ruled errors. Haren walked none and struck out two. Four relievers followed, each turning in a scoreless inning, including Yunesky Maya (1H, 1BB, 0K) and Cole Kimball (0H, 0BB, 1K).
Four of “our guys” got the start, which is custom for road games in the Grapefruit League at this point in Spring Training…
…Corey Brown started in RF and finished in CF but struck out twice while going 0-for-4.
…Marrero went 0-for-2 with a groundout and a flyout.
…Matt Skole (1-for-2, RBI) drove in the sole Nats run on a sacrifice fly in the 7th, starting at 3B and replacing Marrero at 1B.
…Anthony Rendon made another start at SS and shifted over to 3B but went hitless at the plate with an 0-for-3 afternoon.
The Nationals were held to four hits total, which all came from the starting lineup. Micah Owings (LF), Sandy Leon (C), Carlos Rivero (LF-RF), and Zach Walters (SS) came off the bench with Rivero and Walters drawing the only two bases-on-balls for Washington.
The loss drops Nationals below .500 at 6-7-2 as they return to Viera for another afternoon game tomorrow against the Braves. Charlie Slowes and Dave Jagler have the call on 1580AM.
I put up a post on how our guys, esp. our minor league guys, are doing in the WBC.
http://ladyandthenats.blogspot.com/2013/03/nats-in-wbc.html
Can we all just take spring training majorly less seriously with a grain of salt.
???
Good to see more kids getting more reps, riding the buses for road trip A games
While other guys play in the BS WS.
Any surprises in the affiliation scrimmages in the B Fields???
Happy St Patty’s day to all
[Keanu Reeves as Ted Logan]Whoa, Dude, you must be, like, new here[/Keanu]
Sorry, no spies in Viera and no budget for a trip to Florida — much as I hate winter, despite (or because) having grown up in New England — so no word on what’s going on in the “B” fields.
I believe it was Emma Span who first wrote that, for all the hype, Spring Training is a six-week dry hump. (Crass, perhaps, but not inaccurate). All of this should be taken with a pound of salt, but it’s all we got until the regular season starts. I’d estimate it’s about two weeks before the regulars start playing so much that these writeups — which are my spring training for the daily summaries* — will stop.
*I’m up for suggestions for a new name, but something that doesn’t use “Across The Affiliates” or “Farm Report.”
Having just come back, I can report that this weekend, there weren’t any scrimmages on the B fields in Viera — at least, not in the mornings. Some live BP, some coach-thrown BP, lots of baserunning drills. The only thing I have to report of any possible intrigue is that a Manuel was throwing live BP. If that was Craig Manuel the catcher (and I can’t say for certain either way), that might be interesting.
As an aside, I have a fantasy league that could use a couple more teams. (Space for 4, but I’ll take 2.) We have pretty small rosters and only 10 – 12 teams, and defense counts. The league is at http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/summer10 and I think the password is baseball.