Nats LLLLose Again, 12-6
The Tigers clawed the Nats pitchers for four in the 3rd and five in the 4th en route to a 12-6 win, the fourth straight defeat for the DC nine.
Taylor Jordan worked around a single in the first and a double in the second but couldn’t escape the, um, teeth of the Detroit lineup the second time through in the 3rd as they bit him for four runs on five hits. It was the third consecutive outing in which Jordan had been scored upon. He walked none and struck out two.
After Tyler Moore answered with a two-run homer in the the top of the 4th, the Tigers picked up where they left off against Luis Ayala, who couldn’t finish the inning, charged with five runs on six hits with no walks and no strikeouts. Journeyman Zach Jackson let in one of two inherited runners to finish the frame.
Blake Treinen was the fourth pitcher out of the ‘pen to start the 6th. He was knocked for a double and two singles but only gave up one run, thanks to Sandy Leon gunning down a runner and a pickoff of his own. He pitched a scoreless 7th to finish with one run allowed on four hits with no walks and no K’s over two innings.
Thanks to the custom of regulars skipping road games, Jeff Kobernus (1-for-3, K) and Zach Walters (2-for-3, R) got the start in LF and SS respectively. As we edge towards the Ides of March, here’s a look at how the rest of the notable minor-leaguers did today:
• Brian Goodwin replaced Denard Span in CF and went 0-for-1
• Steve Souza followed Nate McLouth in RF and struck out in his AB
• Sandy Leon subbed for Jose Lobaton behind the plate and was 0-for-1 at the plate and 1-for-2 gunning down Tigers trying to steal
• Eury Perez took over LF from Kobernus and was 0-for-1
The Nats remain on the road to visit the split-squad Marlins in Jupiter tomorrow afternoon. Stephen Strasbug is scheduled to start. Si puedes leer esto oración, entonces usted entenderá emisora de radio de Miami
But according to Mattie Williams its still all good?
As yet, Williams has said everything is good. No matter how the player did on a given day, he repeats the same mantra. I can understand what he is doing, but find his responses tedious and uninformative.
I’ve become a bit concerned about the relief pitching. Only Clippard and Blevins seem to be consistent with Garcia coming along better. I know, I know. It is only spring training. But after last year’s showing by many of the incumbents (sp?) and a continuation of said showing…h’mm.
That being said, Luke, how do you think Barrett would do at the major league level? He may not be the hard thrower that the Nat brass seem to covet. But he was great last year and in limited play this spring, he’s been close to perfect.
Well, I barely got to see Barrett in 2012 so it’s hard for me to extrapolate (not that it’s ever easy) but that strikeout rate is hard to ignore. And it’s not a recent trend — even when he was suffering from H-Rod syndrome, he was still getting K’s in spades with that 65-70 slider. I’d agree with BA that he might be a good fit as a middle reliever.
As for this spring, baseball-reference.com has spring stats with Opposition Quality scores (4=Low-A, 5=Hi-A, 7=AA, 8=AAA, 10=MLB) that might help some folks get an idea as to whether so-and-so it doing this against a guy who’ll be bagging groceries in two weeks:
Garcia, 8.5 — 5.2-7-6-4-3-8 in 5G
Perez, 7.6 — 6-for-19, 2-2B, 2BB, 3K
Walters, 7.4 — 9-for-19, 2-2B, 3B, HR, 4BB, 3K
Leon, 7.4 — 2-for-15, HR, 3RBI
Barrett, 7.2 — 7-4-0-0-0-5 in 6G
Souza, 7.2 — 7-for-25, 3-2B, HR, 2RBI
Kobernus, 7.1 — 5-for-19, 3B, 2RBI
(Great, now I just ruined a rainout post idea 😉
Time will tell before the official west coast or east opener
Date if Rizzo will deal AAA extras or park them
In SYR again
Who stays and who will go? Who will opt-out immediately? Who is in Syracuse and who goes to Harrisburg?
Given the amount of time early they’ve given Jamey Carroll it sure looks like the plan is to purchase his ML contract and promote him to the 40/25. If so then it sure seems like both Espinosa and Walters go to Syracuse to mostly play 2B/SS for the Chiefs and act as depth. Guess the same with T-Mo, Souza, Kobernus, and Perez. Plus the catching duo of Solano and Leon.
Koyie Hill getting into games as the DH? Never catching? And he might be as good a defensive catcher as they’ve got? Where does he fit?
As Luke seems to like to say : no rookies or less experienced prospects or former prospect this time around.
Luke, you speak fluent Spanish? When did you learn and how do you use it in your life today? I wish that I remembered more of the Spanish I studied in high school. I could barely puzzle out what you wrote at the end of this post.
Nah, wouldn’t say I’m fluent – even in high school when I took it, I could read it and understand it far better than speak it. Plenty of online translation tools that work fairly well when I need to do that gimmick.