Capitol Baseball was there in Viera for the 6-5 win (the 4th such win against the Mets this Spring), and it was much less competitve than the final score read. Lets go over some highlights of our first day at camp...
- We were able to meet with MASN's own Phil Wood, who gave us a few opinions/tidbits that we are going to share with you. First, he doesn't think Garrett Mock will go north with the team; our response? shocker. Second, he also isn't so sure that the Nats will be in Viera on a permanent basis.
- Talked to Ross Detwiler for a few minutes, great guy and we wish him nothing but the best.
- Saw a really interesting argument on pitching inside to lefties between one of the Nats coaches and Jason Marquis to Brian Broderick. Marquis, not outspoken in any way, was diagramming exactly how Broderick needs to throw the ball, and he sort of saved his best views for after the coach had left... interesting...
- Nats sign Ron Villone? W, T, and F.
- An exchange between Werth and a fan - Fan: *video taping Werth* Werth: "Put that away, I'll videotape you!" Just fantastic.
- Ian Desmond had a very bipolar day - notching 2 hits but picking up his 3rd error of the short spring season. On said error, Desmond had plenty of time but threw it wide to the First Baseman; a similar problem that Zimmerman has had in the recent future.
- # Worst Star of the Day was Michael Aubrey. Not only did he have an ugly strikeout in his only at-bat, he also miss-played an easy grounder to pick up an error. He could have just as easily had another error but our count...
- Jayson Werth showed the exact reason why we paid him the big bucks. He walked twice and added a huge 2-RBI double in the 8th to increase the Nats lead. Once again, Werth was in the DH role.
- Laynce Nix continued his slide with a very ugly 0 for 4 performance.
- Nyjer Morgan picked up another single, but also popped out on a bunt after Alex Cora (who went 2 for 3) laid down a beauty. He was focused on the game most of the time, but he seemed to be telegraphing his indifference on the basepaths.
-In the pitching department, no one needed a bigger performance today than Drew Storen; he delivered, and he didn't... Let me explain, Storen came in mid-inning and in 2 pitches was out of it; great. Though the next inning the first 2 batters were able to easily reach base. McCatty came out, and presumably told Storen to "throw the damn ball like you mean it". So he did. Struck out the next 3 batters to get out of the jam. The real test will be if he is able to lay off the junk and throw his dominant fastball like we know he can.
- The 2 losers in the pitching department were Sean Burnett, who needed a ton of pitches to get just 2 outs, and Tyler Clippard, who gave up 4 runs in the 9th. Burnett had trouble closing the deal, if you will, as he threw a ton of pitches to get around 2 errors and 1 hit. Clippard lacked the usual fire, but was able to get it back after giving up a monster 3-run shot to Lucas DUDE-A; side note - that thing was killed, I mean he really killed it. He was able to suck it up and get angry, striking out the last 2 batters to close out the game.
- The #1 Star of the Day is without a doubt Chad Gaudin. After melting down after 2 innings in his last start, Gaudin was able to avoid such a problem today. Gaudin threw for 5 full innings, allowing only 4 hits and striking out, an extremely impressive, 6 batters. His one walk came in the later innings, after a very efficient first few innings. Listed at 5' 10", which I believe is very generous, Gaudin managed his fastball and his off-speed stuff effectively to dominate what seemed to be a Mets B squad (though it could be argued that the Mets starters are a B squad - ZING!).
Apparently Villone is being groomed to be a minor league coach.....Perhaps Stairs could go that route also? Can't wait until the games are on tv!
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