Last year at this time the Nats were 0-7 in Grapefruit action, having allowed 10+ runs in 5 of those 7 games. This year a very different club is 7-3 (Top of the Grapefruit League), having put forth stellar pitching, improved defense, and quality hitting; averaging 5.7 runs/game. Today's effort saw more of all of those things as the Nats beat the Fish 8-4 in an errorless performance. Lets take a look at what went down...
- Jason Marquis continued his wonderful spring by pitching 4 innings, giving up just 2 hits, while striking out 3 and walking just 1. With a h/t to Ben Goessling, Marquis has only thrown 70 pitches in his 7 innings this Spring; extremely efficient.
- Todd Coffey pitched his 4th inning of the Spring, striking out all 3 batters faced - keeping his ERA at 0.00. Coffey will be in DC to start the season.
- Craig Stammen continued his breakout spring, possibly finding his niche as a multi-inning reliever. Today he pitched 2 innings of 1 hit ball, giving him 6 innings on the spring with 1 ER allowed.
- Doug Slaten had an iffy outing, giving up 2 home runs in his 1 inning of work.
- Roger Bernadina scored 2 runs and was on base 2 of his 4 times, showing once again that speed can cause the defense to panic. Though the Body struck out on the outside breaking ball twice.
- Matt Stairs and Laynce Nix went hitless in 3/4 ABs (respectively) bringing their averages down to .300 and .308.
- Frontrunner for LF, Michael Morse, continued his torrid pace by going 2 for 3 with his 5th XBH, as well as his 2nd BB. His OBP is over 1.000 at this point.
- Our very own Attorney General continues his battle with Alex Cora, going 2 for 3 with a BB and 2 Runs; including his 2nd 2 bagger.
- As if I wasn't impressed enough by Bryce Harper, he came up with 2-outs in the 7th and roped an RBI single on the first pitch. He now has 4 RBIs and 5 hits in 13 ABs. Not too bad for someone who should be a senior in high school.
- The #1 star of the day is a superstar in the making - Danny Espinosa. It wasn't enough for him to come into today's game hitting .368, he decided to take it upon himself to provide a little offense for the ball club. Espinosa went 3 for 3, with a HR, 2B, and a 1B - notching 4 RBIs for his effort. The young 2nd Baseman now leads the team in both Hits (10) and RBI (10). Call me crazy, but I think Espinosa might make the club out of Spring Training...
Might it be too early to start hyping Espi as a potential Rookie of the Year candidate?
ReplyDeleteThat would be awesome!!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is more of a possibility now that Dominic Brown is down for a month or 2, though it will be tough to get ahead of Freddie Freeman of the Bravos. Lets make sure we remember that he started his career 9 for 16 and then went on an 5 for 41 streak... So we need to see what happens when pitchers get their chance to adjust to his adjustments.
ReplyDelete