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Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER Today's game against the Astros was canceled due to rain. |
VIERA, Fla. -- Hello from rainy Space Coast Stadium, where the tarp has been on the field all morning and batting practice has been moved to the under-cover cages behind the right-field fence.
The Nationals and Astros are supposed to play at 1:05 p.m., and as of this moment, the game is still on. The forecast does call for some clearing early this afternoon, though the rain is expected to return later in the afternoon and continue through tomorrow (possibly threatening the game against the Yankees).
I'll provide updates (both weather- and game-related) throughout, so be sure to check back for the latest...
ASTROS AT NATIONALS
Space Coast Stadium, Viera, Fla.
Gametime: 1:05 p.m.
TV/Radio: WFED-1500 AM
Weather: Showers, 74 degrees, Wind 18 mph in from CF
STARTING LINEUPS
NATIONALS
CF Nyjer Morgan
RF Roger Bernadina
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam Dunn
LF Josh Willingham
2B Adam Kennedy
DH Elijah Dukes
C Jamie Burke
SS Alberto Gonzalez
(P John Lannan)
ASTROS
CF Michael Bourn
2B Jeff Keppinger
1B Geoff Blum
DH Carlos Lee
RF Jason Michaels
3B Chris Johnson
C Humberto Quintero
SS Tommy Manzella
LF Jason Bourgeois
(P Roy Oswalt)
11:15 a.m. -- Following Lannan out of the Nats' bullpen today are Craig Stammen, Tyler Clippard, Ron Villone and Brian Bruney. Oh, and Livan Hernandez (who threw a simulated game yesterday) will make his Grapefruit League debut Sunday in relief of Stephen Strasburg.
11:45 a.m. -- Still pouring here, and there are various tornado watches throughout the state. The Astros have arrived and are waiting things out in their clubhouse, as are the Nationals inside their clubhouse.
12:23 p.m. -- It's official: Game has been canceled. It will not be made up.
12:49 p.m. -- Rotation update: Lannan, Stammen and everyone else who was supposed to pitch today are throwing simulated games in the covered cages here. So everything moving forward remains as it was. Jason Marquis starts tomorrow against the Yankees, followed by Matt Chico. Scott Olsen starts Saturday against the Astros, followed by Miguel Batista. And Stephen Strasburg starts Sunday against the Cardinals, followed by Livan Hernandez. Of course, tomorrow's forecast is not good, so if there's another rainout things could get screwed up.
18 comments:
Mark
How did Derek Norris look in camp? Any lingering effect from his wrist injury last fall?
Mark,
Since Storen missed out yesterday, will he get some time today?
As far as the guys cut, what's the point of signing a bunch of guys from the baseball grab bag over the winter, if you're only going to see them pitch for 2 innings or less. Maybe the idea, all along, was to stockpile for the minors.
What is the word on Storen???
Wally: Didn't get to see a lot of Norris, but he said the wrist has been 100 percent for a while now. That hamate bone surgery has become a very common procedure with a really high rate of success.
GP78: Because Storen actually warmed up yesterday (even though he never entered), the Nats decided to give him today off and put him on the schedule again tomorrow against the Yankees.
Again, as I recall Estes and Guardado were signed to minor league contracts. In other words they were supposed to pitch in Syracuse. The message this sent was that enough of the younger pitchers still in camp (Aaron Thompson, Severino, Matt Chico) demonstrated that they are at least ready for Syracuse. Garate, Slaten, end up in Syracuse along with Spradlin, Ridgeway and Novoa. That's a lot of left-handed relievers. Not much room for Ron Vilone unless some end up in Harrisburg. Right hander Rafael Martin looks to end up there as well. It could have gotten pretty crowded in the Chief's spring training camp as well.
Be interesting to see the NFA big board at the end of the spring.
Mattheus, Olsen, Wang, JZimm likely end up in the recuperation facility in Harrisburg.
hmmm, 0-8, rainout of game. Might want to check the night-time security on that sprinkler system... Nah. :-)
So, what does everybody do when there's a ST rainout? Can't really hit the links. Some other type of R&R?
Is Mattheus participating in camp, or does his rehab have him on a JZimm-like schedule?
Mark - hearing any trade rumors? I would think someone like Chad Gaudin is attractive to Rizz right about now.
Mark,
Have you heard of any player(s) making some noise in the Minor league camp? Been watching most of the ST games on MLB TV and listening to the other broadcasters talk about their teams. I think if the Nats can avoid major injuries to key guys we will have a very productive season. Productive does not mean win the division but just an overall improvement in play. The Twins lose Nathan, the Mets are going to lose Reyes for a few months I hear, R. Martin is injured. The Nats stay healthy we should have an enjoyable season in 2010.
Ryan
Reyes out two months at least. Guzman to the Mets for a prospect. We pay half of his salary.
Mark, What does the rainout do to Strasburgs scheduled start on Sunday?
Anon: See my 12:49 pm update in this posting.
Mark - Is it accurate that Strasburg will face a Cardinals lineup on Sunday that looks like yesterdays? Meaning, no Pujols and no Holliday?
Thanks.
No way to know at this point who will make the trip for the Cards. Generally, teams send about half the usual starting lineup to road games, though it varies case-by-case.
Mark - Isn't Pujols having back problems so is out for a while?
Yes, Pujols and Holliday each have nagging injuries that have sidelined them the last couple days. But last I heard, they haven't been ruled out for the weekend yet. My guess is they won't make the trip to Viera, but I don't believe anything's official yet.
Riggleman and his thoughts on line-ups would do well to be embellished by some of Davey Johnson's sabermetrics. Real batting order formulations are mainly a function of statistical analysis. Most managers do a bit of it, but over-delude themselves with right-left stuff. This is 2010 and a new age of strategy. Dukes has a pretty good history for getting on base, and probably should rank higher in the batting order than 8th.
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