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USA Today Sports Images Gio Gonzalez tossed five scoreless innings for Team USA on Tuesday. |
Both left-handers acquitted themselves well for Team USA. Gonzalez started on Tuesday against Puerto Rico and tossed five scoreless innings, allowing only three runners to reach base. Detwiler came out of the bullpen Saturday against Italy and churned out four scoreless innings, earning the save in the process.
And both hurlers spoke of the positive experience they got pitching in a high-pressure environment even though the calendar still reads March, experience that could prove helpful as this season plays out.
Now, though, both Gonzalez and Detwiler must work their way back into the Nationals' rotation and align themselves for the season's first week.
In Gonzalez's case, this won't be a problem at all. He managed to keep himself on a regular, five-day schedule in the WBC and is lined up to take his regular turn in the Nationals' rotation tomorrow against the Tigers.
Detwiler's situation is a bit more complicated. It's already been seven days since he last pitched, and his next turn in the Nationals' rotation falls on Tuesday, an off-day for the team. Even if he gets some work in minor-league camp that day, Detwiler will be pitching for the first time in 10 days.
Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty has been fiddling around with his master pitching schedule and worrying at times about how he's going to put all the pieces of the puzzle back together. But manager Davey Johnson -- who has taken to referring to McCatty as "Mother Hen" -- isn't nearly as concerned and trusts that Team USA pitching coaches Greg Maddux and Marcel Lachemann took care of his two lefties.
"I am sure between Lachemann and Maddux, their throwing program is just like what they're doing here, and they've had plenty of mound work under the tutelage of two great pitching coaches," Johnson said. "I'm not concerned at all about that. I'm sure both of them are learning from guys that know a lot about pitching. I think it's a great experience. Whatever work schedule they're on, I'm not the least bit worried."
29 comments:
Exactly why WBC participation in early Spring Training for MLB players make no sense what so ever. Just a negative and increased risk. MLB players are not ready to play meaningful innings in early March. Buster said it best...it is spring training moron.
USA MLB Players that is...most other countries MLB Players are commitmented and plan for this much better. They play winter ball all year...they are ready to go in March.
Hey NatsJack....Phil is right! He either goes or doesn't. That's 50/50!!! ;)
NatsJack-
I'll take that. I would have figured that there would be a significant chance that he simply went home. He has acquitted himself well enough to get in the way of Chris Marrero or someone else in Syracuse. That has consequences, and could mean that the 50/50 chance Phil Wood describes should be for joining the Nats at some time during the regular season, not the start of the season.
+1/2St.
It's 3 weeks before Det makes his first start of the season. I'm sure McCatty can figure out how to get him back on schedule by then. Btw, since a 5th starter isn't needed until the second week of the season, does Haren sit or does everyone pitch on an extra day rest until then?
See we can agree....Phil Wood has gotten more and more ridiculous as he has got time with Nats on TV.....Owens is got two years of MiLB ahead of him.....likely not with Nats.
I think the WBC is more about trying to make baseball more prominent in other countries - obviously it's doing okay in the US. (And baseball interest here is pretty intensely regional, with people being very involved in their own team and not terribly interested in others, which is why World Series viewing has gone down.) And Netherlands, Italy and Taiwan having good showings is a net positive for baseball.
As for me, the games have been fun to watch and our players have done well under pressure. A little worried about Detwiler, but his earlier throwing program made him more ready to start the season anyway. I imagine they'll end up having him start a game in minor league camp sometime soon to get him back on schedule and then slot him back into the major league rotation.
Haren is your 5th Starter not Det
No one said Det was the 5th starter - I actually think it infered that since Haren was the 5th starter, does he sit or do you give everyone an extra days rest
I will agree with JayB that Phil Woods has regressed as he is on tv more. He was fine for trivia back when lots of people were craving more news on our lads. Now that we have made it to a place of credibility, Phil is coming up short.
Just wondering about how the WBC hurts/helps Bernadina. Can't help that he got hit by a pitch. This would have been a great chance for Corey Brown to really rise up but he has been decent not great during Bernadina's absence.
I was not a huge fan of WBC to begin with but it beat watching spring training games and the emotion was real. I like that it promotes the world view of the game and just can't figure out a good time to showcase it. Certainly not at the end of the World Series as most players are ready for a break. You can't take a two week break in the middle of the year either. I think this is when it occurs and we just deal with the consequences. (one of those consequences is listening to eeyore complain)
NatsJack or someone who knows,
Is there baseball activities going on around 4pm at the spring training complex until the game? like praCtice or minor league games? Thanks
Bernadina seems to be okay now, I think? He played in a game against the Mariners (no Morse in that one, unfortunately), and scored 2 runs.
Am I the only one not heartbroken that the US Team was eliminated?
I would rather Gio and Det get lined up for the regular season...
That's what I thought. thanks!
TimDz - I am right with you on that. I did not want our guys flying across country and missing more time with the rest of our team.
Buster said it's a video game, not spring training. You moron.
You have to figure they told Bernadina he had the team made, or he would not have gone to the WBC.
Don't see the negative...
Speaking about that it's only spring training, a tidbit about our oil' buddy John Lannan looking pretty good with Philly:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillies_zone/Lannan-making-strong-spring-impression.html
Phil Wood claimed (up until the time of his callup) that Tyler Moore was a LH power hitting 1st baseman.
JoeS thanks for spotting that item about Lannan. There are some fascinating quotes:
"I've always had a chip on my shoulder, but to be told you're not good enough, it's kind of hard to take," Lannan said. "It just made me make a little harder. Yeah, it definitely changed me. Becoming a free agent, I came to a place that I thought I'd have a shot and they've shown they're going to give me that shot."
So far, he's taking advantage of it, but not taking it for granted.
"I've said before, the spring is not over yet," he said. "A lot of things can happen. (Nationals manager) Davey (Johnson) came out last year and said I was his guy and I obviously wasn't. So until I'm pitching on whatever day, I'll talk about it then."
I full supported lannaning him last year. It was the best thing to do for the team. But the way it was done was bush league, and it's clear it still grates on him. Let's hope that chip on his shoulder doesn't lead to him shutting us down when he faces us.
Hmmmm....some bitterness from Lannan. Can't blame him I guess. Hey, pro baseball is a tough gig. John is making pretty good money though with the Phillies.
Of note : Beast is hitting .355 with 5 bombs and 10 ribbies in 11 games with the Mariners. Course, the ball does fly out there in Arizona
Just read this on yahoo.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/report-mlb-coming-players-connected-biogenesis-clinic-alex-172306227--mlb.html
I Know that Gio was Kind of cleared by two anonymous sources according to that ESPN report.
So, any lingering concerns in relation to Gio given this news?
I'm enjoying the WBC. Mostly good games, some high-level play, and a chance to see some guys I might otherwise never have.
It's all just baseball. None of it counts.
Tayo --
Obviously Gio has been tested and found "clean" -- although there hasn't been a press release with Selig's name on it. Equally obviously, MLB has a tough slog to sanction any players w/out cooperation from either the newspaper or Bosch, et al. It is a mistake to believe that, ultimately, MLB won't receive hard evidence of either use or purchase of PEDs by some of the named players. The maxim in cases like these is "Someone always tells." There are probably dozens of people w/ first-hand knowledge. There are no real "secrets." There will be a trickle of leaks. The real wild card is the federal government. I refuse to believe there is no federal investigation of some sort. There is plenty of smoke indicating violation of laws regarding sale of controlled substances, dispensing of such substances without prescriptions, w/out licenses, etc. Someone -- DEA, FDA, etc. -- is poking around. A lot of the information in the Dowd report came, directly or indirectly, from the Feds. That minor leaguer was just low-hanging fruit. The end of MLB's investigation may be a year, even two years down the road. One possible outcome may be that MLB, in negotiations w/ the union, trades penalties now for stiffer punishments in the future.
For the moment, Gonzalez seems to be in the clear. He may benefit from MLB's obsession w/ Rodriguez and Braun to the exclusion of less luminous targets. I certainly hope so.
I am happy to see Morse doing well this Spring, but always, always, always remember this: Spring Training stats have no predictive value for the coming season. Literally every time someone goes back and crunches the numbers (most recently in Fangraphs) the conclusion is the same. And we see it play out all the time. The Joe Torre Yankees often struggled in ST before going out and winning 95-100 games. The Joe Gibbs Redskins routinely got thrashed in preseason before going out dominating a league. On an individual player basis, many will recall that Morse tore apart ST in 2011, which turned out to be his best season. BUT those of us following the team will remember that his FL hot streak died somewhere on I-95; he was so dreadful once the season started that eventually he got benched. It was only several weeks later, after LaRoche finally gave up and went in for surgery, that Morse finally got untracked.
It's not that nothing means anything, it's just more complex and subtle than that. It’s obviously important if players get hurt in ST, or if they show up out of shape. These are things that do carry over into the regular season. Watching the team come together, beginning to get a sense of the rhythm of this year’s squad, how it approached things and reacts to them is laying the groundwork for watching them during the season as well. It’s the little (not small ball!) things :-)
With ST, the buyer(fan)beware. Looking at Span's two previous ST's he really mashed. His actual subsequent seasons were OK, but not great. Then there was a concussion in there at some point.
In his current ST, he's performing less than he did in ST's of '11 and '12. His K rate for '13 is about 2X what it was in '11. His BA currently is way below both his '11 and '12 ST averages.
I guess we'll see how all that plays out. In the meantime I'll be thinking about how well The Beast is doing.
New players having slow start at their new teams? Meh, it happens frequently. I am not looking for it to happen to Span, but I am not going to be overly concerned if it does happen. We definitely can survive it even if it does happen. Moreover, the phrase "its just spring training"still applies regardless of past spring training stats. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.
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