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File photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER The Nats return to Space Coast Stadium this afternoon. |
Ramos is behind the plate for the second time this spring, and it'll be interesting to see how he looks back there. Also of interest will be Ryan Zimmerman at the plate, serving again as DH. Sounds like he's getting close to taking his familiar position at third base.
Jordan Zimmerman is on the mound today, facing those pesky St. Louis Cardinals (though thankfully neither Pete Kozma nor Daniel Descalso). The Nats will, however, be up against top pitching prospect Shelby Miller, who gets the start for the Redbirds.
Bob and F.P. are back in Viera, so you can watch today's game live on TV. And, of course, continue to enjoy the conversation here...
WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: Space Coast Stadium, Viera
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EST
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: None
Weather: Sunny, 68 degrees, Wind 9 mph out to CF
NATIONALS
2B Danny Espinosa
RF Jayson Werth
CF Bryce Harper
DH Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam LaRoche
SS Ian Desmond
LF Tyler Moore
C Wilson Ramos
3B Chad Tracy
(RHP Jordan Zimmermann)
CARDINALS
LF Adron Chambers
2B Matt Carpenter
1B Allen Craig
DH David Freese
CF Shane Robinson
RF Justin Christian
C Rob Johnson
SS Ronny Cedeno
3B Greg Garcia
(RHP Shelby Miller)
97 comments:
Looks like the big dogs are coming out to eat today.
Oh Boy! I can use a dose of Carp & FP today.
Oh great. Get to listen to Carpenter. Ugh.
Rabbit.. after listening to some of the other broadcasting teams .. i am glad to be listening to our homers for a change.
DVR set. Thanks DirecTV for a good iPhone app.
Sure, NOW it's sunny and 68. I rush back up here to prevent a snowstorm (you're welcome), and this is the thanks I get?
And it is good to hear FP and Carp again. He's no Hank Greenwald, but it's nice.
So Boz has some realistic advice in this piece. Not the usual Koolaid.
Expectations from Boz
Nice start for Danny, lead-off double. He's growing the beard back, but nothing like it was at the beginning of ST. Probably not worth a video if he shaves it... :)
Well, now, that was encouraging, Danny!
I wish the MASN graphic showed the pitch count and the velocity. Probably too much to hope for the Pitch F/x... Harper driving up the pitch count fouling off a bunch.
27 pitches for Shelby Miller in the first inning but Espy left on 3B.
Very mature at bat by Bryce. Very Jayson-like. I hope they do that all season and just wear out pitchers.
Thanks for the Boz link, Michele.
JZ seems very hittable today. Of course, he's "working on stuff," right?
Looks like he's working on the change, but the fastballs aren't impressing either.
It's a good thing we ALL understand that these games don 't count! Hard to watch, though. Jordan will be ready by April. BABIP monster is really roaring out there.
Well, that was an understatement. 8-0. Guess Davey is waiting for the pitch count?
Zimmermann picking up right where he left off in Game 2 of the NLDS.
Yeah, think I'm going to stop reading the play-by-play on this one - getting a little ugly.
Fastball velocity is not up to full strength yet. Relax, it will be. Seriously, though- a lot of those balls had eyes. With our defense, it is just rare for so many to get past them.
Ramos is favoring the knee when he runs to 1B.
Ouch ouch ouch. Anyone who can tell us what's going on? What's up with the fastball?
NatsLady said...
JZ seems very hittable today. Of course, he's "working on stuff," right?
March 08, 2013 1:45 PM
I was going to write the Dan Haren quote also. At 2-0, maybe we're laughing. At 8-0, not so funny.
That radar guy better be seriously off today. What is the radar reading on Shelby Miller as my TV crashed....
Janeb- just not up to full velocity yet. Lots of balls over heads, through holes, just out of reach. Not sharp. Batters look bad also. Everyone is out of sync by just a tad- just enough to make them ineffective. First pitch outs by our hitters.except for Bryce, who had about a 10 pitch AB.
BABIP monster strikes again - this time against Soriano.
Not our day!
Totally, Jane. Now Rendon gets eaten up by a ball. I am just happy to have some live baseball, watch our guys play, listen to Bob and FP. They will be ready.
Just lulling the Cards into a false sense of security... We'll get 'em next month.
Karns throws his fastball faster than 88-90. It has to be the radar gun is off 7 or 8 mph.
What isn't off is the bad luck BABIP and some poorly thrown pitches.
The Cardinals have a TD and a FG right now.
What a name, Zavier Scruggs. Let's see if the The Cat's magic works...
The enemy has found every single hole today. Good thing it's only March. Well, walking hitters doesn't 't exactly help.
OK, a TD, 2 FGs, and a safety.
LOL, only 1 earned run... It's possible Moore could have gotten that if he were more experienced. Hard to tell how much it was affected by the wind.
It's 15 -2!!!! Let's just leave all of this stinker in Florida and not bring any part of it north. And to think I got sick at work for this. Time to sit back, have no expectations and relax. It's only baseball, after all.
Guess Jayson is going casual. No cap.
This is shaping up to be a very epic comeback. Go Nsts. Plenty of outs left.
NatsLady said...
Hard to tell how much it was affected by the wind.
It all depends who's calling the game (windbags).
Ramos is favoring the knee when he runs to 1B.
Wagner on NJ says: "He slid safely into third base on his surgically-repaired knee. He was fine but another telling sign that he can run the bases without issue. He, however, is out after three innings despite Davey Johnson saying pre-game he would use him four innings."
Any feedback from those who are at the game? Was Ramos taken out early because of concern about this knee?
baseballswami said...
This is shaping up to be a very epic comeback. Go Nsts.
Nsts? Is that the North South Technical School team of the Dakota's?
Autocorrect gets me every time. Should our hitters really be hacking on the first pitch right now while they are trying to get their eye for pitches going? Go NATS!!
Section 222 said...
Was Ramos taken out early because of concern about this knee?
I hope nothing was wrong except he was in the crouch for 19 batters which is about the equivalent of 4 to 5 innings.
Oh man, and now H-Rod's going in? Has a team ever scored 20 runs in a spring training game?
HRod-- The Stopper!!!!!!!!
RALLY!!!
A hitter mad at Clip when he K's swinging. Love it!
Right Swam!
The only purpose of this ST game was to see if HRod could do the deal--everything else was irrelevant---sorta.
So the game was a success---sorta.
GooooooooooooooHenry! GooooooooooNats!!!!
And Clip walks off looking bored. Ok, guys, I'm takin' my turn so I won't get ribbed, but, I'm not "working on anything"
With that #7 spot in the bullpen up for grabs, maybe Henry will be healthy enough to grab it. I think he was throwing 98 to 99 if the radar gun was really off 7 MPH.
HRod with command. The plot thickens.
GoSM, he was throwing 98-99 or less?
Ooops, Lefty McCoy starting off the Cards with a stand-up triple...
I always forget how country "Country" Moore is until I hear him talk...
To clarify--- hard to tell pitch speeds today as the posted speeds seem way off.
Looking forward to WBC tonight at 9PM! Leave this in FLA.
TyMo on the hot seat about Halladay. Handling things with humor and humility. In other words-- like a typical Washington National.
2 TDs and a safety. And all we got so far is a FG.
Toggling between the Nats and the Italy/ Canada game. International games have been fun. Italy is surprising a lot of people.
Gotta work for a few. Hopefully back in time for the WBC. Apparently the Gints are mad that Romo threw 26 pitches yesterday and he's eligible to pitch again tonight per WBC rules.
I just don't think these guys are given enough credit for being professional athletes. On the one hand, the are not exactly frail, little old ladies. On the other hand- stuff happens no matter where you are or what you are doing. You can sneeze, trip, fall out iof bed and get hurt. Just live your life , play the game, be reasonably careful . You can 't exist in a state of fear and paranoia.
Only 13 runs down. i hope the only place I ever see this is spring training in March. Now only 12 runs down!
H-Rod is perfect, every other pitcher struggles, no one can hit - this is clearly opposite day, so we should probably disregard this game.
Interesting note from an article on the WBC USA team: "Mike Trout, the best player in the majors last year, hasn't earned financial security yet. So it's understandable he didn't go. (Word is, he consulted with Bryce Harper, who also didn't make it)." I guess they stay in touch from their AFL days?
So Boz has some realistic advice in this piece. Not the usual Koolaid.
I like that Boz laid off the Koolaid for a day, but this is a pretty funny takedown of his cherry picking of statistics to support his valid point.
The scrubinis refuse to assume responsibility for this fiasco.
I didn't see what McCoy did in the 8th but his 9th looked pretty good.
This is actually quite entertaining. 16-8, 2 outs, bottom nine and they make s pitching change?
Oh, my.
A mere 6 runs back!
And that's it.
Nats-Cards games are the weirdest games.
16-10 is almost respectable, though, so go minor league guys!
Nats drop two in a row. And Davey likes to start fast out the gate ...
You have got to love a good ninth inning rally by the players to be named later. How about Marrero- he is scalding the ball. Now on to the rest of Italy- Canada.
How did Marrero's ball not get out?
And I'm pretty sure the radar is off--I saw one fastball (looked high 80s) read 57.
16-10 certainly feels like a football score. Nats scored that TD on the final drive!
Not looking forward to the postgame read on this one.
They needed to go for the onside kick there. What was Davey thinking??
Assessment of JZimm, from a scout, relayed by Wagner: "Jordan Zimmermann had nothing working today, per a scout. Velocity was fine (92 to 94 mph) just pitches high in the zone. Nothing alarming." Sounds like a working on control thing?
EmDash, was just coming back with a similar quote that JZim's velocity was mid 90's so no issues with that just was not getting movement on his four-seamer which was leaving it on a tee.
Rather have the guys experience these things now and get it over with.
See, Mike? That's what happens when you make a pitching change in the bottom of the 9th in a spring training blowout.
Eh, it's spring training (but I hate losing to those birds). My fave part of the game? The bottom of the 9th. Also, Tyler Moore's interview (I love listening to that boy talking and aw shucksing). Also, the replay of Jayson's game 4 walk-off. That [stuff] never gets old.
When it was 15-2, I was imagining Warner Wolf:
"If you had the Nats plus 12, You Lost!"
(Let's get 'em manana.)
Let's go to the tape ...
Moore looks like their top power bat ... based on last year's performance. Davey still needs to find a way to get that bat in the lineup on reasonably consistent basis. Preferably batting behind Harper followed by LaRoche and then Zim. Davey likes having a good bench but when the bench probably contains their best run producing bat? The "bench" gets used far more frequently.
peric, my friend, your persistence is admirable though quixotic. Moore just isn't a good enough fielder, nor does he have a good enough arm to be a starting outfielder on the 2013 WSOB version of the Nats.
But he's a great guy and will provide huge value as as the No. 1 RH pinch hitter and as injury insurance at the corner OF spots (I like that Davey is giving him work in both RF and LF) and 1B. You were pushing for him to be given a chance last year, even after he stunk up the joint in his first callup in late April, and you were right.
Peric I agree about moore's power but there is no place in the lineup for him. Your persistence about playing him over span is well documented and for that I applaud you.
wow a losing streak! You have to figure Davey said Good night Micah you proved your point! Go home!
We'll see ... T-Mo the Magnolia Muscle was a particular favorite of Ben Goessling very early on. So, actually he was right about him.
The stats are very clear on this. Moore's bat was the most effective run producer. And the only legitimate power bat that should get opposition pitchers' attention. Harper hopefully as well but we'll see.
Anyone watching the WBC? Here are some random thoughts.
watching the WBC as a Nats fan
http://ladyandthenats.blogspot.com/2013/03/watching-wbc.html
The only legitimate power bat? Really? Not sure Zim, ALR, and Desi would agree with you. He's had 171 MLB plate appearances. Let's wait another season at least before anointing him the second coming of Danny Espinosa, who, if I recall correctly, has the highest ceiling of any player on the team, Hall of Fame potential.
I should have a ball watching the Nationals this season!! Because I think, with the lineup they have, they will be lucky to be a .500 team! Ah, let it begin. GO NATIONALS.
I am happy to see you use the word improvement. NJ-- too many people who think some of these very young guys will never be more than what we are seeing now. Tip of the iceberg.
I see what the problem is with the WBC--not injuries. Can you root for Jimmy Rollins??????? I'll root for team USA when our guys are pitching!
My Boy, HRod.... Apparently learning he doesn't have to throw triple digits every time....
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2013/03/08/henry-rodriguezs-strong-debut-wilson-ramos-to-catch-every-other-day/
Kick Tail, Henry!!!! GYFNG!!!!
Come on HRod. We're going to need all the relief help we can get this year, especially when SS pitches. Wow, he throws a lot of pitches.
Nats lady- if team USA does not pull it together we won't see Gio pitch- they won't get to the next round. It 's really hard to throw a team together and have that game last night be the first game of the tournament for them. Hoping for better results but Italy is hot. Go Det! And I also have issues rooting for some if these guys.
I am also on the HRod bus and I believe it was Ghost who correctly nailed the fascination with watching him throw in triple digits and then come back with that 82 mph splitter that made me a fan. I realize he has more than control issues but just hope he can prove himself and help this club. If he doesn't throw 100 but also doesn't hit the backstop with 3 out of 10 pitches maybe we will have another diamond in the rough?
While I stayed up to watch the WBC and was slightly disappointed in the USA effort, it does amaze me how many competent players there are from all over the world. I mean, we play Italy who is 2-0 today. I have not seen them yet but I wonder if Piazza is in the dugout?
Go Nats!! and thanks for the mini scouting briefs NatsJack
Piazza is in the dugout and is the hitting coach.
I watched DR vs. Venezuela. Right now they look like the best team. Guys like Hanley Ramirez are very intense when they play, and they have strong rivalries from tournaments like the Carribean World Series. Cuba also looks strong, they just clobbered Taiwan (CMW not pitching!).
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