Spring Training Blog: Monday

Greetings from Fort Lauderdale, Florida!!

We were able to catch the Nats vs. Marlins today in Jupiter on yet another hot, sunny day. The Nationals won 3-1 behind a dominating pitching performance by five different pitchers.

The two pitchers that I was excited to see - Shawn Hill and Jordan Zimmermann - did not disappoint. Hill only pitched one inning, but had 2 strikeouts and looked good. I know he is unreliable when it comes to staying healthy, but man what a boost it would be to have a healthy and productive Shawn Hill.

Jordan Zimmermann was...well, nasty. There's really no other terms to describe him. He was ahead of just about every hitter, had six strikeouts (all of which involved at least one pitch that made the hitter look foolish), and only gave up two hits. He was confident and challenged every hitter. If he isn't in the rotation to start the season, I will be pissed.

Some other notes:

• Anderson Hernandez with another solid day. No mistakes on defense and was 2-3 at the plate. One of his hits was a textbook bunt; it rolled up the first base side and ended up in no-mans land next to first.
• Austin Kearns was great. 1 hit in 2 ABs and 2 walks. He's got great discipline and whatever Rick Eckstein did with his stance has worked so far. He's hitting .357 in spring and is making his case for starting RF - though I don't think he deserves to make it over a guy like Elijah Dukes, who is the future (and someone I hope to see Wednesday). Though the better he plays, the better his trade value is.
• Lastings Milledge is making his case for leadoff hitter. He was 3-4 today with a double, and his only out was on a hard-hit ball that hit the pitcher and bounced right to the second baseman. He could be great at leadoff or at the second slot, behind Guzman.
• It was nice to see the bullpen step up, especially Hinckley and Mock (who earned the save). The Marlins had a lineup with a lot of major league players, and the pitching staff was fantastic (no ER, 12 K, no BB, 3 H). Hinckley gave up the lone run after a throwing error by Willie Harris at 3rd. Hopefully both Hinckley and Mock keep it up, because the team needs some reliable middle relievers.
• Wily Mo Pena is terrible. Swings at everything, no defense...no worth. The team should just cut him and take the hit.

Tomorrow the Nats are off but we have tickets to Caps-Panthers at night. Don't expect any blog posts tomorrow simply because we'll be back late from the Caps game and I probably won't have any pictures. Here is the link to the facebook photo album (flickr is too annoying) that everyone can view.