WEST PALM BEACH, FL: Manager Blake Butera delivers the first lineup card of his MLB career (Photo by Jake Stephens for TalkNats)
Today will be that first chance to see the Washington Nationals against a legit starting pitcher as the Nats lineup will face the Marlins ace, Sandy Alcantara. The Nats will have Mitchell Parker starting at this game in Jupiter on the road.
Because the drive from CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches to Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium is just 12.5 miles, the Nats don’t treat this like a normal road game on the Gulf Coast of Florida where they might not send this many starters. Besides minor leaguer Seaver King, every other Nats player has started an MLB game before — and of course Harry Ford‘s previous starts were for the Washington State team, the Mariners.
These early games aren’t as much about results as they are about process in these miniscule sample sizes. The Nats had a split-squad game and was stretched thin, giving opportunities to minor leaguers with a few players with MLB experience in each game. Trey Lipscomb was 2-2 with a walk, Jorgelys Mota hit a deep homer, and Maxwell Romero Jr. hit a 3-run bomb in a 1-for-3 game with two strikeouts.
Spring Training games mean more to the fringe players fighting for roster spots. And when someone like Joey Wiemer goes 0-3 with a strikeout against minor league pitching, those are the players who are watched much closer than someone like Dylan Crews who had an identical 0-3 line.
The Nats won both games on Opening Day, and Holden Powell came in to close the 2-1 game — and he made it too exciting by walking the bases loaded with no outs — then he got a strikeout and a tailor-made groundball double-play to seal the win. That was quite the Houdini act. The other game ended in a 6-2 runaway after the Romero 3-run homer.
There is no scheduled TV for this game, and the hope is the Marlins will have a video camera fixed on the field like they have done before. If not, we go back in time to radio only with Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler.
Washington Nationals vs. Miami Marlins
Stadium: Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium
1st Pitch: 1:10 PM EDT
TV: N/A
Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
