Detroit Tigers defeat Washington Nationals 11-7 – MLB Spring Training
Detroit Tigers defeated Washington Nationals 11-7 at the Space Coast Stadium in Melbourne, Florida on March 18 in their Grapefruit League clash of the 2012 Major League Baseball Spring Training Session.
Although, Washington Nationals’ Manager Davey Johnson looked disappointed with the outcome of the game, he liked what he saw from 19 year old prospect Bryce Harper. Johnson is convinced that the starter has the talent and abilities to become a successful
big leagues player.
Harper will get the opportunity to spend second quarter of the year at Triple A Syracuse before he can cement his place on Nationals' major leagues roster as a centre fielder.
"The timing to me just wasn't quite right," Johnson said Sunday. "It's close. Real close. I'd like to have his bat in this lineup, I've made no secret of that. As far as I'm concerned, he doesn't really need to work on a whole lot."
For Tigers, Miguel Cabrera and Clete Thomas played a key role in deciding the result of the game. Leyland was very pleased with the way his players performed on the field, he stated in a post game interview.
"If he threw it because he wanted to work on his changeup, then that was fine, it was a good pitch." Leyland said. "If he threw it because he was trying to trick him, it was not a good pitch."
"He said he was going for the owl," commented Leyland on Thomas. "He was about 40 feet to the left of it as the owl looked in."
Tigers’ General Manager Dave Dombrowski and Manager Jim Leyland will be delighted to secure yet another victory that improved Tigers' spring season win-loss record to 12-1. The Tigers have won all six games away from their home this spring, demonstrating
their high quality baseball skills. The Tigers were the winners of 2011 American League Central division.
However, with more depth in their pitching and hitting lineups this season, the fans will be expecting them to win their first World Series title since 1984. It will be interesting to see if Leyland and his men can continue their impressive form throughout
the season to make it to the playoffs.
The Nationals, on the other hand, will be looking to work extremely hard to put things on the right track. Having lost eight of their 13 games this spring, they are definitely struggling to find any momentum.
Tags: