Washington Nationals face mix of positives and negatives ahead in Grapefruit League - MLB Update
With Chien-Ming Wang on verge of meeting with a serious injury and John Lannan leaking runs against New York Yankees, Nationals’ manager Davey Johnson has a lot of things to work out over the next few days. As Nationals lose to Yankees 5-8 the other day,
it is more a strained hamstring of starter Wang that concerns management than the defeat.
Along with this, Bryce Harper disappoints club again after faltering against Yankees’ left handed pitcher namely Clay Rapada. Not feeling comfortable against Rapada, a pitcher who maintains an unimpressive career record of ERA 5.13 is something Nationals
are heavily concerned about.
Wilson Ramos a designated hitter for Nationals has yet to make his Spring Training debut. Reports are suggesting that he will show up on soon in a game against the New York Yankees at Tampa, but still nothing has been confirmed yet.
Meanwhile, Lannan performed poorly on the mound and despite his forced entry in second after Wang fell upon the ground; there is hardly any excuse in giving up four runs in third inning alone. Good thing is that he is feeling great about his control and
while not being bogged down by a single poor outing, he will look to revitalise his fastball in the next couple of games.
“It’s something that I’ve never done before,” Lannan said. “I had some kind of idea. And then Wanger went down, and that idea went out the door. It was definitely different.”
Biggest thing he has to prove in next few days is to what extent he can be an ideal replacement of Wang, a player who possesses an amazing win-loss career record of 59-29. This is because of a likely ousting of him from Spring Training or in worst scenario
from the whole season and thus Nationals quest for an appropriate back-up.
Sights set on a Grapefruit League table is enough to multiply concerns for manager Johnson as the Nationals are struggling with poor form in Spring Training. As every defeat engineers a sentiment of negativity, one fears the transformation of losses into
a pile up of frustration of players and thus their ultimate impact on their season performance.
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