Washington Nationals record 3-2 win against New York Mets in Spring Training - MLB Update
Jonathon Niese gives up five hits as the New York Mets faces a 2-3 defeat against Washington Nationals on March 28, 2012 at Digital Domain Park in Port St. Lucie, Florida during their Grapefruit League contest.
Despite conceding two runs and hits, Niese did not prove an easy prey for Nationals. As he kept picking up strike-outs and not giving up much walks, if the sole homer he was hammered is excluded, he actually had a great time there.
More impressive was the fact that he did not tire after pitching for massive six innings.
"It was a very, very good outing," said Mets’ manager Terry Collins. "I think one of the things he did today was he used his changeup a lot more first pitch just to get used to throwing it. He's had a great spring. I expect a huge year."
Nationals’ shortstop Ian Desmond seems to have arrested the decline of manager Davey Johnson believed he had with his swings at the start of Spring Training.
As he is now successfully making connections and contributing RBIs, the manager will be satisfied with the time he had to spend with him for eliminating flaws.
On four at-bats, Desmond managed four hits and completed one run. His hits however did not trigger much activity at bases and thus no RBI came off for him.
Jayson Werth, perhaps forgetting the damage he did to his own truck with his homer the other day, hit another homer in the game which was not that massive this time though.
He scored one, added one RBI and faced three at-bats.
After Gio Gonzalez let Nationals down in the last game, Jordan Zimmermann assumed position on the mound with high responsibility on shoulders. As he lived up to expectations and pitched six shut-out innings, he has certainly enlivened Nationals’ chances
for this season with his splendid performance.
"I felt really good out there today," he said. "I just like to work quick. If I can get the ball and go and not have to worry about base hits and stuff like that, it's much better."
With experts already predicting Nationals as probably the most dominant side during post-season, this victory has actually re-enforced their views.
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