"It's not up here," he said, grabbing his shoulder, "so I'm happy for that. My arm feels great -- like I always say -- this year. My next start, I want to be ready."
If he's healthy enough, Armas will start Friday against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He is supposed to start Washington's second game of the regular season, April 6 at Philadelphia, but he has thrown only 12 2/3 innings all spring.
Tony Armas Jr., shown last Tuesday, played down his removal from yesterday's exhibition game.
(John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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_____Nationals Notebook_____
D.C. Arms Race
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla., March 27 -- Even with an injury Sunday to starter Tony Armas Jr., the Washington Nationals' pitching staff is beginning to take shape -- not because of how players are pitching, but because of contract situations.
"We have 14 pitchers in camp," General Manager Jim Bowden said. "All 14 deserve to go north. But three can't go north."
Thus, the Nationals likely will make decisions based on which players can be sent to the minors without exposing them to other teams, a source said Sunday. Six players are basically fighting for those three spots -- Joey Eischen, Joe Horgan, Gary Majewski, John Patterson, Jon Rauch and T.J. Tucker. Of those six, three have options remaining -- Horgan, Majewski and Rauch. Those players could be sent to Class AAA New Orleans without the Nationals risking losing them. Other teams could claim Eischen, Patterson or Tucker should the Nationals try to send them down.
"The team doesn't want to lose anybody it has," said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because final decisions haven't been announced.
Armas strained his right groin muscle Sunday, and will be reevaluated today. Should Armas or any other pitcher be out for a significant period of time, Horgan most likely would earn the final spot because he is left-handed. He and Eischen are the only lefties left in camp, and Manager Frank Robinson said he would prefer to have two in the bullpen, particularly because he doesn't have one in the starting rotation.
Options will almost certainly be the deciding factor in the battle for the final spot on the bench as well. Outfielder Ryan Church has an option remaining; outfielder J.J. Davis and infielder Carlos Baerga don't. A source said if Church is sent to New Orleans, he'll likely play every day in center field, an indication that the organization is watching Endy Chavez very closely.
A Closer Look at the Closer
Robinson enters the final week of spring training still undecided about how he'll handle the closer's job -- giving it to Chad Cordero or leaving it to a committee. Cordero has a 3.24 ERA in six appearances. Four different Nationals have saves this spring.
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Armas was replaced in the second inning by John Patterson, who promptly allowed three straight hits. Patterson had missed one turn in the rotation with a strained hip flexor. He pitched in a game for the first time since March 15, and allowed four runs and seven hits in just three innings, recording eight of his nine outs by strikeout. Despite the numbers, he said, "There was nothing I would go out there and change."
"I came out of the game and thought, 'How did I throw the ball like that and give up four runs?' " he said. "I threw the ball really well."
Jon Rauch, who hadn't given up more than one run in any of his previous six appearances, followed Patterson and lasted only 1 2/3 innings, and was hammered for five runs on five hits, including a monstrous homer to center by catcher Mike Piazza.
Patterson's spring ERA is now 7.36, Rauch's is 6.17. But they're still the most likely candidates to replace any member of the rotation that might go down. Last year, Patterson went 4-7 with a 5.03 ERA, Rauch 3-0 with a 1.54 ERA in nine games after coming over in a trade with the Chicago White Sox.
Rauch, too, was involved in one of the day's sloppy plays, when he allowed a toss from first baseman Nick Johnson to go through his legs in the fifth, an error -- precisely the kind of thing Robinson wants eliminated over the next week.
"We're grown-up people," Guillen said. "We know what we need to do to make ourselves better and be a better player. Not any of this stuff is going to happen in the season, I can guarantee you that. Trust me, we all know better. We know better than anyone we cannot come in playing this [lousy] baseball. We got to be smart and give it everything we got, the best effort. . . . That's what we get paid for. We get paid a lot of money, too."
