A Collision at Second Without a Base Runner
One of the first baseball cliches I ever heard was, "You can never have too much pitching."
At least I thought it was pitching. But Nationals management seems to think it's, "You can never have too many second basemen."
  Slugger Alfonso Soriano seems more likely to bunt than agree to move to the outfield. (Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post) ON THE FIELD Jesus Flores' two-run, ninth-inning double gives the Nationals a 4-3 win over the Marlins. Notebook: The Nationals trade left-handed reliever Ray King, the most veteran member of their pitching staff, to the Brewers for a player to be named. Boswell: The statistics show a return to normalcy in baseball and the end of the Steroid Era. Minor Leagues: Justin Maxwell has come out of the slump he was in after straining an oblique muscle by sneezing and is now hitting .423 with 24 homers. NATIONALS REPORTBy the Numbers89: Errors for the Nationals through Monday. Through 138 games a year ago, they had 113 errors. Personnel Dept.OF Ryan Langerhans hit his first homer of a 14-game stint with Class AAA Columbus on Monday, just before he was called up. "I felt a lot more comfortable," he said. "My approach was a lot better." Langerhans will be used primarily as a defensive replacement. ... The club activated LHP Micah Bowie, who hadn't pitched in the majors since June because of a hip injury. ... The club announced that Centerplate would replace Aramark as the concessionaire at the new ballpark in 2008. Quotable"He certainly was a good influence on our young pitchers, had a lot to do with some of their developments. Our clubhouse was a better place with Ray King a part of it." -- GM Jim Bowden NATIONALS JOURNALBarry Svrluga provides the latest news on the Nationals. MULTIMEDIA Podcasts: Postgame audio from Barry Svrluga and video from Washington Post Live. Slideshow: A crowd of 40,389 pack into RFK Stadium to open up the 2007 baseball season. Photos: Manny Acta returns home. Webcam: Check back daily and follow the progress of construction on the stadium. |
The Nats are bursting with second basemen. They have Jose Vidro, who was an all-star at second in Montreal, and Alfonso Soriano, who was an all-star at second with the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. And now, mystifyingly, Frank Robinson says he might ask Cristian Guzman to begin working out at second base. I guess that, like 60 is the new 40, second base is the new pitching.
The Nationals don't want Soriano playing second; they want him in the outfield. When Jim Bowden made the trade for Soriano, he loudly proclaimed Soriano would play outfield. Unfortunately, Bowden was so eager to enhance his reputation that he wasn't listening when Soriano told him, "Take your outfield and stick it."
Sadly, you can have too many second basemen. One is enough. The Nats' official take on having their two best everyday players coveting the same position is, "Don't worry, be happy." Hey, it's spring training, we'll just whistle our problems away. Who knows, maybe Soriano will suddenly agree to go to the outfield. Or maybe he'll be traded back to the American League. Maybe Vidro won't be healthy and they'll need Soriano at second. Maybe Vidro will be healthy and Bowden will trade him. Maybe the Rockies will crumble, Gibraltar will tumble.
Meanwhile, you really never can have too much pitching, as the Nationals found out when newly acquired Brian Lawrence went blooey with a torn labrum and rotator cuff on his first day in a Nats uniform. "I never felt any pain until I showed up here," Lawrence said in what could become the team's new slogan. Lawrence is expected to miss at least half the season, maybe all of it. Unless he comes back sooner and fills in at second.
