Schneider Is Dropped to Eighth Spot

Catcher Brian Schneider seized the sixth spot in the Washington Nationals' lineup with an impressive spring training in which he appeared to pick up where he left off in 2006, when he hit .223 through Aug. 5, .326 thereafter.

But after just one week, Manager Manny Acta already has moved a slumping Schneider to eighth in the order. Schneider is hitting .136 (3 for 22), but said he still feels comfortable.

"If you don't get hits, you just want to feel good," he said. "Of course you're not going to feel good every at-bat, but still feeling comfortable up there makes me believe that the hits will come."

In spring training, however, both Acta and hitting coach Mitchell Page praised the left-handed hitting Schneider for his ability to drive the ball to left-center. But in his 22 at-bats thus far, Schneider has struck out or grounded out to the right side of the infield 12 times.

"I think he's kind of going away, a little bit the first week, from the approach he had in spring training of using the whole field," Acta said. "But he realizes that and he acknowledged that, and he's worked hard to try to stay in there longer on the ball."

Searching for Meaning(ful)

Closer Chad Cordero is still waiting for his first save situation, and his three outings thus far -- the first two in blowouts, the third in Sunday's 3-1 loss to Arizona -- all have been spotty. He gave up two runs in an inning his first time out, allowed a solo homer to Arizona's Eric Byrnes in his second appearance, then walked two men before pitching a scoreless inning Sunday.

"Anytime you go in a situation where you're down already by a couple runs, just going in for work, it's a lot harder, for some reason," Cordero said. "I don't know what it is."

Cordero said "it's never easy to shrug off" giving up runs. But he acknowledged that he badly needs to get in a save situation.

"It's pretty tough," Cordero said. "It's kind of hard to get up and stay focused. I'd love to get in in a close game."