Today was Day 3 of our Spring Training trip and weather-wise it was the best. We enjoyed temperatures in the mid-upper 70s with a light breeze and beautiful sunshine all morning. The incredible weather seemed to rub off on the players as everyone was in an especially good mood for the start of practice. Wily Mo Pena, Ronnie Belliard, Jesus Colome and several other players got the morning started sharing some good laughs and stories.
After the full team warm up, which included some different exercises today, the boys split off into their respective groups. Stephanie, Kristen and I all went over to watch the group working with Bullpen Coach Rick Aponte. The mixed group of starters and relievers focused on fielding bunts today. They started with sacrifice bunts where the pitchers were supposed to scoop up the ball and make the out at first. After Ryan Wagner overthrew to first, Ray King was there with some inspirational words, encouraging Wagner, “Don’t get bitter, get better!” Next on the agenda was to practice fielding a short bunt by scooping the ball up bare handed and making plays at both first and home. 
Even though there were some rough plays out there, Aponte kept encouraging the guys and joined in the fun. He joked that he had the best left and right handed starters and relievers, to which the guys responded they had the best bullpen coach in the league. Overall the guys looked great. They continue to work hard all while keeping the lighthearted attitude that makes them so much fun to watch.
When their session was finished, we split up to catch the action on all of the fields. Unlike previous days, all of the fields were focusing on similar drills – squeeze plays and outs at second. Over the weekend, the boys seemed to be working specifically on technique with these drills by running slower, but today they were going at 100%. Manny was really pushing them to make sure the boys finished all of the plays and called out players who gave less than all of their effort. To add some reality to the drill, Ryan Wagner reminded all of his teammates that Jose Reyes was the imaginary runner. Despite the intensity on the field, there were some funny moments. Saul Rivera wound up for the pitch but didn’t follow through. The runners ran anyways and several players were quick to call the play a “balk” and everyone both on and off the field joined in the laughter.
Batting practice with full pitching took place on two of the fields, with a slower pitched practice on another field. It was great to see the power sluggers really be able to just swing the bat and get big hits. Austin Kearns looked especially good at the bat all day. Among the pitchers who threw today were, John Lannan, Mike Bacsik, Chris Schroeder, Tristan Crawford, and Mike Hinckley. Crawford looked good on the mound, except for one pitch that just got away from him. Justin Maxwell was batting and pitch went wild, but Maxwell tried to get the ball to keep it from hitting catcher Jesu s Flores. The ball ended up bouncing off Maxwell’s bat and hitting Flores, leaving him hunched over in pain for a few moments. He returned to action though and continued catching, batting and even stayed after to run sprints.
In other Nationals news, Bret Boone revealed he has successfully dealt with an alcohol issue.
MASN announced that they will show 20 home games and 20 away games in HDTV. Also, Matt Chico will be the starer for the Nats first Spring Training game on Wednesday.
Check out our photo album for the day!
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