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SEATTLE – On a night when there was plenty for the Nationals to feel good about, the first three-hit game of Josh Bell’s season stood out from the pack Wednesday night.
Bell entered the night with a .151 batting average and .289 slugging percentage, a slow start even by his traditional standards. He delivered in the Nats’ 9-0 win over the Mariners, though, launching an opposite-field homer in the second, then singling and scoring in the fourth and singling again in the ninth. He even came within a few feet of another home run in the eighth, the ball caught just shy of the wall in center field.
“You can’t help but root for Josh Bell,” manager Davey Martinez said of the 32-year-old designated hitter. “The guys love him. We love him. And when he goes oppo like that, it’s huge. Hopefully he stays like that for a while.”
There’s the rub. Every time it has looked like Bell might be poised to break out of his season-long slump the last two months, he’s fallen back into the same funk.
Bell is a notoriously slow starter: His career .692 OPS in April is the lowest of any month. But he has also shown a propensity for getting hot right after that: His career OPS in May is a robust .820.
We’re now down to the final few days of the month, though, and a prolonged hot streak has yet to emerge. What does Bell need to do to sustain what he did Wednesday moving forward?
“One, he doesn’t have to try to lift the ball in the air,” Martinez said, referencing Bell’s concerted effort to swing with more of an uppercut this year. “It’s going to happen. He’s done it his whole career. Yesterday we talked about staying on plane, keeping his swing a little flatter. When he hits the ball out front, the ball’s going to go in the air.
“He was really good yesterday. He got ready early. His bat stayed in the zone a lot longer. He was able to have some good at-bats. It’s all about consistency now. If he can continue with that approach, good things are going to happen.”
* As the Mariners were getting early work done on the field this afternoon, a strange sound was emanating from visitors’ bullpen. It sounded like an off-key saxophone.
Turns out it was an off-key saxophone, one played by Nationals reliever Jose A. Ferrer, who is currently trying to learn the instrument.
Ferrer said he was inspired by a song he heard in the Dominican Republic that features the sax, prompting him to want to learn how to play it. He went to a D.C. music store three weeks ago and bought the instrument, then set about to learn on his own how to play it.
Where are his lessons coming from?
“Since I can’t go to classes or anything like that, through YouTube,” he said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz.
Ferrer estimates he’s spent about 6-7 hours in total practicing over the last three weeks. Those who have heard him from the beginning insist he’s improving.
“He’s not quite Kenny G yet, but he’ll get it,” Martinez said. “But I love the fact that he’s putting all the effort in.”
Then again, Ferrer spent the last three weeks inadvertently playing with an upside-down mouthpiece, finally informed of that gaffe this afternoon inside a Nationals clubhouse that proceeded to taunt and tease the lefty for it.
Ferrer understands it’s going to take time, but he insists he’s going to stick with it and legitimately wants to master the instrument.
How long will it take until he’s good?
“It’s hard to say, because I don’t have as much time. I cannot go to a class,” he said. “But hopefully in the offseason, I can practice a little bit more. And in spring training, I’m close to perfection.”
