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In search of a desperately needed offensive spark, Davey Martinez is trying something today he’s never tried before: Batting CJ Abrams third in his lineup.
For the first time in his career, Abrams will bat third today as the Nationals try to avoid getting swept by the Marlins and snap a seven-game losing streak. The team’s usual leadoff hitter, one of the few currently producing, will bat behind Alex Call and James Wood in hopes of driving in more runs than he can from the No. 1 spot in the lineup.
“Just trying to get something going,” Martinez said. “CJ’s hitting the ball well. Wood is hitting the ball well. Trying to put Alex up there and get something going, and try to score some runs early. We’re scoring late. I want to see if we can try to score some runs early. And having (Wood and Abrams) maybe with guys on base will definitely create that.”
It’s the first time Abrams has ever batted third in 437 career big league games. He also hasn’t started a game in the fourth or fifth spot in the order. In spite of the team’s recent woes, the 24-year-old shortstop has been producing, batting .409 (9-for-22) with two doubles and a homer over his last five games.
“I talked with him first, and he was excited about it,” Martinez said. “He said he’ll maybe get a chance to drive in some runs. It’s all based on conversations. I talked to Alex about maybe bumping him up. He’s done it before; he does like hitting leadoff. I told him your job is just to get on base for these guys and see if we can create a little length for our lineup.”
The pressure to get off to a good start continues to mount for the Nationals, who during this losing streak have shown a propensity to make up ground late but still fall a run or two short by the end of the ninth inning. The correlation between early offense and team success has been clear: They’re 16-6 this season when they score in the first inning, but 14-34 when they don’t.”
“I don’t know if it’s permanent, but we’ve got to try something, right?” Martinez said. “We’re trying to score some runs early here.”
* One day after drawing attention for his postgame comments insisting the Nationals’ offensive struggles shouldn’t be pinned on his coaching staff, Martinez was asked how his players responded.
“They were great,” the manager said. “I talked to a lot of them already. It wasn’t on them. My comments was nothing about them. They know that. They read through it, and I talked to them about it. They’re good. They want to win today, that’s the biggest thing. The clubhouse is about as good as it’s ever been. These guys have stuck together. We went through this before. We’ve lost seven or eight before. We’ve got to stick together. All of us: 26 players, all the coaching staff, everybody.”
Martinez, in part, said Saturday: “We’re not going to finger point here and say it’s on the coaches, it’s never on the coaches,” and “Sometimes you’ve got to put the onus on the players, they’ve got to go out there and they’ve got to play the game.” He insisted today he was not criticizing his players.
“Was never about them, right? I never mentioned anything about players,” he said today. “I appreciate those players. I played. I understand how hard this game is, and they know that. It’s a difficult game, and these guys are out there trying hard. We’ve got to do the little things. We start doing the little things, we’ll start winning some of these games.”
