Ramos parlays video study with daughter into big day at plate

Wilson Ramos was playing with his 20-month-old daughter Saturday night, impressed with her ability to operate an iPad. Somehow, she managed to change the cartoon she was watching into a video clip of a certain Nationals catcher hitting a home run at Wrigley Field earlier this month.

"For some reason, she was pointing it out and saying: 'Daddy! Daddy!' " Ramos said through interpreter Octavio Martinez. "Kind of like saying: 'This is you.' For whatever reason today, I took that same approach like I did back then, nice and relaxed. And it worked out."

Indeed, when he launched a two-run homer late in the Nationals' 10-2 drubbing of the Cardinals yesterday afternoon, Ramos couldn't help but think of the video his daughter discovered.

"It wasn't on purpose," he insisted. "She just took the iPad from me, and for some reason she's learned how to play with it and look up certain files. And she ran across that one and pulled that one up."

Whether related to the scouting session with a toddler or not, Ramos was back with a force at the plate during yesterday's win. He went 3-for-3 with the homer, two singles, a walk and four RBIs.

Perhaps his best at-bat actually came in the bottom of the fourth, when with two outs and two men in scoring position, he calmly lined a base hit to right off Cardinals right-hander Michael Wacha. That brought home both runners and was further evidence of Ramos' improved hitting approach in those situations this year.

"I just approached it like every other at-bat I've had this season with runners in scoring position," Ramos said. "I've tried to relax and wait on a good pitch and stay up the middle or away with it. It happened that it worked out that way, a base hit."

Ramos now has driven in 25 runs this season, most among National League catchers. His .336 batting average ranks ninth among all major leaguers, regardless of position.

So what did Ramos have planned for his daughter last night?

"I'm going to try to put the same things on, little cartoons for her," he said. "And hopefully she takes it away and swipes to my at-bats, and hopefully they're good ones."