Finding meaningful developments on an ugly day for Nats

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Earlier this spring, Davey Martinez explained that he never lets himself obsess over a day's game for more than 30 minutes upon its completion, win or lose. In this sport, there's no value in stressing out over what just happened, not when there's another game to prepare for in 24 hours.

So as he sat in his office this afternoon following an excruciating 12-3 exhibition loss to the Astros that featured just about every manner of sloppiness possible in one ballgame, the Nationals manager immediately pointed to his watch.

"I got my 30-minute clock," he said. "Once that 30 minutes are over, I'll put the music on and move onto the next one."

Martinez might have been tempted to not even wait the token half-hour after a game in which his pitching staff surrendered 17 hits while walking 10 batters, his defense officially was charged with one error but committed several more blunders and his offense was shut out until a meaningless rally in the bottom of the ninth that included two bases-loaded walks.

"I look at it as: It's a game," the manager said. "You hope nobody gets injured in a game like that. That's what you're hoping for. And you come out of it with everybody being OK."

Indeed, there were no physical ailments sustained during this 3-hour, 32-minute contest. There were, however, plenty of negative performances, including a few from pitchers who previously had been making a name for themselves this spring.

Tommy Milone, given a chance to start the game while Stephen Strasburg faced minor leaguers on a back field, was supposed to get stretched out and build up his workload. But the left-hander, who hadn't allowed a run in his first eight innings of the spring, lasted only two frames today and was yanked after allowing three runs, five hits, two walks and racking up 49 pitches.

"Too many pitches in those two innings, obviously," Milone said. "A little disappointing, because obviously I would've liked to get at least three in there. But I was just trying to work through tough innings like that and it's good to do that in the spring, to get used to them and get through them."

Milone, in camp on a minor league contract, has known all along he had virtually no chance of making the opening day roster, barring injury to one of the club's more established starters. That approach has allowed him not to stress over results more than necessary.

"I think in the past, right now I would've put a lot of pressure on myself," the 31-year-old said. "This time around, I've just kind of accepted the fact that I'm here to pitch. Obviously, I'm trying to make the team. But at the same time, I just want to go out there and be the kind of pitcher that I am and not try to do too much."

Milone wasn't the only Nationals pitcher who entered the day with strong spring numbers but saw things fall apart in a hurry. Reliever Austin L. Adams, who had put only two runners on base in 4 2/3 innings and earned the unsolicited praise of general manager Mike Rizzo just hours earlier, walked all four batters he faced in the top of the fifth in a performance eerily familiar to his ragged performance last September in Milwaukee.

And that's to say nothing of right-hander Ismael Guillón, who faced nine batters in the top of the ninth and retired only two of them, allowing five runs on five hits and two walks while also watching a popup fall just beyond the mound in between four infielders.

Truth be told, the most positive development of the day might have come on that field behind FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, where Strasburg pitched five innings in a minor league game and then threw an extra 10 pitches in the bullpen afterward to complete his afternoon.

The Nationals had Strasburg pitch in that setting rather than face the Astros for the second time this spring - he may also line up to face them again next week - and keep him in a controlled environment, which afforded the right-hander an opportunity to work on some things he might not have attempted in a big league game.

"I just definitely threw more breaking balls today than I did in the past," Strasburg said. "I think I faced all right-handers, so that is what it is."

Strasburg paired up with catcher Miguel Montero, which the new batterymates found helpful.

"We sat down a couple days ago and just kind of went over what I like to do, what I feel like my strengths are and what I like to do in certain situations," Strasburg said. "Then we can build off that, the reps and knowing how the pitches are moving and knowing how I like them to set up. It's all good."

On a day when nothing went right on the big league field, that was at least one positive development.