Gonzalez ready for season after solid outing, Blevins fools Harper

VIERA, Fla. - The Nationals left Space Coast Stadium quietly in their final Grapefruit league home game.

Mets starter Jonathon Niese and three other relievers combined to shut out the Nats 2-0 while only allowing six hits.

Left-hander Gio Gonzalez turned in his third straight strong start for the Nationals, giving up two runs on seven hits with a walk and six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

"I felt great," Gonzalez said. "The only thing I was kind of upset about was the walk, but even on the walk I felt there were some great pitches. The ball was coming out firm and I felt like I was attacking more of the strike zone than I was before."

Gonzalez was dinged for his first home run of the spring when Mets right fielder John Mayberry Jr. led off the sixth inning with a longball. He finished his Grapefruit League season with a 2.79 ERA in 19 1/3 innings with 19 strikeouts and seven walks.

"Had the one curveball that he left up and the homer," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "But other than that, he was in command. He threw well. He lost the strike zone in that one inning to get the guy on base that got the eventual first run. But I thought he pitched well."

Williams will have Gonzalez stay behind and start a minor league game in Viera on Sunday before he rejoins his teammates for Monday's opening day festivities.

"I'm ready to go," Gonzalez said. "I'm excited. I'm ready to break with the team, have some fun and get ready for the season. I'm just looking forward to the cold weather in D.C."

There was still no word from third baseman Anthony Rendon's trip to Vail, Colo., today for a third opinion on his left knee from Dr. Steven Singleton.

Meanwhile, Williams tried a new experiment at third base today with infielder Yunel Escobar there. Williams said Escobar was a team player in the decision to try out third base, where he's only played 22 times in his career, all back in 2007. I guess you could say that's an interesting turn of events considering Escobar was admittedly unhappy when finding out the Nats planned to play him at second base instead of his normal position of shortstop after they acquired him in a mid-January trade.

Mets catcher Travis d'Arnaud challenged Escobar with a chopper in the fourth that Escobar fielded. But his hurried throw pulled first baseman Ryan Zimmerman off the bag. It was originally ruled an error on Escobar, but eventually scored a hit for d'Arnaud.

"He had the one throw, but I thought he was good," Williams said. "He's comfortable over there. We did a lot of work early today before the game. He's played there before. So it's not something that's completely foreign to him. I thought he looked good."

Williams said opening day starter Max Scherzer ramped it up to 102 pitches in a minor league game today and came out of it feeling good.

Outfielder Jayson Werth did not participate in a game on the minor league side of camp, as expected.

Williams was also able to get new outfielders Matt den Dekker and Reed Johnson some playing time in today's loss. Johnson was 0-for-1 with a groundout while den Dekker produced a single in his only at-bat against his former team.

"Reed played some left. Matt played some center. It was good," Williams said. "They both got an at-bat, got their feet wet with us. They've both been playing all spring. They've had plenty of at-bats. But for them to get their feet wet with us was important today."

The most notable moment of the game occurred in the seventh inning when former Nats reliever Jerry Blevins, who the Mets acquired yesterday for den Dekker, struck out former teammate Bryce Harper rather quickly with three wicked breaking balls.

"I would imagine that whoever the lefty is, Bryce will get those guys when appropriate," Williams said. "A couple slow curveballs that Bryce didn't wait quite long enough for. He's never seen him in game competition. Live BP, maybe. But it's good for Bryce to get a sense of him, too, just in case."

Right-hander Jordan Zimmermann will make his final exhibition start tomorrow when the Nats travel to Jupiter to play the Marlins. Williams has scheduled every healthy position player for the trip with just five days remaining before he has to make his opening day roster official.

"We've got to make some decisions, for sure. Those are forthcoming," Williams said.