Last couple of games offer clues to who will hit leadoff

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Davey Martinez says he knows who's going to hit leadoff for the Nationals on opening day. And he plans to keep that person atop his lineup most days. He's just not revealing yet who that person is, certainly not until he's had an opportunity to discuss it with both Trea Turner and Adam Eaton, the two obvious candidates.

"These are conversations the next couple days I'm going to have with players," Martinez said. "You guys will know."

If you want to read into things - and you probably do - a quick glance at the Nationals' recent lineups might just tip you off to the second-year manager's intentions.

Eaton has now led off each of the last two games, with Turner batting second. That's a reversal of the order Martinez suggested he preferred earlier this spring, when he touted the importance of Turner feeling free to run without worrying about leaving first base open for the opposition to pitch around the No. 3 hitter (Bryce Harper last year, potentially Juan Soto this year).

"I like (Turner) up there," Martinez said earlier this month. "Because when he gets on base, he makes things happen. So we're going to keep him up there. Him and Adam are good 1-2 together. We could also have one leadoff, the other hits second or vice versa."

Well, the vice versa has been true the last two nights. With some varied results.

When Eaton led off the first inning Thursday night with a double, he was left stranded on second base. But when he led off the first inning Friday night with a double, Turner bunted him over to third and - after a Soto walk - Anthony Rendon drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left. Two innings later, a similar scenario played out: Eaton doubled, took third on Turner's groundout and scored on Soto's sac fly.

Whatever decision he ends up making, Martinez intends to stick with it. He mixed and matched his lineups early last season as a rookie skipper. He doesn't want to do the same this season, though he knows there will be exceptions along the way.

"I want to keep our lineup status quo as much as possible," he said. "Here's the deal: Over the course of the year, they are going to need days off. If Eaton has a day off, Trea will lead off. If Trea needs a day off, Eaton. But there will be a set lineup for us."