On non-interference call, Thompson's success and Monday's crowd

The play looked eerily familiar, and not just because it had just happened moments earlier to the previous batter, who hit a nearly identical dribbler up the first base line.

No, for anyone who has watched the Nationals on a semi-regular basis since 2019, Manuel Margot’s little roller up the line in the top of the second Monday night immediately struck a chord. It certainly did once Trevor Williams picked up the ball and threw toward first base, only to watch as Margot (running in fair territory) ran past Dominic Smith and knocked his glove off to reach safely and then advance to second on the error.

Yep, it was the Trea Turner Play all over again. The one that nearly cost the Nationals in Game 6 of the World Series. The one that plagued Turner again two years later at Wrigley Field, not to mention Josh Bell in Miami. And led to multiple ejections for manager Davey Martinez.

Martinez didn’t get ejected this time, but he still couldn’t help but reiterate his point about the usage – or, in this case, non-usage – of Rule 5.09a(11), which states any batter-runner who is not in the designated running lane and in the judgment of the umpire interferes with the first baseman’s attempt to catch a throw shall be called out.

That’s what umpires called in the previous cases of Turner and Bell. Larry Vanover and his crew did not call it on Margot on Monday.

“He was inside the baseline,” Martinez said. “Larry told me he was inside the baseline. He felt like (Smith) didn’t really have a play, but he did have a play. When we look at it, if he could catch the ball, he would’ve been out.”

Martinez did manage to get Vanover to confer with the rest of his crew for a minute and discuss the call before ultimately deciding not to change it. So, perhaps that’s a little bit of progress.

It remains little solace, though, for Martinez, who at this point seems resigned to the fact these plays are going to haunt him for the rest of his career.

“One of these days, they’ll get it right,” he said. “It’s just bad. The whole rule is bad. I thought about (going on a tirade), but … (Vanover) admitted he was in the baseline. He just didn’t know what to do. The second part of that rule sucks, to be honest. The fact is it’s a judgment call. Just call it right. To me, that’s not a judgment call. If you run inside the line, you’re inside the line.”

* Mason Thompson has quietly gotten off to a strong start to the season. The right-hander has made two relief appearances so far and has mostly dominated across multiple innings each time. After tossing two scoreless innings on Opening Day, he returned Monday and retired the first eight batters he faced before serving up a homer to Luke Raley with two outs in the eighth.

All told, Thompson has now allowed just the one run on two hits across five innings. He hasn’t issued a walk, and he has struck out four.

* The Nationals have high hopes for their young middle infield this season, but so far neither of them is producing at the plate. CJ Abrams and Luis Garcia are a combined 1-for-24, with Garcia providing the only hit to date while Abrams drew their only walk. Martinez gave Garcia the opportunity to lead off Monday for the second time this young season. With left-handers scheduled to start for the Rays each of the next two days, Garcia will probably move back down toward the lower third of the lineup for the remainder of the series, with Lane Thomas likely to lead off instead.

* Monday’s official paid attendance of 10,754 was the second-smallest in Nationals history. Only the opener of makeup doubleheader April 19, 2022 against the Diamondbacks drew a smaller announced crowd of 9,261. Prior to that, the smallest crowd in club history was 10,999 for a Sept. 20, 2010 game against the Astros.