Sipp's faith in readiness pays off in Nationals debut

Tony Sipp can admit it now, after the fact, because everything worked out well Saturday. But as he jogged in from the Nationals bullpen to make his season debut in the seventh inning of what at that point was a 4-4 game against the heart of the Mets lineup, the veteran reliever had no idea what to expect.

"It was definitely a lot of questions that I had," he said today. "I believe I was ready, but then you run out there and you're thinking: 'Am I ready?' It's a tie ballgame. It's a little too late to back out."

Sipp, of course, had not faced a major league batter yet in 2019 after signing with the Nationals in mid-March. He faced minor league hitters three times in West Palm Beach, including a 17-pitch inning Tuesday, before joining his new team up north. And he believed his left arm was ready.

But until he actually threw that first pitch - a 90-mph fastball to Brandon Nimmo - Sipp couldn't say for sure this was going to go well.

It did, in fact, go well. Sipp faced four batters and retired three of them, all lefties. He struck out Nimmo with a 3-2 fastball. Then after walking Pete Alonso, he induced groundouts to first from both Robinson Canó and Michael Conforto.

The Canó groundout was especially significant for Sipp, who entered the game having faced the star second baseman 23 times previously in their careers, with Canó having gone 7-for-21 with three homers in the process. The former American League West foes will be facing each other plenty more times now in the National League East, and Sipp hopes Saturday's success will carry over the rest of the season.

"Canó's been one of my nemeses from the start," the reliever said. "He's got good numbers on me. I know it. I'm pretty sure he knows it. But to get that out of the way early and face those guys and build a gameplan and it works out, it was refreshing. But it's just the start of a long road."

The scoreless inning also made an impression on manager Davey Martinez, who likewise went into this outing blind and simply hoping Sipp was being truthful when he insisted he was ready despite the abbreviated spring.

"What I learned is that he knows who he is," Martinez said. "And he came out there ... he's a veteran guy. He knows exactly who he is. It's kind of nice to go out there and watch him work the way he did."