Uggla can see comeback

VIERA, Fla. - Dan Uggla is very familiar with Champions Stadium, just not the visitors clubhouse. Uggla played for the Braves for four seasons, meaning he was part of several spring trainings at the stadium down the street from Disney World. Coincidentally, his first Grapefruit League game in a Nationals uniform came against his old team.

Uggla smoked a line drive single to right field in his first at-bat and scored on a Tyler Moore two-run homer. Most of the Braves fans applauded their former second baseman, who hit 79 home runs in four seasons in Atlanta. The Braves still owe the former All-Star $13 million this year after releasing midway through last year.

He grounded out in his second time up and just missed a double down the left field line in his final at-bat before drawing a walk. It's an important spring for Uggla, who is attempting to make a comeback after struggling badly the past two seasons.

He spent much of the offseason working with a doctor in Las Vegas who diagnosed him with oculomotor dysfunction, a condition possibly caused from being hit in the head by pitches a few seasons ago. The treatment has improved Uggla's balance, but Friday's game was the first real test.

"It's hard to tell how you feel in live BP as a hitter," said Uggla. "It's just one of those things you dread. You need it, but you dread it. But once you get in the game atmosphere and get going, your body gets all the emotions it gets when you get in the box and you've got real things happening, that's when you can really tell. And as the game went on, just felt, just got better and better as the game went on."

Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. stopped by Champions Stadium before Friday's game to throw out the ceremonial first pitch while promoting his new children's book, "Out At Home." I had a chance to spend a couple of minutes talking about the Nationals with him:

Q: Expectations are high for this Nationals team. What are your thoughts?

Ripken: "When you look at their team on paper and you look at the success they had last year, you got to say that they're definitely a playoff-caliber team and it's just going out there and executing. It's been wonderful to watch them the last few years. There's a certain level of confidence that they take into the ballgame where they can win one-run games. But, man, their staff's impressive."

Q: What was your reaction when they added Max Scherzer to the rotation?

Ripken: "Just surprised. I didn't think that they were in the running for him. I was thinking he would land someplace else. But when you put him in there, it seems like they got a lot of No. 1 options and that really backs up everybody else and take pressure off everybody else on the staff. They got a tremendous staff. They had a tremendous last year, but now it's even better."

Q: You ended your career playing third base, how do you see Ryan Zimmerman's transition from third to first base?

Ripken: "He's just got to get used to all the responsibilities over there, but he has the physical skills to do it. He's very athletic, he's tall, he's got great hands and so I don't think he'll have any problem adapting over there. But once you learn how to play one position, your mind kind of thinks about that, so it might take him a while to start to remember that he's a first baseman and not a third baseman, but he won't have any problem with it."