Williams explains lineup changes, talks plan for Span

BOSTON - With the Nationals sitting dead last in the majors in team batting average at .185, manager Matt Williams has decided to make some changes in his lineup. Third baseman Yunel Escobar has been one of the offensive bright spots, going 8-for-27 (.296) through the first seven games. Williams has decided to move Escboar into the leadoff spot, followed by left fielder Jayson Werth, while center fielder Michael A. Taylor falls to the last spot in the order after striking out six times over the past two games.

"Michael's been swinging good but the last couple, three games he's a little off timing," Williams said. "We'll get him in the double leadoff spot today, move him down in the order, take a little pressure off him. Yunel's swinging good. Good to get hopefully on base with the sinkerballer, get some guys in motion potentially with Jayson in the two hole. We got him out of the game yesterday because of the situation, and he feels good about getting out there and playing, so we'll get him out there today."

Danny Espinosa gets his third start of the season at second base after homering late in yesterday's loss. Espinosa also has a double in seven at-bats, all from the left side after only batting righty throughout the spring. Williams said Espinosa's swing from the left side has improved.

"It's short," Williams said. "He's not trying to do too much. He's simply putting that bat head on it, and he's playing well. He's gotten himself in some good hitting counts and squared the ball up. We see that if he can do that, then those results happen for him."

The Nats already have their first casualty of the 2-5 start. Lefty reliever Xavier Cedeno was designated for assignment after allowing two runs, including Sunday's game-tying homer, in three innings. The Nats selected the contract of right-hander Rafael Martin, who is with the team in Boston and ready to make his major league debut at Fenway Park if called upon.

Martin impressed Williams throughout the spring and was one of the team's final cuts after giving up just one run in eight appearances.

"Just the ability to spin the baseball for strikes, work both sides of the plate," Williams said of Martin. "Throw strikes, fields his position, does a lot of things well. You know, he gives us the ability to go multiple innings."

Martin, 30, has quite an amazing story after not playing professional baseball until the age of 25. He found out late last night that he was headed to the big leagues for the first time.

"I was kinda speechless," Martin said. "I was like, 'You guys playing with me? What's going on?' I just looked around and everybody was smiling and happy for me. A special day."

The move leaves Williams with Matt Thornton as the only left-hander out of the bullpen.

"Optimally, two lefties are what we want, but sometimes we have to make adjustments," Williams said.

Center fielder Denard Span will begin his minor league rehab assignment at Double-A Harrisburg tonight. Williams expects him to play seven innings before ramping it up to nine tomorrow.

"For me, Denard's healthy and ready to go," Williams said. "We're getting him in baseball shape and getting his timing down. So whatever that takes is what we'll do. We can't really say a timetable on it, because we just don't know."

Finally, tonight's starter, Stephen Strasburg, had pretty good success in his only other outing at Fenway. In 2012, he struck out 13 of the 18 Red Sox batters he faced to help gain a victory for the Nats.

"Memories stay with you, especially successful memories," Williams said. "We try to take the bad ones and throw them away as quickly as possible. But the good ones, they stay. So he's got feel for this place. He's had success. Those will come back to him, and hopefully it's a repeat performance of what it was before. We'd take that tonight."