Baker met with Revere to try to get outfielder going at the plate

CINCINNATI - Nationals center fielder Ben Revere continues to struggle at the plate, going just 2-for-28 (.072) in the last seven games.

Manager Dusty Baker decided to have a one-on-one meeting with the scuffling leadoff man to try to get him back on track.

"He's struggling. I called Ben in today and I had a meeting with Ben," Baker said. "I explained to him it didn't take you two weeks to get in this hole and usually it takes you twice as much time to get out of hole as you got in a hole.

"Just make your bats quality at-bats, your job is to get on base and score runs. Simplify it. Just like I tell them all, you get two hits a day for a week and that solves whatever ills that you have. If he can get to .250 by the All-Star break, he'll hit .300, before he gets too many at-bats on him.

"Try not to do it all. He can't get eight hits in four at-bats. Just play his game. There's no pressure. I can feel he's putting a little pressure on himself."

Revere was thrilled to hit a home run in May, his first of the season. But Baker cautioned that can sometimes adversely affect a slap-contact hitter to not lift the ball for easy popups.

"You got to get him a day off sooner or later," Baker said. "I told him I hated to see him hit a home run. I hate to see a little guy hit a home run sometime because then they get the disease, 'homerunitis.' I don't know if he got it or not, but it was kind of timely."

* Right-hander Stephen Strasburg goes for a major league-leading 10th win in as many decisions today. Baker spoke to the Cincinnati media on why he thinks Strasburg has been so good.

"He's a horse. I mean this guy's a horse," Baker said. "And he wants to be good, he wants to be great. When I first got here, I was talking to him and he was a little bit bewildered why he hasn't reached that plateau yet and look like he's reached that plateau, and I hope he goes to the mountain and takes us with him. You'll see today. We need a win today and I went by him and I said, 'Hey man, it's win day today.' "

Does it bother Baker that Strasburg doesn't smile that much?

"No. He still seems the same," Baker said. "Everybody shows joy in a different way, some guys show joy by smiles, some guys have inner joy. I think he has inner peace at this point in time, which I think is even more important. Maybe I'll see him smile at the end of the season."

Baker believes one big difference for Strasburg this season is that he has complete confidence in throwing four pitches (fastball, curveball, changeup and slider) instead of two or three offerings that other pitchers might stick to.

"That's one more pitch that you have to identify and put in the equation," Baker said. "Very few guys can get away with two pitches because if one of them is not working or I can just sit on one and they got to throw me the other sooner or later. But everytime, you got to pitch, if you can control it, and that goes for 50 percent chance of being right to 30 percent chance of being right to 25 percent chance of being right.

"Especially if you can throw it at any time and any place, and that's going to make your fastball better and make all your other pitches appear as if it's a fastball, it's going to make them better. But the main thing is can you throw them over for strikes. Because having four, five pitches don't do any good if you can't throw but one over the plate. The fact that he's learned how to throw all of them over the plate keeps you off of one pitch."

* Infielder Trea Turner is not in the starting lineup today and Baker said he does not foresee the young prospect starting Sunday either.

"There's always temptation. But I knew that when I called him up here and I put him in the lineup right away," Baker said. "Like I said, when he got here if we were playing in consecutive games and Danny (Espinosa) needed a rest or (Daniel Murphy) needed a rest. But they don't need rest, there's that day off yesterday and then we got a day off Monday.

"I explained that to him when he got here. I just don't feel the need to have to explain that to the world. I know it's your business, but it's more our business than it's the world's business.

"I explained to him that your going to play the first game here with the left-hander and then your going to be available to come in to run, to pitch-hit, to double switch or whatever the next couple days. I'm pulling for the kid because he's here to help us win. That's what they told me.

"I was a kid once, I was in that same boat. Sometimes you got to wait your turn to play."

* Baker offered little on an update for right-hander Matt Belisle, who remains on a rehab assignment due to a straight right calf. The Double-A Harrisburg Senators were rained out Friday. Belisle hasn't pitched since May 31 and Baker still is looking for back-to-back appearances for the reliever before he is activated.

Baker said it's not an easy matter to solve because of various variables.

"I appreciate the question, but you always want us to live in the future. When that comes up, there's a lot of things in these decisions," Baker said of Belisle's situation. "I'm the one that talks about them, but I'm not the only voice that makes the decisions.

"There's a lot of factors in these decisions. There's contracts, tenure time involved, who has options and who doesn't. There's a fine line between baseball ops and baseball business. I'll let you know when we get to that point. We have a few decisions to make."

Left-hander Sammy Solis has done a nice job substituting for Belisle. In Solis' last seven appearances, he has not allowed an earned run. In his last 15 games, his ERA is 1.93.

"I'll get to it when I get to it because (pitching coach) Mike Maddux, I got to talk to Mike and I talk to Rizzo, who's not here because of the draft," Baker continued. "There's a lot of things pressing, I'm sure it's with Matt. Your personal stuff, there's nothing more pressing than your personal stuff, but for the decision makers, there's a lot of things pressing, so we'll get to it.

"He was supposed to do some back-to-backs before we make our decision, I think either today's the second back or yesterday was a back-to-back."

Most likely Belisle was supposed to pitch yesterday and today. The weather in Richmond changed that schedule.