Notes: Armas happy to be back

03/16/2006
VIERA, Fla. -- Tony Armas Jr. said on Thursday that he was disappointed that he pitched only 1 2/3 innings for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. The Nationals right-hander felt he was led to believe that he would be part of a rotation, where the team would use two starters per game. In reality, most of Armas' throwing work came during bullpen sessions.
Armas said had Venezuela advanced in the World Baseball Classic, he would have opted to return to the Nationals' Spring Training facility. But the team was eliminated with a loss to the Dominican Republic on Tuesday.
"I didn't get a chance to pitch, and I need to start pitching with a little more than two weeks to go," Armas said. "I was a little disappointed."
Armas was able to pitch in a Minor League intrasquad game on Thursday. Playing for Triple-A New Orleans, Armas pitched three shutout innings against Double-A Harrisburg. He threw 41 pitches and 22 of them went for strikes. His fastball was consistently clocked in the 94 mph range.
"He threw the ball extremely well, considering he has pitched one game in Spring Training," pitching coach Randy St. Claire said.
St. Claire said that Armas is scheduled to pitch on three days' rest against the Dodgers on Monday.
Let's talk: Manager Frank Robinson had a meeting with his players on Thursday morning. It was similar to the first meeting last Thursday, where he told his players that they were not playing fundamentally-sound baseball. Entering Thursday's action, the Nationals were 3-13-1. Many of those losses could be attributed to defensive miscues and pitchers and catchers that have been unable to call the right pitches to throw to hitters.
"I didn't yell, but firmly, I said 'Come on, guys. It's time to put it together. It 's time to tighten it up,'" Robinson said.
Robinson also spent most of the meeting going over signs with the players. According to two sources, the players were very confused about third-base coach Tony Beasly's signals.
Looking good: Outfielder Jose Guillen said he felt much better taking 40 swings in batting practice on Thursday than he did the previous day. He didn't feel any pain in his left wrist or shoulder.
Guillen is planning to take batting practice again on Friday and then get in some swings against Nationals pitchers on Saturday and Sunday. If things go according to plan, Guillen will play his first exhibition game against the Dodgers at Space Coast Stadium on Monday.
Get a grip: Ryan Church had a tough time holding onto the bat on Thursday against the Tigers. He let the bat slip from his hands twice and into the stands at Space Coast Stadium. No spectators were injured. Church said he had a tough time gripping the bat because of new batting gloves he recently purchased.
"I was trying them out and they looked good," Church said. "I won't use them again. Not after that [stuff]."
This is not the first time Church let the bat leave his hands. His bat went into the stands against the Pirates on March 2.
The Big Nasty: John Patterson continues to flourish on the mound. On Thursday, Patterson pitched five shutout inning against the Tigers. He gave up four hits, struck out six batters and walked two.
Patterson had a four-pitch walk to shortstop Tony Giarratano to start the game, but then settled down.
"I threw the ball real well warming up in the bullpen," Patterson said. "And then I go to the mound, I lost all feel [for the ball]. It was terrible. I don't know what that was. It was bad."
Patterson said he is anxious to get catcher Brian Schneider back behind the plate. The two have a good working relationship. Most of this spring, Patterson has had to work with different catchers because Schneider is at the World Baseball Classic with Team USA. On Thursday, it took catcher Wiki Gonzalez a few innings to get on the same page with Patterson.
"You get into a rhythm with Schneider because he knows me," Patterson said. "He knows what I want to do. He knows what I like to pitch, where these other catchers are learning. ... That's good, but it's hard to get into a rhythm that way when you are shaking [off a pitch] five times."
Around the horn: Nick Johnson played in his first game in almost a week and went 1-for-4, including a wind-aided home run. He is now hitting .171 (4-for-24) this spring. Johnson was out of commission because of a stomach virus. ... Gonzalez went 2-for-2 with three RBIs and a walk. He is 6-for-16 (.375) with three RBIs this spring.

Source: http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/