Raving about Guzman (really)

Submitted by Jeff on Wed, 03/28/2007 - 5:19am.

In his final tuneup before the regular season, Jerome Williams allowed two runs in five innings Tuesday night against the Mets in a 5-3 win. Williams did walk four, and said he wasn't sure what was causing his control problems. Williams' next scheduled start would be Sunday, the day before the season opener; he'll stay in Florida and pitch to minor leaguers instead of following the team north for exhibition games in Columbus, Norfolk, and RFK. (Box score)
Nook Logan remains confident he'll be ready to play on Opening Day as he recovers from the right groin strain he suffered Saturday. Manny Acta said that the injury was now a "day-to-day thing now instead of the two weeks we talked about before." If Logan is ready to play, it could force the Nats to send down Kory Casto, who, in case you haven't heard, is a hard worker.
Mitchell Page "can't stop raving about one player: Cristian Guzman," writes Mark Zuckerman. "Yes, that Cristian Guzman," he adds, just in case. Guzman, batting over .400 in spring training this season, is apparently benefiting from a completely-healed shoulder and laser eye surgery. "Whether that laser surgery helped him or the fact he feels healthy now and his confidence is sky high, that's probably the best assumption," said Manny Acta.
The Nats are suffering from slumping ticket sales, with fewer than 30,000 tickets sold for Opening Day and "15 and change"—between 15,000 and 16,000—season tickets sold to date, according to Stan Kasten. Mark Lerner, though, still wants Opening Day to be a sellout, even though that requires selling over 15,000 tickets in under a week.
With the news that Jason Simontacchi will miss up to 2-3 weeks with a strained groin, the Nats rotation is essentially set, but not without some questions, including the durability of John Patterson and Shawn Hill over the course of the season and how well Matt Chico will do against major league hitters.
The Nats made some roster moves Tuesday, sending Chris Booker, Abraham Nunez, and Jason Simontacchi to the minors. Simontacchi's assignment is temporary until he recovers from his groin injury.
Robert Fick is not just a utility player, he also "doubles as policeman and court jester" in the clubhouse. "I think it's my job to worry about what happens in this clubhouse because I'm not a starter," he tells the Free Lance-Star. "And when the clubhouse gets better, [stuff] on the field gets better." One guesses Fick said something a bit stronger than "stuff".
Tis the season for season previews, including both a quick summary at MLB.com or the much bigger package in the Post. The Post's section includes a Tom Boswell commentary where he argues that, while the Nats build up their farm system, they need to sign at least one "major free agent" a season. "Why be a rich team in a major market with a publicly financed $611 million park if you don't use your advantages to crush middle- and small-market teams?"