After months of writing about potential free agent signings, actual player signings, trade ideas and lineup construction, we finally have some baseball to write about.

Today, the Washington National took to the field against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida.

The Nationals looked pretty good for their first 2021 Spring Training Game. Here are some of my impressions of the game:

Erick Fedde Struggles but gets out of a Jam

Right-Handed starter Erick Fedde only made it through the 1st inning and his fastball topped out around 94-95 MPH. He threw just 12 strikes, but pitched well enough to get out of an early jam. After loading the bases and uncorking a wild pitch to spot the Cardinals a 1-0 lead, Fedde struck out Nolan Arenado on a cutter with runners in scoring position and then induced two more outs to prevent any more damage.

According to Jesse Dougherty from the Washington Post noted, "Seven of Erick Fedde's 28 pitches today were cutters. He said that he went to it more in the first when he couldn't spot his sinker. Wants to throw it more this year cause it moves the other way and felt good at times in 2020."

Nationals Have a Deep Bullpen, and It Feels Nice

Granted, it is part of Martinez's plan to have many pitchers pitch
during an exhibition game; however, having multiple major league-caliber options to try out must be nice. The Nationals Bullpen performed very well after Fedde managed to throw only one inning, surrendering a total of 4 runs and 8 hits.

One pitcher that stood out was Joan Adon. Adon pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning with a strikeout.Earlier this offseason, Washington chose to protect him during the Rule 5 Draft. The Nationals pitching coordinator, Brad Holman, expressed a lot of
confidence that he could develop into a major league starter.

"Calling the Inning" Rule

Everyone knew some of the rule changes or new rules that were changed just for Spring Training due to COVID-19, but one of the strangest rules to see in practice was the team's ability to call the inning after a pitcher reaches a certain pitch count. Twice during the game, we saw the Cardinals implement this rule conveniently when the Nationals started to string together a couple of hits.

I guess it makes sense to shorten the time of the game, but it's just strange to be allowed to do it during an opponent's rally.

Washington Nationals Bats Look Nice

One concern that Nationals fans had during the offseason was how powerful the Washington Nationals lineup would be. Well, with a very small sample size, the Washington Nationals bats looked great.

Every Washington National player who started the game reached base safely, including replacement players by the fourth inning.

National players who got hits during the first game:

• Kyle Schwarber
• Starlin Castro,
• Victor Robles,
• Hernan Perez.

Overall, Washington Nationals hitters scored 4 from a total of 7 hits

Victor Robles Aggressive at the Plate

From the look of his early at-bats during the game, center fielder Victor Robles is aggressive at the plate, which is a bit of a change for him. As noted previously, Robles looked much slimmer at the start of  Spring Training, so we thought fans might see a whole new player. Also, Manager Davey Martinez had Robles in the leadoff spot to start the game. Robles had three at-bats and had one hit, one RBI, and two strikeouts.

Nice to See Fans Back in the Stands

It was nice to see a limited amount of fans back to watching baseball. Even though we saw some fans towards the end of the 2020 season, it was nice to see fans wearing Washington Nationals jerseys in the stands.

Download and Subscribe to In the Clubhouse with the Nats Report

Washington Nationals Fans Deserve Better

We have already written that Major League Baseball needs to step in and address the MASN - Washington Nationals T.V. situation. D.C. area fans were forced to watch the first Spring Training game on MLB TV with St. Louis Fox Sports broadcast. So there was no Nationals talk at all during the game. While we understand that there are financial considerations that are in effect here, it isn't fair to Nationals fans not to have at least the first Spring Training game on a local D.C. station.

It's a bit of a ridiculous situation for a team that has been consistently competitive over the last decade and is less than two seasons removed from a World Series title.

Some interesting facts from Today's Game

• There was nine innings and the Washington Nationals had nine different pitchers;
• Fedde only got through the 1st inning. He only threw 12 strikes, fastball wa around 94-95 pitched well to get out of an early jam. Was able to strike out Nolan Arenado with bases loaded.
• During the third inning, every Washington National player had reached base safely including replacement players

Edited by: Jonathan Mailloux