Washington Nationals Featured Media Clips – Spring Training 2013
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Washington Nationals Featured Media Clips – Spring Training 2013 Table of Contents • Article #1 - The Nats’ centered fielder – Washington Post (Kilgore) – 2/8/13 • Article #2 – Drew Storen wants the ball – Washington Post (Kilgore) – 2/14/13 • Article #3 – Bryce Harper has lofty goals for his sophomore season – Washington Times (Comak) – 2/14/13 • Article #4 - Christian Garcia hopes to repay Nationals’ faith, whether in bullpen or rotation – Washington Times (Comak) – 2/18/13 • Article #5 – Former pitcher swings for the fences – Washington Post (Kilgore) – 2/18/13 • Article #6 – Bulked up Harper ready to resume living dream – Washington Post (Wagner) – 2/19/13 • Article #7 – Dan Haren brings reliability, control to young Nationals rotation – Washington Times (Harris) – 2/20/13 • Article#8 – Nationals have plenty in reserve – Washington Post (Kilgore) – 2/20/13 • Article #9 – Detwiler finds his comfort zone – Washington Post (Kilgore) – 2/21/13 • Article #10 – Now healthy, Rendon confident he can show his stuff – MASNSports.com (Kolko) – 2/21/13 • Article #11 – Nationals’ depth separates them from the pack – Nationals.com (Nowak) – 2/22/13 • Article #12 – Anthony Rendon flashes his potential – Washington Post (Kilgore) – 2/24/13 • Article #13 – Micah Owings eyes move to position of power – Washington Times (Comak) – 2/24/13 • Article #14 – A year after exceeding expectations, Nats raise them – MLB.com (Bauman) – 2/24/13 • Article #15 – Anthony Rendon wants to take advantage of big-league time – Washington Times (Comak) – 2/25/13 • Article #16 – Davey Johnson Manages with his instincts, as he did in 1986 – New York Daily News (Harper) – 2/25/13 • Article #17 – Kurt Suzuki Keeps Nationals teammates smiling – Washington Times (Comak) – 2/2713 • Article #18 – A name to watch in the race for final bullpen spot – MASNSports.com (Kolko) – 2/28/13 • Article #19 – Chris Young playing catch-up/ Abad in the bullpen mix – Washington Times (Comak) – 2/28/13 • Article #20 – What a difference a year’s made for Zach Duke – MASNSports.com (Kerr) – 3/3/13 • Article #21 – Nationals go beyond the eye chard with vision training – Washington Post (Wagner) – 3/3/13 • Article #22 – Tyler Moore still has full-time Nats role in sights – Washington Times (Harris) 3/3/13 • Article #23 – Danny Espinosa looks to mimic Ian Desmond’s breakout – Washington Times (Comak) – 3/14/13 • Article #24 – Giolito progressing with Tommy John surgery – MLB.com (Ladson) – 3/4/13 • Article #25 – Outfielder Eury Perez shows signs of growth – Washington Post (Wagner) – 3/4/13 • Article #26 – Cole Kimball, Chris Marrero hope to make up for lost year – Washington Times (Harris) – 3/7/13 • Article #27 – It’s hard not to gush over the Washington Nationals – Sports On Earth (Culpepper) – 3/7/13 • Article #28 – Danny Espinosa works on his swing from the left side – Washington Post – (Kilgore) – 3/7/13 • Article #29 – Lefty Zach Duke is not left behind – Washington Post (Wagner) – 3/8/13 • Article #30 – Karns feeling confident and healthy – MASNsports.com (Kerr) – 3/8/13 • Article #31 – Braves, Nats give taste of promising NL East battle – MLB.com (Leach) – 3/11/13 • Article #32 – For Owings , a chance to re-invent career – MLB.com (Nowak) – 3/11/13 • Article #33 – Prospect Matt Skole has brotherly support as he works through minors – Washington Times (Comak) – 3/11/13 • Article #34 – Ian Desmond on his more aggressive hitting approach this season – Washington Post (Wagner) – 3/12/13 • Article #35 – Werth grows into leadership role for Nationals – Nationals.com (Ladson) – 3/12/13 • Article #36 – Ross Detwiler takes pride in representing U.S. – Washington Times (Comak) – 3/13/13 • Article #37 – Craig Stammen ready for a lot of work – Washington Post (Wagner) – 3/14/13 • Article #38 – Wilson Ramos is steeled by recovery from knee surgery – Washington Post (Wagner) – 3/16/13 • Article #39 – Nationals players are particular about their equipment – Washington Post (Wagner) – 3/17/13 • Article #40 – Drew Storen patient as he works way to regular season – Washington Times (Comak) Article #1 The Nats’ centered fielder By Adam Kilgore – Washington Post (2/8/2013) TAMPA — One morning last month, Denard Span was inside a yoga studio, talking about New Year’s resolutions. As he unrolled a purple mat over the lacquered wooden floor, his instructor told him about all the people who sign up in January and drop the practice a month later. Standing in bare feet, black mesh shorts and a white T-shirt, Span shook his head. “Consistency, man,” he said. He had driven from his home — high ceilings everywhere, framed baseball jerseys around a pool table upstairs, a batting cage in the back yard, and two chirping Yorkies running around — and parked his white Range Rover on the gravel driveway at the Lotus Pond studio as scheduled: every Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. Yoga has become part of Span’s routine since a friend recommended it a year ago. It keeps his muscles flexible over the long baseball season and it centers his focus, he said, “away from the trauma” — the concussion that briefly threatened his career. Span, 28, conquered that hurdle, and now the reminders of his next baseball phase are all around him. The Washington Nationals traded their best prospect, pitcher Alex Meyer, to pry Span from the Minnesota Twins in late November. Span moved from the only franchise he had ever known, a team currently at the bottom of the American League, to become the leadoff hitter and center fielder for a World Series contender. In December, he looked at rental houses around Crystal City and Nationals Park. He got lost in Georgetown with his girlfriend, Shadonna, looking for new sneakers. When his family came to his house for dinner one night, they scooped grilled chicken breast and salmon onto their plates using a spatula with a curly W etched into it. Playing alongside Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg, Span may not become the biggest baseball star in Washington. Odds are he will come to be adored, and not just because he gives the Nationals an unfamiliar leadoff threat and covers ground in center field with the speed that once earned him a scholarship offer from Florida — as a wide receiver. The Twins gave Span an award this winter for his community service work, particularly the time he spent with children who, like him, are products of single-mother homes. In high school, he spent so much time inside the batting cage he made his weary coach regret installing lights. He speaks with his mother every day, he said, or else “it will feel like we haven’t talked to each other in two weeks.” He does not smoke, drink, curse or swing at bad pitches. “They’re not going to have to worry about him,” said Henry Allen, Span’s uncle. ‘He wanted the ball in his hands’ Span began his preparation for his first season in Washington in December, and it brought him here, to the yoga studio designed like a log cabin, tucked into the woods. He sat cross-legged, forearms on his knees, his thumb and index finger forming a circle. The instructor told Span and his friend, Toronto Blue Jays minor leaguer Kenny Wilson, to focus and expel negative energy with their exhales. Wilson remained mostly quiet. Span, over and over, responded with a forceful, throaty “Hah!” The instructor complimented him on his breathing. Span has always wanted to please people, he says, which did not always serve him well as he climbed the rungs of his career ladder. After the Twins selected him in the first round in 2002, the hitting instruction he received felt like a barrage. They wanted to change the way he hit, the swing he had taught himself. Span learned to hit inside the batting cages at the Grand Prix Family Fun Center here on North Nebraska Avenue. The place boasts, in bright red letters on a yellow sign, the “FASTEST GO-KARTS IN TAMPA!” It also has a full arcade, mini golf and nine batting cages. The sign on the fence reads, “Can you hit a 95 MPH fastball? Try it here!!!!!” Span learned, trial and error, one token at a time. He still calls it by its former name, the Malibu. His mother, Wanda Wilson, worked 12-hour days, first as an insurance claims adjustor and then operating a day-care center, to raise Span and Ray, his older brother. He has a relationship with his biological father, but he lived in Fort Lauderdale, largely out of Denard’s life. Span grew up in a middle-class part of Tampa wanting for nothing. “We were blessed,” he said. But his mother did not have the time or money for camps, personal instruction or private coaches. “What clinic?” Wilson said, laughing. “He and Ray was the clinic.” Once football season ended or after bad games during baseball season, Wilson took Span to the Malibu. One dollar bought 20 pitches, yellow, rubber balls flung at him by a mechanical arm. After he fed $4 or $5 into the machine, Span had ironed out the flaws in his swing. Wilson signed Span up for T-ball when he was 4. By the time he was 9, he would meander over to Ray’s games at the senior field and stand behind the backstop, barking instructions: Choke up! Line your knuckles up! Stretch your legs! Ray always hit better when his kid brother came. “I knew he was something special in baseball,” Ray Span said. “I’m not saying that because he’s my brother. He wanted to be that leadoff hitter. He wanted to be the center fielder.