Speigner Set To Make First Career Start

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Nationals pitcher Levale Speigner grew up in Thomasville, Ga., four hours south of Atlanta. As a kid, a few times a year, he and his family made that drive to watch the Braves play. He remembers when many of the team's mainstays -- John Smoltz, Andruw Jones and Chipper Jones -- were in the early stages of their careers.

Yet Speigner said his childhood connection to the team won't be on his mind today when he is scheduled to make the first start of his major league career against the Braves."If you focus on that, you lose sight of what you have to do -- get outs," Speigner said.

Speigner (1-0, 3.77 ERA) has functioned mostly as the team's long reliever, but he steps into the rotation for the injured Shawn Hill.

"It's nerve-racking, any first start," Speigner said. "But I don't think you put any more stock into them than any other just because it's going to be emotional anyway."

Manager Manny Acta said Speigner will be on a count of between 70 and 75 pitches. Acta said Speigner is expected to pitch four or five innings.

As for whether Speigner has a chance to earn a spot in the rotation, Acta refused to commit either way.

"Let's take it one outing at a time," Acta said. "But I'll say if he doesn't have a good [outing], we're not going to be looking for somebody else right away."

 

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Another pitcher down

So Jerome Williams is the next pitcher headed (back) to the disabled list, what with his shoulder problem last night. The Nationals opened the season with a rotation of John Patterson, Shawn Hill, Matt Chico, Williams and Jason Bergmann. They now have a rotation of Chico, Bergmann, Jason Simontacchi (who would have been in the initial rotation if not for his strained groin from spring training) and Levale Speigner, with a spot open.

The Nationals don't have an off day until May 28, so they'll need someone for Williams's spot on Sunday against the Orioles and then again on May 25 in St. Louis. Tim Redding would be the pitcher at Class AAA Columbus whose turn would fall on those days, but he got shellacked again last night (4-2/3 innings, six runs, five walks) and his ERA is an unsightly 7.14, so he wasn't an option. Joel Hanrahan is the guy the front office figured would be up here at some point, but he has a groin problem. GM Jim Bowden expects him back soon, but even if he's 1-1 with a 1.69 ERA, do you want a career minor leaguer coming off the disabled list and being thrown right into the majors? Doubtful.

I'll throw this out there, and check on it later, but please hold onto your hats: Sidney Ponson? Released by the Twins. A scary thought, to be sure, but we'll see how desperate the team seems to be.

Billy Traber? He has made 10 appearances for Columbus with a 2.60 ERA, but has only two starts. He gave up five runs in his last outing, May 12. The best thing: just four walks in 27-2/3 innings. He's been here before. We'll see.

UPDATE: I'm now hearing that Traber will be the choice. It makes sense, too, because as I said before, Traber has pitched in a starting role for this team before. Here is Traber's info with Columbus this year, and here is his major league record, period, and here's everything you need to know about him. (UPDATE II: The Nationals just upstaged my "scoop" and announced the move.)

To create a spot on the 40-man roster for Traber, the Nationals moved Nick Johnson from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list. Before you freak out, this won't affect when Johnson can return. Guys on the 15-day DL count against the 40-man; guys on the 60-day don't. Since Johnson was placed on the DL at the beginning of the season, his 60 days start then, meaning they're up around June 1, and he's not going to be back before then anyway.