Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in West Palm Beach

The second half of spring training begins today. Yep, 20 days have passed and 20 days remain before the Nationals break camp and head north. So this is about the time when things begin to start ramping up a bit, when pitchers start pitching more, when regulars start playing more.

Scherzer-Firing-Blue-Sidebar.jpgIn that vein, Max Scherzer today makes his second start of the spring. He threw 38 pitches over 1 2/3 innings Friday night against the Cardinals. Today, against the same St. Louis squad, he's scheduled to throw 50 pitches and up to three innings. The ace insists his sprained ankle is no longer on his mind. So it's all about pitching and preparing now.

The Cardinals also send their ace to the mound in the form of Jack Flaherty. The young righty also previously faced the Nats, back on Feb. 28 in the Grapefruit League opener. And he was shaky, allowing seven of the eight batters he faced to reach base, three of them to score. (Three others were on base in the top of the first when manager Mike Shildt elected to roll over the inning with only two outs.)

Today's Nationals lineup features some regulars, though not all. Juan Soto, who manager Davey Martinez said was fine after fouling a ball off his ear Monday, hasn't played since. Hopefully there's nothing going on there, but we'll have to find out later. And in a bit of a weird twist, Jordy Mercer is starting at first base as the organization perhaps gets an idea just how versatile the typically middle infielder is.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EST
TV: None
Radio: Nationals.com, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind 16 mph in from right field

NATIONALS
CF Andrew Stevenson
SS Trea Turner
2B Starlin Castro
LF Kyle Schwarber
3B Josh Harrison
C Alex Avila
RF Hernán Pérez
DH Yasmany Tomás
1B Jordy Mercer

RHP Max Scherzer

CARDINALS
2B Tommy Edman
1B Paul Goldschmidt
3B Nolan Arenado
SS Paul DeJong
RF Dylan Carlson
LF Tyler O'Neill
C Andrew Knizner
DH Lane Thomas
CF Harrison Bader

RHP Jack Flaherty

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