WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Gio González hasn't faced a whole lot of adversity this spring, given how dominant he's been each time he's taken the mound. So when the left-hander found himself in a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first this afternoon, he actually viewed it as a good opportunity to remind himself how to pitch his way out of a tight spot.
González managed to do just that, getting a popup and then a ground ball to third to escape that tenuous first inning unscathed and make the walk, hit batter and single he surrendered moot.
"I had to work through certain situations, which is good," he said. "You have to get the work in there. And right off the bat, these guys were being aggressive, and then all of a sudden they started being patient when they saw I wasn't attacking the strike zone. It's a good sign. You have to continue to stay positive."
González returned to his dominant ways after that first frame, retiring eight straight batters at one point, five in a row on grounders to short. His lone mistake of the day came on a fourth-inning fastball to Braves catcher Tyler Flowers, who hammered it to left-center for a solo homer.
But even that was the byproduct of a specific pitch González was trying to throw to new catcher Matt Wieters.
"We were working on something," the lefty said. "You could see Wieters was throwing his mitt out there. That's on both of us. We knew what we wanted to go with on this pitch and the game plan. And he just got on top of the ball. Big guy. He's got the power to take you out to center field. You learn from that. That's a good thing."
This was González's first opportunity to work with Wieters, who had not yet caught one of his game outings. Actually, it wasn't the very first time they'd been batterymates, though the previous one was over in the blink of an eye.
In the bottom of the eighth inning of the 2011 All-Star Game in Phoenix, González (then with the Athletics) entered to face Jay Bruce with two outs. Wieters (then with the Orioles) was the catcher. González struck out Bruce looking at a 3-2 pitch, and thus concluded their time as teammates until today.
"It's good to see him again, finally," González said. "First time in spring training. We're almost leaving for the season, and I had to be (built up to) almost five innings to get him in there already. But he was great. Big strike zone. He's fun to throw to."
With his 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball, González finished the afternoon with a spring training ERA of 1.10. He also has been on the mound for the Nationals' last two sub-3-hour games.
"I like Gio throwing these quick games," manager Dusty Baker said. "Last two games he's been sharp."
* The Nationals got their first post-World Baseball Classic look at Enny Romero today, and the big left-hander reinforced why the Dominican Republic wanted him in its bullpen for the tournament.
Romero retired three of the four batters he faced in the top of the sixth, striking out Flowers on a 95 mph fastball. That was actually down several ticks from his velocity readings in the WBC, when he hit 99 mph.
More important than the radar gun was Romero's command. He threw 9-of-13 pitches for strikes and has now walked only one batter in 6 2/3 total innings this spring between the Nationals and the WBC. That's extremely encouraging for a reliever who last season with the Rays walked a staggering 5.5 batters per nine innings.
Romero attributed his recent pounding of the strike zone to better and simpler mechanics.
"Not trying to do too much with my fastball and my quick pitch and my delivery," he said. "I try to repeat my delivery every time."
The Nationals have to make a decision soon on Romero, who is out of minor league options. If he doesn't make the opening day roster, he would have to be exposed to waivers before he could be sent down to Triple-A Syracuse.
Consider Baker among those impressed, especially with Romero's use not only of his fastball today but also his off-speed pitches.
"When he left camp, he didn't hardly throw his breaking ball, so you could tell that he's been working on it to get him off his electric fastball," Baker said. "He looked good, and he said he's ready. He's one guy I think the WBC probably helped him, because he got to pitch quite a bit."
Romero said he enjoyed his WBC experience, not only for the high-pressure situations he pitched in but also the opportunities he had to learn from veterans Fernando Rodney and Edinson Vólquez.
"They helped me a lot, Rodney and Vólquez," the lefty said. "They worked with me a lot in the bullpen and the game."