Washington Nationals vs Houston Astros: Grapefruit League GameThread

An anticipated early Grapefruit League matchup between veterans Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander in tonight’s game didn’t materialize, unfortunately, with Houston Astros’ skipper Dusty Baker announcing yesterday that Verlander experienced discomfort in his groin which led to a decision to have him throw a simulated game instead.

Scherzer came through his first outing of the Spring fine, and talked afterwards about his preparations for the regular season.

“Good to get out there, start throwing all of my pitches,” Scherzer said, after tossing two scoreless innings against the Astros last week.

“So, that’s all you’re looking for, [is] to get out there. So now I’ll get my routine of getting into a five-day rotation here, and off and running.”

As he started to focus on his in-between outings work, Scherzer said he would make any adjustments that he needed to after assessing his initial start of the Spring.

“Make your little adjustments off of what happened tonight,” he explained, “and see if I can make adjustments going into the next start and see if those adjustments happen and then go from there.

“We’re back playing baseball and this is what’s fun.”

Scherzer goes up against the Astros again tonight, in another game that is available on the MLB Network (and MLB.tv) in the nation’s capital. Will the weather allow this one? The forecast looks good right now.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR TONIGHT’S GAME: