Washington Nationals vs Miami Marlins: Grapefruit League GameThread...

Davey Martinez and his club took advantage of their “off-day” on Tuesday to get in a lot of work in advance of the third game of their Grapefruit League schedule this afternoon in a matchup with the division rival Miami Marlins.

“We got a lot of work in today. We did a lot of situational hitting with our position players. Lot of baserunning,” Martinez told reporters in his afternoon Zoom call.

“We had some guys throw live BPs. Catchers threw to the bases, and we had a lot of cage work as well today, so the day was good. We got a lot of work in.

“Get back out there tomorrow and get in the game tomorrow.”

The Nationals and Marlins get going at 1:05 PM in West Palm Beach, FL’s FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.

Martinez talked about his main focus right now, which is getting pitchers built up and ready for the start of the 2021 regular season.

As of Monday afternoon, when he spoke after what ended up a 7-6 loss to Houston’s Astros, the manager hadn’t named a starter for the third game of the spring.

“No. We got some guys that are going to throw tomorrow [Monday]. And then after that, I think [Jon] Lester is scheduled to throw on the 4th. But I’ll make sure for sure that that’s what we’re going to stick to. On the 3rd we’ve got a bunch of bullpen guys pitching again.”

The goal, Martinez said on Tuesday, is to build all his pitchers up and get them ready for the start of the season on April 1st.

“What I really like and what I’ve seen so far is that these guys came into camp in really good shape,” the skipper said. “So it’s made things a little bit smoother for us on what to do and how to do things, and then we’ll go from there. Like I’ve said, I spend a lot of time, as guys go home early, I spend a lot of time talking to the strength trainers and athletic trainers to make sure that we’re all on the same page and we’re all on the right track for these guys.

“We want to build them up but we don’t want to build them up too soon. We know that during the course of Spring Training there are a lot of these guys, a lot pitchers that go through that dead arm period, so we have to be aware of that. So, with that being said, these guys are all on the right track, slowly but surely we’re getting there and these guys will be ready come April 1st.”

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR TODAY’S GAME VS THE MARLINS: