With two four-baggers in his first two major league games Zach Walters is making a statement with his bat. His pinch-hit blast in the 8th inning last night (April 16—my birthday) was the icing on the cake of the fifth come-from-behind win for the Nats of the young 2014 season. And it was a no-doubter; hitting half way up the tall foul pole! Zach explained in the after-game interview with Dan Kolko that he and the pitcher he hit it off (Mike Dunn) played on the same team in high school 🙂
I think Zach has a good chance now of sticking on the 25-man roster for a while. It doesn’t hurt that he and Matt Williams have a history going back to when both were in the Arizona Diamondback’s system.
In the “Ex-Nats News Department” I watched local guy Steve Lombardozzi (from Columbia, Md) play with the Orioles yesterday. He got a base hit and has been starting at 2B a lot this year, due to Manny Machado’s injury. Steve is hitting .298 so far.
Pete's Curveball 
Happy Birthday! (late) How are the Nats going to be able to compete against the elites? They really haven’t competed with the Braves and Cards so far. Maybe the new skip will come out swinging after this first big test of his career.
Zach is looking really strong. I read this entry (nice title, by the way), as I watched him cause two runs against the Cards. Even though he didn’t get a hit yet tonight, he clearly has a good baseball head on his shoulders to help bring our boys to home. Nice post, Pete.