10 | EXPRESS | 04.14.2017 | WEEKEND
sports
Smiling through struggles Nationals relievers stay positive despite their worrisome early play
Boswell is back on the back line for D.C. United JONATHAN NEWTON (THE WASHINGTON POST)
MLB When Mike Maddux walked into the visitors’ clubhouse at Philadelphia last Friday, he couldn’t understand why his entire pitching staff giggled. The usual hitter footage was on the television screen at the front of the room. His staple Las Vegas Baseball Academy sweatshirt had no remnants of breakfast down its front. “I guess the joke’s on me,” Maddux said. “Actually Mad Dog,” Shawn Kelley said, “the joke is literally on us.” Then the pitching coach noticed the logo on the players’ navy blue T-shirts: Las Vegas Baseball Academy, just like the one on his favorite sweatshirt. The pitchers roared with laughter. Maddux’s meetings are a staple of each series, a time for him to review the opposing lineup, and pass on scouting reports. But there is only so much he can pass along in meetings. Behind the laughs sits an unsettling early April reality. Washington’s bullpen entered Thursday with the second-highest ERA (6.75) in the NL. It has allowed nine home runs in 291/3 innings. Opponents have a .956 OPS against Nationals relievers, third-highest in the majors. Every one of the team’s relievers who has thrown more than
Pitching coach Mike Maddux, left, shares a laugh with reliever Shawn Kelley, center, on the way to workouts.
two innings has allowed at least two runs. Maddux attributed some of the early struggles to early excitement, pointing out the transition from spring training to the regular season takes time. “The guys have a little more adrenaline,” he said. “In due time, it’s going to iron itself out.” So far, everyone from veteran Joe Blanton to attack-first Sammy Solis has struggled with home runs, walks or both. “If we pitch to not walk people, we’re going to walk people,” Maddux said. “We pitch aggressively, we pitch to get guys out. We don’t pitch to the negative.” Positivity is a part of this bullpen, which seems to hatch
endless T-shirt ideas during the innings spent sitting together. The relievers also have T-shirts with a three-fingered hand on the back — a tribute to bullpen coach Dan Firova, who lost a finger in an accident in high school, and is a good sport about it all. He became bullpen coach last year, when a new wave of relievers emerged, including Kelley, Oliver Perez, Solis and Blake Treinen. “We understand the season, guys will have ups and downs,” Perez said. “We stay together.” Some will cringe at the notion that bullpen chemistry means anything in the face of a poor start. But the Nats won’t be able to overhaul the back-end staff
entirely, and 10 days isn’t a long enough period to judge it. Perhaps they can add at the trade deadline, but for now, the Nationals are betting on this group to grow. Solis, who has already had to answer questions about poor outings and defend the talent in the bullpen, has a particular affinity for one recent addition to the Tshirt collection. He has worn it so often that the light-gray shirt with the red writing is already shrinking in the wash. The shirt with the image of the three-fingered hand that relievers wave when a teammate homers also has a message on the front: “Relievers are people too.” CHELSEA JANES (THE WASHINGTON POST)
1932-2017
Rooney leaves legacy of diversity
Dan Rooney, the Steelers chairman whose name is attached to the NFL’s landmark initiative in minority hiring, died Thursday. He was 84. Details of his death were not immediately available. Rooney took over the team in the 1960s from his father, Art. Dan Rooney oversaw six NFL championships, joined his dad in the Hall of Fame and helped develop the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for coaching and front office vacancies. (AP) Phillies at Nationals: Friday, 4:05 p.m., MASN; Saturday, 1:05, MASN2; Sunday, 1:35, MASN2
MLS For three weeks, Bobby Boswell found himself in an unusual and uncomfortable position: on D.C. United’s bench. The veteran center back lost his starting job to Sean Franklin and relinquished the captaincy to Steve Birnbaum. During the preseason, Boswell, 34, and coach Ben Olsen had discussed a reduced role. In need of stronger personality and presence in the lineup after opening with a draw and two losses, Olsen put Boswell back in the starting lineup, where he will lead the defense at the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night (7:30, NewsChannel 8). Since the switch, United has claimed 2-1 wins over Philadelphia and NYCFC. Boswell’s teammates said the improvement is due to overall performance more than the personnel change, but there’s no denying his contributions. “I’ve never really sat at any level,” Boswell said. “You think about stuff like that when you are on the bench. ... I always thought I would win out eventually.” Olsen never doubted Boswell accepting an uncertain role. They were teammates with United from 2005 to 2007. Boswell then spent six years in Houston before Olsen said the team targeted him when it began rebuilding in the winter of 2013. “He’s been an absolute pro,” Olsen said. “Bobby really doesn’t know any other way.” STEVEN GOFF (TWP)
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson (back injury) to return to golf May 4-7 in Wilmington, N.C.