Church to Remain a Starter After All

Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta announced Sunday morning that newcomer Wily Mo Pena will not platoon with RYAN CHURCH (photo by Mike Collins http://www.collinsfoto.com/) after all.

Saturday Pena, acquired from the Red Sox on Friday, started in left field as the Nationals brain trust had been saying he would. Church sat on the bench. But on Sunday Acta changed his mind. He told the press that Pena would play regularly in right field, rightfielder Austin Kearns will move to center, and Church, once a centerfielder, will remain the starting leftfielder which he has been all season. The odd man out is centerfielder Nook Logan. The reason, Acta claimed, was better defense. Yet the defensive whiz of this group is Logan. Sound fishy?

Why the change? My guess is that Acta knows, unlike home-run addict General Manager Jim Bowden, that Church brings too many intangibles to the table. He plays good defense, runs the bases well, and has done everything the team has asked. Relegating him to a part-time role upsets team chemistry. Here's the "official" announcement reported by Bill Ladson of MLB.com--

WASHINGTON -- In order to get a better defensive alignment in the outfield, manager Manny Acta decided to put Wily Mo Pena in right field, Ryan Church in left and Austin Kearns in center.

Of the three players, only Kearns is out of position, but Acta believes that Kearns can get the job done based on the great instincts he has in right field. Sunday will mark the sixth time Kearns has played center field this year.

"Instead of two out of three guys out of position, I'm just going to have one guy, but [Kearns] is probably the best suited guy to be there," Acta said. "Kearns has been tremendous. He is one of the best I've seen. When the ball meets the bat, Kearns is already moving. For his size and all that, he moves very well."

As for Pena, it appears he will stay in right and work with first base coach Jerry Morales on the art of playing the outfield. Pena said recently that right field was his best position.
"[Pena] is going to work every day. I already talked to him," Acta said. "He is a hard-working kid. We are going to try to keep everybody at their best position and make them comfortable just like today."