A Picture Worth a Thousand Words

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Well, alright, more like 275 words and an .800 batting average. And it would have been 1.000 for Steve Lombardozzi in Monday night’s game if he had accomplished in his fifth at-bat what he did in each of his first four: reach base safely. The infielder, getting just his second start of the young season, singled his first three trips to the plate before coming up in the game’s biggest spot, with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning of a 2-2 ballgame. After quickly falling behind 0-2, he laid off a curveball in the dirt, then flipped Houston Astros starter Joe Weiland’s next pitch down the left field line, over the head of third baseman Chris Johnson, plating the go-ahead scores with a two-run double.

So what does the picture have to do with anything? Instead of posting the usual photo of Davey Johnson’s lineup card to the Nationals Facebook account, we instead used a batting practice shot of Lombardozzi to highlight his spot-start, as he spelled Danny Espinosa for a night. Lombardozzi returned the favor, posting a career night (literally – the four hits were the most for a game in his brief stretch in the Majors so far).

Minutes after the final out.

Posted to Facebook Monday afternoon.

We’re not ready to make any proclamations about a “Facebook bump” or any direct correlations just yet, but we figure it’s worth another shot. So our poll question today: who should we feature in this afternoon’s lineup post? Vote below, and the most popular pick will earn himself a photo post.