Opening Day lineup (and other tidbits)

As the Nats are wrapping up their workout in the twilight here at Dolphin Stadium -- why the lights aren't on, I have no idea -- here are some tidbits from the pre-Opening Day workout... -- Both Manny Acta and Fredi Gonzalez revealed their starting lineups. It's mostly what we expected, with a minor tweak in the batting order: NATIONALS CF Lastings Milledge SS Cristian Guzman 3B Ryan Zimmerman LF Adam Dunn 1B Nick Johnson RF Austin Kearns 2B Ronnie Belliard C Jesus Flores P John Lannan MARLINS 3B Emilio Bonifacio C John Baker SS Hanley Ramirez 1B Jorge Cantu 2B Dan Uggla LF Jeremy Hermida RF Cody Ross CF Cameron Maybin P Ricky Nolasco You'll notice that Acta decided to put Nick Johnson fifth and Austin Kearns sixth. That's a flip-flop from the way he had been doing things most of the spring. It seemed like the original way made sense, because the Nats would not have two lefties hitting back-to-back anywhere in the lineup. But Acta said the lefty-righty thing isn't as important to him, especially considering Johnson is a better hitter in his career against lefties (.286) than righties (.263). And on the Marlins side, yes that is THE Emilio Bonifacio leading off and playing third base. With Dan Uggla entrenched at second, the Marlins have decided to give Bonifacio a try at the hot corner. He certainly doesn't fit the typical protype of a third baseman, but then Uggla isn't exactly a typical second baseman either. -- Speaking of Nick Johnson, he was back with the team today after leaving yesterday to join his family following a brief scare with his 5-month-old son, Nick Jr., who fell off a hotel bed and cracked his head on a wood floor. Johnson got a text message from his wife, Liz, yesterday afternoon saying she was at a Miami hospital with their son, and predictably reacted the way any father would upon hearing that news. But there's good news to report: Nick Jr. is fine. He suffered no real damage, and other than needing a little extra sleep, he's free to crawl around and do everything else a 5-month-old does. So no DL trip for little Nick. -- Acta held his annual pre-Opening Day meeting before the workout, during which time he went over club rules and other mundane subjects. The manager also delivered his message for the season, though, and I found it interesting what his main point was: "You have to believe." He doesn't care that the Nats lost 102 games last season, that they've got a really inexperienced pitching staff or that no one in baseball thinks they can avoid the NL East cellar. He believes they can win, and he wants his players to believe that. "I think we do have the best team I've had here in three years," he said. "You can't worry about the other clubs. Baseball has shown in the last couple years that it's not the one with the highest payroll or the one with superstars that win. You have to be yourself. Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're probably right." -- Count Adam Dunn among those who think the Nats can. The big slugger said he signed here just before spring training because he liked the core group of young players already in place. And he's even more of a believer as the season opens. "The goal is not to compete," Dunn said. "It's to win. If I didn't feel like we were going to win, I wouldn't have signed here. I think this team has a really legit chance of winning. I know people probably laugh when I say that, but it's true." -- Finally, please be sure to check out our Nats/MLB preview section, which comes out tomorrow. It's 16 pages chock-full of features, analysis and predictions both for the Nats and all of baseball. Hopefully you will enjoy it. You can find all of it online here. Or better yet, splurge a little, pay the 50 cents and pick up a hard copy at a newsstand near you. You'll help keep the struggling newspaper business afloat.