"At first, Bryce had a different way of expressing his confidence. But from last spring training to this spring training, I've never seen someone grow up as much as he has in one year — just the way he carries himself and the way he thinks things differently now," Zimmerman said. "That's not to say that two years ago he was a bad person. I mean, Bryce is a great kid. He means well, works hard and plays the game the right way. So you'll never have to worry about him not playing hard."
Notes: Strasburg hit two batters, one more than he plunked in 177 innings over his 21 previous big league starts. But he hasn't allowed a home run in his last 10 starts and 63 1-3 innings since LaRoche took him deep on Aug. 15, 2010 while playing for Arizona. ... Strasburg led off the sixth with an opposite-field double to right-center, his first extra-base hit in 35 career at-bats to that point and the first by a Nationals pitcher this season. ... The youngest player in the 44-year history of the Montreal/Washington franchise was LHP Balor Moore, who was 19 years and 116 days old when he made his big league debut on May 21, 1970. Harper is 79 days older than Moore was.
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