First glances

Wild Things fans get their first glimpse of a Chris Bando-managed team tonight when Washington hosts Lake Erie in an exhibition game at Consol Energy Park. It's the first of four games in four days between the teams -- tonight and Friday in Washington, Saturday and Sunday in Avon, Ohio.

Between now and Wednesday, when opening day rosters must be set at no more than 24, the Wild Things must drop 16 players -- if nobody is added between now and the regular season. So there will be many players in Washington's dugout the next two nights who won't be here for the home opener May 22.

With a record number of players in camp, and no numbers on the back of the practice shirts, it was hard to tell who was doing what during the two days I spent at camp. There were, however, a few things I noticed:

* Outfielder James Simmons is big and fast. Make that very fast, especially going home-to-third or first-to-third. Most impressive position player in camp.

* The one player who appears to be a much better hitter than I expected is catcher Michael Surina. In two seasons of independent ball, Surina has a .214 career batting average. He doesn't have a .214 swing. The ball jumps off his bat and he could be an impact hitter in the middle of the lineup.

* Outfielder Luis Rivera has been bothered by a hamstring injury suffered early in camp. He sat out some intrasquad games but will play in the exhibition contests.

* Wish I could tell you more about the pitchers, but I only saw four of them throw, and two were Casey Barnes and Justin Hall.