I'm down in Port St. Lucie for the Nationals' game with the Mets, and while there certainly isn't as much news as there was last night, there are a few things to report:

- Paul Lo Duca will play his first major league spring training game today. The plan is for him to catch five innings and bat second.

- Neither Acta nor GM Jim Bowden had much of a reaction to Felipe Lopez's comments earlier this week that he would not accept a bench role. Acta said, "attitude is a choice, and I can only control mine," while Bowden said he's happy Lopez is so adamant about starting. "I'd be disappointed if he came out and told everybody, 'Oh yes, I'll accept a position on the bench.' That would really bother me," he said. "At the end of the day, a lot can happen in this game. There can be injuries, there can be trades and there can be accepting roles until the situation can be resolved for everybody." He also said nothing has changed from the plan at the beginning of spring training, which was to start Belliard at second base. "All I've seen since I've been down here is the players corroborate that position," he said.

- Acta said Matt Chico's start today or John Lannan's tomorrow won't have much bearing on which one starts the season in the Nationals' rotation. "We almost have our mind made up. These guys are not going start-by-start," he said. "Matt went out there all season for us and competed well. We'll see how he does."