Johnson happy to have young star Harper

WASHINGTON -- Davey Johnson managed a 22-year-old Darryl Strawberry with the Mets in 1984. Tuesday night, he said he's never seen major-league pitchers so careful with a young hitter the way they currently are with Bryce Harper.

"I've had some outstanding young ballplayers," Johnson said before his Nationals faced the Mets at Nationals Park. "But, no I . I think they respect the fact that he's got good plate coverage. You don't want to give him any cookies. The pressure is on him with ball recognition and not chasing any bad pitches."

Harper, the first pick in the 2010 draft, stroked an RBI single to left to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. In the top of the ninth, the converted catcher showed off his glove in rightfield, making a running catch in foul territory to strand Ike Davis on second base with the score tied. He then flew out hard to leftfield to end the bottom of the ninth. In the 12th, he singled to left for the winner.

Harper, 19, entered hitting .386 with three triples, three home runs and seven RBIs in his previous 12 games.

Johnson said pitchers seem hesitant to throw Harper fastballs and have been working him outside the strike zone. Harper is seeing an average of 3.96 pitches per at-bat.

Working the count has come in handy as Washington's No. 2 hitter, a position Harper said he enjoys. He said he'd even like to lead off. Johnson said he hasn't considered that move.

"I'm just thrilled about having him in my lineup," Johnson said. "I do like him hitting in the two hole. His on-base percentage, for a rookie, is outstanding [.375]."

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And another, less heralded rookie has been doing a pretty good job in the top spot.

The Nationals drafted Steve Lombardozzi in the 19th round of the 2008 draft, 12 months before Harper appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 16-year-old.

Lombardozzi is hitting .309 with a .372 on-base percentage in 40 games this season. In the bottom of the fifth, he drew a one-out walk and scored after drawing a bad throw home on Ryan Zimmerman's RBI single.

"They've been outstanding as table setters," Johnson said. "I like the energy that both guys bring to the one and two. Both have good eyes."

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Despite similarly patient approaches, the rookies' games are as different as their paths to the major leagues.

"Lombo's just a ballplayer," Johnson said. "He's going to make you throw it over and he's going to make contact. He's looking to get on base. Harper's up there looking for something to hit hard. Regardless of what the count is, he's going to take a whack at it."

Mets manager Terry Collins said teams will have to learn to adjust to Harper as the season goes on.

"I know one thing," Collins said. "Just what I saw in spring training: This guy's going to be a very, very, very good player. And he plays the game exactly the way it's supposed to be played: all out, all the time."