‘9TH_1891’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

First off, for all the weary readers out there — I know there are typos in the headline and no, they’re not a mistake. I got the idea from a tweet issued last night during the game.

The joke’s on whoever screwed up the printing of these two team’s game day jerseys — the Natinals incident occurred last April and the San Francicso snafu this April. But joke headlines aside, last night was quite the game.

For those of you who didn’t catch the Nationals west coast contest against the San Francisco Giants last night, it can be summed up into very few words — they made a mockery of veteran pitcher and Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum.

Washington is now 24-23, a feat that wasn’t reached until the club won it’s 24th game of the year last July 4, having pounded the Giants’ ace in a 7-3 victory.

In the guy’s defense, he was by no means on top of his game. That mixed with the Nats patience at the plate set a steady pace of running Lincecum ragged by running up his pitch count (he threw 96 pitches in 4 2/3 innings). SS Ian Desmond even went as far as to say the team started noticing some problems in Lincecum’s curve ball early in the game in addition to the fact he was leaving his fastball up in the hitting zone, according to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson.

This is when the Nats bats got smart. Continue reading →

‘Nacho #19’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Some more 2010 campaign news today, mayoral candidate Vincent Gray is expected to receive the endorsement of the District’s firefighter and police unions. This isn’t exactly shocking news, given the often contentious relationship between these unions, management and Mayor Adrian Fenty. Both DC Fire and EMS and the Metropolitan Police Department have seen their share of controversies during Fenty’s tenure. Kristopher Baumann, the head of the DC Fraternal Order of Police has been a vocal critic of MPD Chief Cathy Lanier.

What impact will this have on the campaign? Hard to say at this point. Fenty will surely be touting the recent decrease in homicides and violent crime, this move may work to muddle that message a bit. However, Fenty’s campaign will likely emphasize that it was the leadership from MPD brass that has led to the recent decreases, and that it’s unwise to change management at this point.

In any event, Gray will likely have a larger base of volunteers to call upon, but again it’s quite early and it’ll be a very long summer.

The Besnard Lakes are playing the Black Cat backstage tomorrow night. Personally this is one of my most anticipated shows of 2010.

I first heard about this Canadian, husband & wife founded, indie rock band thanks to the many glowing reviews of their dominant performances at South By Southwest this year. Their new album “The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night” is one of the best (if not the very best) album of 2010. I have been listening to it daily for months. Their first album “The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse” is also a masterpiece and I am glad to finally have it brought to my attention.

The Besnard Lakes sound is epic. They feature beautiful, mournful vocals that haunt and inspire the listener with their many tales of love found and lost in war. Their expertly applied vocal harmonies can in turns chill you to the bone or warm your heart. The band bring massive and expansive layers of guitars, both fuzzed out and wailing, set to chugging rhythms that promise for one of the most dreamy and dynamic sound-washes this year.

This show tomorrow night is going to be amazing.

The Besnard Lakes
w/ Land of Talk
5/27/10
@ The Black Cat
$12

‘Recycle’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

Is that busted printer just not selling on Craigslist? Well don’t throw it out just yet. Tomorrow from 7:30am to 2:00pm, Verizon will be accepting old electronics for recycling at their Silver Spring office, located at 13100 Columbia Pike. Laptops, desktops, alarm clocks, shredders, telephones, small appliances – whatever! Just drop it off and Verizon will take care of the dirty work for you. It’s all part of their “go green” initiative, which is something we can certainly get behind.

‘One Big Ass Soccer Ball’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

Remember that killer snowball fight in Dupont during Snowpocalypse Part I? People flung snow on every crevice of the already snow covered circle and had a jolly good time.

Now, one of the organizers of that epic snow battle has some high World Cup hopes of bringing Dupont Circle some soccer.

Michael Lipin, 32, is working with his friend Aaron DeNu, 31, according to WTOP, on obtaining National Park Service and FIFA permits to screen at least the U.S. vs England opening match on a giant screen in the circle.

The biggest obstacle besides the permits is the $20,000 needed to finance a one-day screening … that and receiving the OK from ESPN to broadcast the game, since ESPN just so happens to own the game’s broadcasting rights.

‘DC Streetcar Front’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’
Last minute changes to the 2011 District budget include the elimination of the District’s up-and-coming streetcar program. The changes, submitted to the Council by Chair Vincent Gray (D) at 2 AM last night, remove funding for the H Street-Benning Road streetcar line. Greater Greater Washington broke the news this morning, noting that Sarah Campbell, Gray’s director of capital projects had long been pushing to kill the streetcar program.

The streetcar program has faced many obstacles, including a concern over the use of overhead wires. A local advocacy group, the Committee of 100, has been an outspoken opponent of overhead wires, calling for more expensive wireless technology. Ms. Campbell has personal ties to Meg Maguire, the leader of the Committee of 100’s campaign against the streetcars. It’s unclear if that relationship had any influence on this decision.

The streetcar project aimed to help accelerate the revival of the H Street corridor. Construction has been underway on the line, and proximity to the streetcar is already being touted in real estate listings. This news has already blown up across the Internet, with many transit advocates and H Street residents showing outrage and stating they will now vote for Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) in the upcoming Democratic primary–where Vincent Gray is also a candidate.