Tag Archives: nationals

News, The Daily Feed
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Nats drop home closer to Phillies

Photo courtesy of
‘Roger Bernadina is Safe!’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

Ross Detwiler was read like a book on Wednesday night’s home closer at Nationals Park, and the crowd of just over 20,000 watched four home run balls sail out of the yard to propel the Phillies to a 7-1 victory.  It was a cool evening at Nationals Park, but that didn’t bother the Philly bats, as Mike Sweeney, John Mayberry Jr and Ben Francisco (twice!) sent balls out of Nationals Park.

Sadly, the Nationals couldn’t muster much offense against Joe Blanton and the Phillies.  The Nats would eke out one unearned run in the fourth when Nyjer Morgan would get to third on a single, a ground out and a throwing error, and score on a ground out.  Twice the Nats would leave runners on 1st and 2nd despite getting them there early in the inning, but conversions were sorely lacking.

Adam Dunn would disappoint the fans cheering for a re-up in his contract with four strikeouts against Phillies pitching, including a bizarre situation in the first where Ed Hickox had to explain to Dunn that he’d struck out. Despite that, the crowd gave Dunn a standing ovation for his service in Washington, and a proper hope-to-see-you-this-Spring.  Dunn’s re-up is a little contentious with the front office, and negotiations are likely not to pan out.

There’s much to discuss regarding the Nationals’ future, but there are still three games left to play in New York.  We’ll have some season-wrap-up features here in the next week or so.  The Nats have shown immense potential this season. At some point, the team will have to step forward toward greatness, or resign itself to mediocrity. Mediocrity can still draw 1.8M fans a season, and at $40 per seat, on average, that’s a good sum of money just on ticket sales.  DC deserves more. Here’s hoping they can get it.

We had a unique opportunity to be some of the first bloggers in the press box in any major league baseball environment this season.  I just want to say thank you to Mike Gazda, John Dever, Bill Gluvna, Kyle Brostotowitz and Lisa Pagano for working with us to make this happen.  It’s been an incredible experience, and I hope we get to repeat it for you next season.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats take night off against Houston, drop game 8-2

Livan Hernandez looks disgusted with himself
Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nats News Network

The Nationals appeared to have left their collective team heart elsewhere Monday night when playing the Houston Astros in Washington. It’s painfully obvious at this point in September that whatever underdog grit this team had after going 20-15 to start the season is long gone.

Livan Hernandez looked sharp on the mound retiring all six of the first batters he faced, but that two inning no-hitter took a turn for the worst with some deplorable defensive plays in the fifth. The worst of it all is that the Nationals scored two runs in the top of the first. They were winning to start things off but couldn’t hold on for dear life.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being Nyjer Morgan

Photo courtesy of
‘Nyjer Morgan diving to first’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

If you decided to turn off last night’s Nationals game when they went down 10-3 after just three innings, I wouldn’t blame you in the slightest.  However, it turned out to be one of the craziest games the Nationals have ever played, featuring multiple plunkings by the Marlins’ pitching staff, a bench-clearing brawl, and six ejections drawn out over 9 innings.  By the end of the seventh inning last night, both managers were sent to the showers, along with four of their players.  It was the sort of game that had a performance art feel to it, as if you were just waiting to see what might happen next.

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Sports Fix
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Sports Fix

Photo courtesy of
‘Zim be nimble, Zim be quick’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Nationals
Record: 56-75 (Last in the NL East)
Last Two Weeks: 5-8

The impossible-to-miss, off-field story involves none other than his Royal Strasburg. Late last week, the team announced that a tear in Strasburg’s pitching elbow will require reconstructive surgery of the Tommy John type. The Nats enter the last month of the season looking towards next year, but it is also safe to say that many already think even next season could be a lost cause. Still, in the “looking forward” department, there is still at least one bright spot: Bryce Harper was on the scene at Nationals Park, putting on a Nats jersey and launching bombs during batting practice.

On the field, things have been up and down. Last week, the Nationals got swept at home by the lowly Cubs, but managed to take three out of four from a Cardinals squad that is very much in contention in the Central to conclude the homestand. For a team that’s been fairly lifeless in the past month, maybe the Strasburg news is a reminder that no one man makes a club. In the next two weeks, the Nats will play the majority of their games against NL East rivals, save one trip to Pittsburgh next weekend.

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Sports Fix, The Features
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These Are The Times That Try Fans’ Souls

Photo courtesy of
‘good work, kid’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

There’s not a lot to say today, after Nats’ GM Mike Rizzo said the words, “UCL Tear.”

It’s the sort of injury that defines a pitching prospect, as the UCL is a critical part the infrastructure of the pitcher’s elbow, and allows Strasburg to throw with such brutal velocity and artful motion. To see Strasburg go down with a UCL tear just part of the way into his first season, and a season that the Nationals have taken such care with, it’s definitely disheartening for a fan to see.

I’ve seen a lot of garment rending and self-flaggelation on Twitter this morning over the injury. I’ve seen a lot of mentions of curses and whatnot. It’s natural to display such frustration in the face of setbacks. We need to, as a fanbase, work through our frustrations in a positive way, and remember that Strasburg was just one starting pitcher. There are 24 other guys on the primary roster, and 15 more on the 40-man roster that become eligible for use on September 1st.

In December 23, 1776, when the Revolution was in its early days, Thomas Paine started the “In Crisis” pamphlets. They began with a phrase we know so well, “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

Let the fair weather fan go by, Nationals fans. Let them go. This is our franchise to watch, with or without Strasburg, with or without any one player.

Mourn the loss of Stephen until 2012, but do not let it keep you from the ballpark. Do not let it keep you from your Red. Do not let it drive from you your love of this game in this city. These are the times that try fans’ souls, that tempers them in the fires of losses, injuries, and baubles; that forges in them the loyalty that comes from sticking by the team in the darkest hour.

Gather close your friends in red this week. Go see an extra game against the Cards, especially if they’re all like last night: close fought battles with a division-leader against their ace that go into extras. There are still many reasons to love, and struggle with, Nationals baseball. But they’re what we’ve got, and you don’t walk away from a franchise because of the injury of one player.

These are the times when character is forged, when allegiance is built. If you’ll forgive the mangling of Paine’s closing words, “This is our situation, and who will may know it. By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils…” What choice have we, but to remain true to our team? Would we become Phillies fans? Mets fans? Braves fans? Surely, we all have more class than to turn tail and run to safety amid the danger.

Do not tarry long in distress, Nats fan. Your team still needs your voice, your heart, and your faith.

Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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Top Chef DC Takes Show To Nationals Stadium

Photo courtesy of
‘Nationals Park in HDR’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

It’s Wednesday and you know what that means- Top Chef DC!

Ya ya I know. The season hasn’t lived up to previous seasons and it probably rivals Real Housewives of DC when it comes to local watchability. However we can expect some DC flavor in tonight’s episode.

The elimination challenge takes place at Nationals Park where teams will run two concession stands and try and serve up fare that exceeds the Five Guys and Half Smokes you would expect on Gameday.

Nats players Adam Dunn, and John Lannan make appearances as well as former closer Matt Capps. Seafood chef Rick Moonen will appear as a guest judge as well.

What else can you expect? Well with Alex gone Ed will set his sights on another annoying contestant and Angelo will continue to baffle me with his eccentricity.

Expect a recap tomorrow complete with some insider views on the Nationals Park tasting.

Video after the jump!

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News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Bryce Harper coming to Washington

Photo courtesy of
‘The Nats drafted Bryce Harper’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

The deal came down to within the last minute, but it got done, and Bryce Harper has signed a $9.9M major league contract with the Washington Nationals.  The high-school and junior-college phenom is likely the most touted signing of an offensive player since Mark Teixeira in 2001.  Harper will likely play right field in the Nationals organization.  His first stop will be the Gulf Coast League, as soon as possible, followed by the Arizona Fall League.  Before that, though, Harper will come and spend a few days with the big club next week, including a possible BP session, and get acquainted with the concept of playing professional baseball day in, day out.

The Nationals spent just under $14M yesterday signing four of their top picks.  Sammy Solis, and A.J. Cole, both starting pitchers, went for $1M and $2M respectively, and also signed pitcher Robbie Ray for $799,900.  All told, the Nationals signed 25 of their top 26 picks, with just one deferring entry to finish college.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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On the bats of Zimmerman and Willingham, Nats pick up series win

Ryan Zimmerman crushes HR #23
Photo by Ian Koski / Nats Daily News

Not everything was at it seemed to be at the Nationals game this afternoon.  What was expected to be a fairly full house to watch Stephen Strasburg, was a half-full park of enthusiastic fans.  What was expected to be a show of dominance by Strasburg, was an effective, but not errorless, five inning outing by Strasburg.  Four protestors ran onto the field in the bottom of the fifth to protest the decision to hold the All Star Game in Arizona next year, and were eventually lead off the field.

But, in the end, it was a win.  Not a pretty win, by any stretch of the imagination, but home runs from Josh Willingham and Ryan Zimmerman lead the Nationals to a 5-3 win and a 2-1 series win over the Diamondbacks this afternoon at Nationals Park.  Stephen Strasburg would put in five innings of work, with 85 pitches thrown, and seven strikeouts, all swinging.  He was having some command issues, though, and after getting ahead in the count, he would sometimes struggle to finish the job.  That’s part of his learning process, and something he’ll need to master. Continue reading →

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Concerning Rob Dibble

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_0598’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

On Wednesday night, Rob Dibble opened his mouth during a MASN broadcast of the Nationals and swallowed his whole foot. He said, of two women sitting behind home plate, that they must be talking about shopping. It went on like this for a bit. His broadcasting partner, Bob Carpenter, tried to help Dibble out of the jam, and threw him a rope. Instead of taking it, Dibble hung himself with it.

There have been a lot of column inches and pixels devoted to Dibble’s terrible miscue, and his ill-advised rambling, and we’re not about to join them except to say: In the short history of the Nationals, no one figure, on the field or off, has been so widely discussed and largely disliked as the MASN broadcaster. There’s good reason for that, and his comments Wednesday were pretty much atrocious. They represent the worst sort of bias: the kind that’s laughed off.

In his response today on the MASN website, Dibble once again dodged this issue. In a piece titled, “The Greatness of Baseball”, Rob Dibble does everything but apologize. He concludes the non-apology by blaming those who interpreted his remarks: “The other night I made an off-handed comment, the meaning of which may have been misconstrued beyond what was said. If any fan of this great game took offense, then he or she should know that this was neither my intention nor my history in the game.” Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats drop embarrassing game to Diamondbacks, 8-2

Manager Jim Riggleman takes the ball from Jason Marquis
Photo by Anthony Amobi / Nats Daily News

The Nats have a hard choice right now.  Jason Marquis’ last two starts are little better than his April ones.  Tonight he pitched just 4 innings, but gave up 5 runs on 7 hits, walking 2 more.  Asked after the game tonight, manager Jim Riggleman said, “his sinker just wasn’t down.”  It showed.  Miguel Montero blasted him for a 2-run homer in the 2nd, and Gerardo Parra added a solo shot later in the inning.  That would be all the Diamondbacks would need, but they kept up the offense just to stay engaged.  Kelly Johnson added a homer in the third, and Montero slapped a second bomb in the fifth.  Riggleman wasn’t comfortable talking about Marquis’ fate tonight, but one has to think the Nats have to be thinking about what possible utility he has at this point.  There aren’t a lot of options for them down in Syracuse, and Jordan Zimmermann isn’t quite ready yet, nor are Yunesky Maya or Chien Ming Wang.

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Hudson mystifies Nationals, Braves win 3-1

IMG_7508 Peralta.jpg
Photo by Cheryl Nichols, Nationals News Network

The running gag in the postgame press conferences at Nationals Park from Manager Jim Riggleman is that he tends to say something about running into aces, and playing hard ball. Tonight the Nationals did both. They faced the Braves’ ace in Tim Hudson, who went 7 2/3 IP throwing just 96 pitches, and retired seven on strikeouts. Hudson was dominant most of the evening, brushing off the Nats offense with near impunity. The Nats did play hard tonight, but couldn’t generate any offensive action, and made some key defensive mistakes. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats drop finale to the Giants

Drew Storen on the Mound

On a picturesque July Sunday, the Giants came out swinging.  With the series on the line in the last game before the All Star Break, they’d get a pair of walks and a pair of singles off Livan Hernandez to jump out to a 2-0 lead.  Livo was reaching for the corners but not finding them in the first, throwing six pitches to both Posey and Uribe looking for that elusive third strike call.   In the third, the Giants would lead off with back to back singles from Sanchez and Huff, followed by an off-the-wall triple from Buster Posey. On the triple, Nyjer Morgan would take a difficult route to the ball, which would bounce just behind him, and back into center, letting Posey advance to third easily.  Ishikawa would sacrifice him home, letting the Giants come out to a 5-0 lead after the third. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats Fall to Royals, 1-0

stras.jpg
Photo by Ian Koski / Nationals Daily News

Looking for the sweep today, the Nationals brought out their ace, Stephen Strasburg, to cement a winning streak and build some momentum, going into the weekend series against Baltimore.  Sadly, the team’s offense couldn’t deliver, in a game fraught with mistakes and misplays, in some cases over-sliding bases, and in others sliding too early, and they fell without scoring, 1-0.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats With Bats Revive Stats

A humid Washington evening in the early days of summer is a bit of a difficult environment for baseball.  You never know when a storm will break out.  Tonight, the Royals were the recipients of a pair of storms: one from the Nationals’ bats, and the other from Mother Nature herself.  A 49-minute rain delay couldn’t shake Luis Atilano, who picked up his sixth win of the season in 5 1/3 innings.  Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps would do their eponymous routine on Clipp & Save T-shirt night here at Nats Park.

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Lannan Struggles in 5-3 Loss to Chicago

Photo courtesy of
‘Teddy FAIL’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

After a 5-3 loss, manager Jim Riggleman said that the Nationals were “going to pass the character test.”  Last season’s team under Manny Acta never had that chance, and before the All-Star Break, they were 26-61.  The Nats this season, after starting 20-15, have dropped 24 of their last 35, including six straight.  They’d have to lose every game between now and the All Star Break to get anywhere close to as rough as last season was.  I don’t see that happening.

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The True Meaning of Strasmas

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘muohace_dc’

Tonight is the Third Night of Strasmas, as he starts against the Chicago White Sox at Nats Park at 7:05pm. The flashbulbs with all go off again, the crowd will once again chant for strikeouts, and DC will be a baseball town, as it will be all summer, for one game out of each five.

The Nationals are in for a crucial stretch of games, nine against interleague teams with records worse than their own 31-36, and then a patch of 13 against division foes that are a significant hurdle for our boys in red. Their first 67 games have not gone as planned, but the team is still wins ahead over last year’s abysmal 59-102. So, what do the Nationals have to do to make every day into Strasmas? Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats Complete Sweep of Bucs

Photo courtesy of
‘155/365’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

The weather on Thursday night was about as perfect as you can find in June in Washington, a great night at the ballpark. The Nats were looking to complete the sweep against the Pirates, hoping for their first of the season. Zach Duke stood in their way, 2009 All-Star, and starting pitcher for the Pirates. No, he’s not Stephen Strasburg, but ¡Livan! Hernandez is the Nats’ current #1, and he was on to devour some innings tonight to finish the homestand. Continue reading →

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DC Sports Fans Rejoice: Strasburg is Real

 IMG_0058 Strasburg.jpg
Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nationals News Network

Joe Posnanski of SI wrote in his column yesterday that today was a lot like Christmas morning, in that the hopes and aspirations of the franchise lay in the wrapped present of Stephen Strasburg.  He also wrote that “you never really hear them talk about Christmas AFTERNOON, when the presents are out of their boxes and wrapping paper is scattered on the living room floor.”

For many other debuts, I’d say he’s right. For Stephen Strasburg’s debut, though, the reality of the present is absolutely matching its expectations. The Nationals tonight delivered Christmas afternoon before the capacity crowd, which at times was so loud as to be deafening, and whose enthusiasm I have seen just once at Nationals Park. That game? The first victory at Nationals Park in April of 2008. Continue reading →