Tag Archives: nationals

Adventures, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, People, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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DC’s Best Highschool Baseball Players Hit Nationals Park

Photo courtesy of
‘Take me out to the Ballgame.’
courtesy of ‘Paul Frederiksen’

This Saturday’s Congressional Bank Classic brings out D.C.’s premier highschool baseball players and team in a day long celebration of America’s game at Nationals ballpark. Featured events include a St. Albans v. Maret School match up, the District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association (DCIAA) Championship game between Wilson v. McKinley Tech, a citywide all-star game and the main Championship game between the two earlier game winners.

The event starts at 9:30am and goes until 8:30pm.  Admission and parking are free.

News, People, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Well, maybe not…

Photo courtesy of
‘2ND’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

Last week I reported that it was looking like Steve Strasburg’s MLB debut would be June 4.  Well, it seems that I was wrong.  The Nationals website reports that Strasburg will be starting between June 8 and June 10 in the Nats’ series against the Pirates. They haven’t said which game, exactly, but they plan on making that announcement a week before the actual day itself.  If it makes you feel better, I bought pricey tickets to the June 4 game.  Oh well. I guess I’ll just have nice seats when they take on the Reds.

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: One and Eight?!

Willingham_Early_Celebration.jpg
Photo by Max Cook, Special to We Love DC

Nationals
Record: 23-22
Last Two Weeks: 6-8
Place: Tied for Third, Four Games Back

It was back to reality for the Nationals over the last two weeks. Mistakes on the mound, mistakes in the field, mistakes at the plate, and they finished the last two weeks under .500. The Nats played 20 games in 20 days, something they have rarely done in the past, and never this early in the season. They finished 10-10 for that stretch, overcoming a few games that were mired in adversity. With their loss Friday night, the Nationals dropped below the .500 mark for the first time in early April. They didn’t sink into self-pity, they fought off the Orioles for the series win. Continue reading →

Essential DC, Fun & Games, History, Special Events, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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BREAKING: Strasburg may Start June 4

Photo courtesy of
‘4TH’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

The rumor mill has it that the second comi…. I mean Steven Strasburgs’ major league debut will be on the June 4 game against the Cincinnati Reds. For those of you living in caves, Steven Strasburg is one of the hottest prospects in the history of major league baseball, and certainly the top for 2010.  The Nats picked him up with their first round draft pick last year and sent him to the minors for some conditioning. In the minors he’s pitched just over a 1 ERA with around 1 strike out per inning.  That’s scary.  His start promises to be one of the biggest events in Nats history. The game will sell out, so buy those tickets quick.  At this point, the cheap seats are already sold.

Adventures, Entertainment, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors
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Dueling Birds: A Nats v. Os Weekend

Photo courtesy of
‘_MG_4239’
courtesy of ‘dbking’

We’ve got a beautiful weekend, save some scattered t-storms, shaping up for us and we’ve got a “Battle of the Beltways” series kicking off Friday night between the visiting Baltimore Orioles and our hometown Nationals. You’ve got three opportunities to catch the match up this weekend, and it’s sure to be great time with the stadium pack with fans from both sides.

While neither team is at the top of their divisions, both come packed with longtime crowd favorites like Nick Markakis, B-Rob, Zimmer-sapien and Christian Guz-sapien, who are sure to make the game competitive and entertaining.

What I’m really looking forward to is Screech and the Bird strolling around the stadium and taunting each other Phillie Phanatic style. Obviously, sans taser.  I’m assuming both birds will join the Presidents in the 4th inning race, where of course some antics will ensue between the two avians to prevent Teddy from winning. Alas poor Teddy, I wanted him to win.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats Win Crazy Game Over Mets

Photo courtesy of
‘Diving Grab’
courtesy of Tom Bridge

The Mets tonight turned a triple play against the Nationals, the first one in our fair city since 1964, and Angel Pagan hit an inside the park home run, but still it was the Nats that came out on top.  The last time a team had a triple play and an inside the park home run in the same game was 1955 when the Phillies did it.  Of course they won that game, while the Mets came up short tonight.  Hard to think that a team that did two of the rarest single acts in baseball would also come up short.

Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats Net the Fish 5-4

Nationals Park in the Sun
Nationals Park, by Tom Bridge

In front of a Saturday afternoon crowd of 21,633, the Nationals and Matt Chico held on to the team’s winning record.  The Nats, now 16-14, remain a game behind their 2005 selves for best start in team history, but it’s all about momentum for this club.  After the game, manager Jim Riggleman said that, “Sometimes you get a little lucky,” and it was luck today that prevailed for the Nationals.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Nationals’ Second Coming? The Bryce Harper Watch

Photo originally appeared at DC Sports Bog
Photo originally appeared at DC Sports Bog

While the feeling lasts, talking about the currently relevant Nationals is a lot of fun. In that spirit, I had to share this great submission from one of Dan Steinberg’s readers. DC sports junkies probably are already avid followers of Steinberg’s excellent DC Sports Bog at the WashingtonPost.com, and you have to love when he gets photos like the one above: the spotting of a #34 “Harper” jersey at Nationals Park during yesterday’s game.

Since things are starting off hopeful for Nats fans this season, and getting better since last year’s #1 draft pick, Stephen Strasburg, is on his way up the system, you may have forgotten already that the Nationals retain the number one pick in this year’s draft, too. And all signs point to a stud of a catcher out of Las Vegas by the name of Bryce Harper. It’s not that hard to dig for the hype on this prospect, so hopefully this fan-made Nationals shirt will be joined by many, many more. Dan’s description from his post is pretty uplifting to think about: “wunderkind catcher Bryce Harper, the guy who figures to catch Strasburg’s first playoff pitch. (And I don’t think that’s even a joke at this point.)”

The Daily Feed
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Stephen Strasburg Moving A Little Closer to Majors

Photo courtesy of
‘1ST’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

Do not adjust your MLB standings, they are reading correctly: the Washington Nationals, over .500, are just a game back of the New York Mets (and 1/2 game behind the Phils) in the National League East. And it’s not April anymore. Up in the majors, the Nats will get their rubber match in the weekend series with Florida later this afternoon, but there’s some equally exciting news down on the farm.

Bill Ladson of MLB.com is reporting that, after this afternoon’s start in Potomac Harrisburg [my bad], #1 prospect/phenom/“Jesus” Stephen Strasburg will be promoted to the Nationals’ Triple-A club in Syracuse. Strasburg’s numbers in Double-A were very impressive, as the young pitcher let just one run cross the plate in 17+ innings of work while striking out 23. While most believed that Strasburg would make his way to the Show sometime in his first season, it may very well be coming soon. One writer’s opinion? An interleague start against the young bats of Baltimore come late June. While, luckily, I don’t the make decisions for the team, I think we can all be optimistic that Stephen will be taking the Navy Yard mound someday soon.

Special Events, The Features
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Let Teddy Win! Highlights from WeLoveDC’s Night at the Ballpark

Photo courtesy of
‘Teddy #191’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Thank you so much to every one who trekked out in the rain last night. Our small group certainly made a large dent in what turned out to be the least attended game in the National’s Park’s history… But the sparsely populated ballpark also made for a great playground for the Let Teddy Win group. After a great tour of the stadium, including a trip up to the press box and views of private suites and the Diamond Club, we headed back to our seats for presidential race trivia and prizes. And we were there at the finish line when Teddy’s umbrella slowed him down to a near halt, letting Abe pull into the lead.

Click below for highlights of the evening:

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Nats’ Opening Week Ratings Improve Over 2009

Photo courtesy of
‘Turning the double play’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

Just a shade over a week into the young MLB season, and the 4-5 Nationals can point to at least one area of improvement. According to Nielsen, the Nats have doubled the average local TV rating during Opening Week in 2010 as compared to the year before.

While the overall number isn’t getting close to the league leaders (the Red Sox pulled 11 percent of their market into local broadcasts), the fact that the Nats were able to perform decently well with viewers in the midst of several day games and the Caps postseason run is notable. Room to grow, for sure, in becoming a baseball town, but doubling your audience is still doubling your audience.

The Daily Feed
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Jermaine Dye, 2005 World Series MVP, Turned Down Offer from Nats

Photo courtesy of
‘President Barack Obama winds up for the first pitch 1’
courtesy of ‘sportsreference’

Here’s some news that would have helped President Obama show his South Side support while still cheering for the local club. Jermaine Dye, who was the World Series MVP in 2005 when Obama’s White Sox won the trophy, turned down an offer to join the Nationals’ outfield during the offseason. It was reported that Dye, who has still not signed with a team for the 2010 season, chose not to come to Washington because he didn’t want to uproot his family to move across country from their home in Arizona.

Dye played with Chicago’s AL club in 2009, and posted a respectable 27 HR, 81 RBI campaign. I guess there is a little bit of solace to know that the game plan wasn’t always a Harris/Taveras platoon.

The Daily Feed
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Thousands Outside Nationals Park During First Pitch

Photo courtesy of Pat D.
Camera phone photo courtesy of Pat D., click to enlarge

It’s official: right now, the Nationals 2010 campaign is under way here in Washington. The start of a new season – especially to those who worship at the altar of baseball – is always exciting, and bringing President Obama down to the Navy Yard to throw the first pitch just raised the level of excitement for District fans.

With Obama present at the Park, you had to imagine security was going to be tight, and the Nats opened the gates a little earlier than usual this morning to try and accommodate. Well, it doesn’t look like it was enough. The photo above (click to enlarge) was taken by a fan stuck in the line – timestamp is 1:13, or just right around the moment of the first pitch. A few thousand people look to be stranded outside the park waiting to get through security.

Hopefully they can get all those folks in there in time to see some of the action, especially on such a beautiful afternoon. The season has to get better from here…

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nationals Make Improvements Before Pre-Season Opener

Victory Knot Pretzel

Special to We Love DC by Hal Mangold

Let’s get one thing straight right now: The Washington Nationals probably aren’t going to be very good this year. They might be bearable, even fun, to watch, but expecting them to be anywhere other than knife-fighting in the basement of the NL East is probably too much to ask given the catastrophic 2009 season. I’m pretty sure the brass over at Nationals Park are well aware of this, and at the very least it looks like they’re trying to make sure that coming to DC’s temple of baseball has other attractions than what’s on the field. So it came to pass that on the stunning Spring day that was yesterday, the Nationals rolled out the PR red carpet (literally, as it happens) and guided a motley band of local TV, radio, print and online media around Nationals park to show off the new polish that’s been applied to the place. There’s something kind of magical about walking around a mostly empty ballpark, and the weather couldn’t have been better for it. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Fix: Gearing Up

Photo courtesy of
‘Center Ice’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

With the 2010 Vancouver Olympics kicking off Friday night and continuing throughout the weekend, it’s kind of hard to recall the significant happenings that have occurred over the last two weeks in DC sports.

Capitals
Record: 41-13
Last Two Weeks: 4-3
Place:1st in the Eastern Conference

The Caps continued their winning streak with spectacular W’s against both the Penguins and the Rangers, but were stopped at 14 wins on February 10th by the Montreal Canadians in a 5-6 squeaker in OT.

Since their loss to the Canadians, the Caps have lost their last 3 games heading into the two week break for the Olympic games. They still lead the Eastern Conference with 90 points, and their next game will be away versus the Sabres on March 3.

Despite this minor downturn, Mr. Ovechkin is still the NHL’s leading offensive player in both goals (42) and overall points (89). And Alexandar Semin is on a super hot streak, sniping goals left and right, and racking up 5 goals and 4 assists in the last 4 games. Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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Merry Christmas From the Nationals

Photo courtesy of
‘Matt Capps’
courtesy of ‘KitAy’

The Nats have had an active off-season that just got more active. This morning at 1am, approximately, they agreed to a 1-year deal with closer Matt Capps with undisclosed terms. Capps is the third pitcher the Nats have signed this week (Eddie Guardado and Jason Marquis being the others) and will take over the closer duties for the team in 2010. The Nats have been uncharacteristically active this off-season, and appear to be making a run at .500 baseball for 2010.

The Daily Feed
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Pudge Rodriguez Joins Nationals

Photo courtesy of
‘Ivan Rodriguez’
courtesy of ‘jmd41280’

In addition to the trade to the Yankees for Brian Burney, the Nats signed catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez to a 2-year, $6M deal to backup Jesus Flores. From what they’re saying so far, Pudge will be Crash Davis for the Nationals, tending to the young pitchers and leading Jesus Flores toward stardom. The price, in addition to his salary, is likely the release or trade of Wil Nieves (Who? Wil Nieves!) as he’s the third catcher on the Nats’ 40-man roster.

Hard to tell right now if this is an upgrade. Pudge had his worst season ever, and so we’re now paying him twice as much as he made last year. That part doesn’t seem to be as wise a deal.

Look for more moves from the Nats as the winter meetings continue.

The Daily Feed
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WaPo Needs New Nats Beat Writer

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

It’d be big shoes to fill, but the Washington Post is looking for a new Nats Beat Writer. That’s the guy who goes to all of the games, Spring Training, Fall Ball, and maintains the Nats Journal. It’s also my dream job. But, as I’ve got my own business to run, and We Love DC to tend to, it seems a bad fit. But, all of you Nats bloggers out there, this might be a way to get to every game…

The Daily Feed
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Jim Riggleman Takes the Helm

Photo courtesy of
‘Blogger Day’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

No longer “interim,” Jim Riggleman officially took his spot at the Nationals Manager yesterday afternoon at Nationals Park. Rigs went 33-42 for the Nationals in his interim role, far better than Manny Acta could muster, and better than the Nats average since they came to DC. While the Nats have a lot of improvements to make, lining up Riggleman for next season was likely one of the more unexpected choices. With Don “Sideburns” Mattingly out there, and Bobby “I’m one craaaaazy mofo” Valentine, I half-expected Stan Kasten and the Lerners to bring in Valentine to throw bats into the showers and call people lollygaggers. I’m thankful they decided to wait a few years before doing that.

The Nationals aren’t in a position to hire an A-grade manager right now. No A-grade manager worth his salt would take this job right now. There’s too much in transition, too much reputation at stake for what would be, at best, two losing seasons followed by a .500 season. Why not let someone of decent talent and demeanor soak up a few of those losses, and manage the talent that’s in the AAA and AA system into the majors? Thus enters the Rigs. Will he be enough to get the Nats back toward .500? Yes, I think so. His choices were far less frustrating than Acta’s, and he actually seemed to have a personal stake in the day to day on-field action, instead of being an impassive sphinx.

The Daily Feed
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Gold Glove goes to Zimmerman

Photo courtesy of
‘Ryan Zimmerman 3’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

As was widely rumored this morning, Nationals’ 3B Ryan Zimmerman was officially revealed as this year’s National League Gold Glove winner at Third Base. Zim lead the NL at his position in defensive chances, assists and games started, and his play was pretty spectacular on the defensive side.

Zimmerman is just the second DC player to receive the honor, and the first in 49 years, since Senators catcher Earl Buttey won it in 1960. Way to go, Zim! Here’s hoping it’s the first of many.