Category Archives: Sports Fix

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Know Your (Jayson) Werth

Photo courtesy of
‘Jayson Werth’
courtesy of ‘pvsbond’

The word is out this afternoon that just days after the Nationals parted ways with first baseman Adam Dunn, the team has come to terms with former Philadelphia outfielder Jayson Werth.  The team is expected to announce the deal in a 5pm press conference.  While the details of the contract have yet to come to light, beyond it being a 7-year deal, this a huge bombshell to start off the Winter Meetings in Orlando.

To give you Werth’s details at Nats Park, in 2010, Werth hit .419 at Nats Park, and slugged .806 for a monstrous OPS of 1.306, the best of any ballpark not named Coors Field.  Now, granted, some of that has to be given to our terrible pitching, but it’s still impressive to see someone take to a place like that.

Asking around this morning, everyone I talked with seemed to like Jayson, and one of my fellow fans went as far as to say that if you don’t like Jayson Werth, chances are you probably just don’t like people.  Looks like Ryan Zimmerman has an upgrade behind him in the lineup!

Update: According to sources, the deal is worth $126M over 7 years, or approximately, the gross domestic product of Kiribati.

Sports Fix, The Features
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Capitals snooze and lose in Hannan’s first game at Verizon

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_7599a’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

Perhaps this is not what Scott Hannan had in mind for his first couple games in as a Capital.

Get traded to a first place powerhouse, an offensive juggernaut that could deeply use another top-four defenseman and … lose. That has been the case so far in the Hannan-era. The Capitals have scored two goals in his two games and have lost to Dallas and Atlanta, showing little spark in the process.

On Saturday Washington was dropped 3-1 by Atlanta, the second straight time (after a 5-0 embarrassment in Atlanta Nov. 19) they have lost to their division rival and third time of the season. Hannan was not around for the first four meetings against the Atlanta yet the Capitals’ shiny new defenseman (at least to them) had little to say about the outcome. Hannan played 17 shifts for 14:33 of ice time registering one hit and one blocked shot while posting a plus/minus ratio of -1.

“We had some energy there in the first but it just didn’t seem like we could bury our chances and they buried theirs when they got they got the chance,” Hannan said. Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats make overnight contract moves, part ways with Dunn

Photo courtesy of
‘Adam Dunn’
courtesy of ‘Max Cook’

Yesterday evening at midnight was the end of season deadline for the Nationals to agree to contracts with their arbitration-eligible players, and the Nats let Chien-Ming Wang, Wil Nieves (Who?) and Joel Peralta go without a contract.  The Nats did agree to contracts to Jesus Flores and Alberto Gonzalez for the 2011 season.  The other five players that will participate in binding arbitration are John Lannan, Josh Willingham, Sean Burnett, Michael Morse and Doug Slaten.  Of these deals, the biggest departure is Peralta, who had an excellent second half of 2010 after his promotion from Syracuse.


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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Caps trade Fleischmann to Colorado for defenseman Hannan

Photo courtesy of
‘Scott Hannan’
courtesy of ‘pointnshoot’

The tradewinds were swirling this weekend surrounding center Tomas Fleischmann, and today those rumors turned into hard facts as the Caps completed a trade with the Colorado Avalanche to bring strong defensive presence Scott Hannan to Washington.  Hannan would’ve lead the Caps each of the last three seasons in blocked shots.

Hannan will join the Caps in St. Louis tonight and be available tomorrow morning.  Asked about his initial reaction, Hannan said “I’m really excited to be joining a team in first place, and making a run for the Stanley Cup.” Hannan is part of a big picture problem for the Caps, building a stronger defense to match the already prolific offense.  Hannan said this afternoon that he would be ready to play tomorrow, but that whether he’d play would be at the Caps discretion. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
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Week 11 Recap – Skins vs. Vikings

Photo courtesy of
‘120306 021’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

On the first drive of the game, the Redskins offense looked great. They traveled 83 yards in nearly 8 minutes and capped it off with a touchdown catch by Fred Davis. After that, the offense looked mediocre. A combination of costly drops and penalties led to a 17-13 victory by the Vikings. Donovan McNabb had another solid game, throwing for 211 yards and a touchdown, but was sacked 4 times and was not helped by an anemic rushing attack. For the Vikings, Brett Favre managed the game well and did not throw an interception for only the second time this season. Despite an injury to star running back Adrian Peterson, the Vikings also ran for 137 yards and controlled the clock late in the game to seal the win. The Skins are now 5-6 with a critical game against the Giants upcoming. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Caps need the shootout, but get win over Carolina

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_4847’
courtesy of ‘photopete’

The Capitals last night faced Carolina for the second time in a week and came away with a win. In a tight divisional matchup with the Hurricanes, the Caps got out to a blazing fast start, racking up a pair of goals on the sticks of Marcus Johansson and Alexander Semin, and it would’ve been many more than that, had Cam Ward not been playing an absolute gem for the ‘Canes.  The Caps put 17 shots on goal in the first, and there were at least three more that were nearly in but for the efforts of Ward.

Of course, the ‘Canes weren’t the only team with a solid performance in goal; Semyon Varlamov put up another amazing effort tonight, and his work in the shootout earned him the number one star for the evening.  Varly turned aside 28 shots on goal tonight before the shootout and rejected all three Hurricanes in the shootout and absolutely saved the game for the Capitals tonight.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Wizards Beats 76ers In Overtime… Again!

Photo by Patrick Pho

The last time the Sixers came into the Verizon Center the story was all about the top two picks in the 2010 draft facing head-to-head. Turner ended up playing 27 minutes off the bench while Wall started and scored 29 points the night.

Tonight the tables have turned, Turner ran out of the tunnel as a starter while Wall sat on the bench- active but still recovering from a left foot sprain. He entered the game in the first quarter to cheers but didn’t look like himself as he passed the ball around to shooters that put up bricks early in the game. The one thing that did stay the same for the Wizards this time around was the result: a Victory in overtime. Thanks to a game clinching shot by Nick Young and another strong performance from JaVale McGee, the Wiz eek out past the Sixers 116-114.

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Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Fix: The Fog of November edition

Photo courtesy of
‘00209054’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

Wizards
Record: 4-8
Last Two Weeks: 3-4
Place: Fifth in the Southeast

It’s amazing that the Wizards managed to win three games considering John Wall didn’t play in two of them. The franchise player has been out four straight games with a left foot sprain. Wizards fan can breathe a sigh of relief however, Wall is expected to return to the court for Tuesday’s game against Philadelphia. In Wall’s stead, Gilbert Arenas has retaken the reigns but is still trying to find that 3-point shot that he’s known for. Including last night’s loss to Detroit, he’s 5-21 (23.8%) in 3-point shots in the past three games- a bit off from his career 35.9%.

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Sports Fix, The Features
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Week 10 Recap – Skins vs. Titans

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‘39322-14’
courtesy of ‘furcafe’

Everything seemed hopeless after the Redskins’ Monday night debacle against the Eagles. Then, they took their gold pants to Nashville and beat the Titans 19-16 in overtime. I guess this proves that the Eagle game was an anomaly. The Skins were scrappy against the Titans, the defense forced a couple of turnovers, and Donovan McNabb looked great with 376 yards and a touchdown passing. Better yet, McNabb ran the two-minute offense exactly how Mike Shanahan wanted him to run it. Only Graham Gano’s missed 47-yard field goal at the end of regulation prevented total confirmation. Gano did connect on a 48-yarder in overtime, thanks in part to the Titans’ penalties, to seal the victory. The Skins are back at .500 and all five wins have come when they’ve scored less than 20 points. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
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Week 9 Recap – Skins vs. Eagles

Photo courtesy of
‘Super Bowl flags’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

A couple of hours prior to the Monday night kickoff, Donovan McNabb signed a 5-year extension with the Redskins. It may have been poor timing given what happened later. The Eagles gave the Skins one of the worst beatings in franchise history, 59-28. It’s always hard to write something positive about your favorite team after they’ve been destroyed on national television. Michael Vick looked like an MVP, throwing for 333 yards and 4 touchdowns while rushing for 80 yards and two touchdowns. The Eagles scored 35 points in the first 20 minutes and, while the Skins showed some life in the 2nd quarter, the contest was all but over. This game needs to be placed in the rearview mirror quickly with the Titans coming up next week.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Redskins Cheat Sheet

Photo courtesy of
‘McNabb takes off’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

We’re sorry the cheatsheet is so late, but I’m guessing that given the 59-28 ass-whooping that the Redskins took last night, I suspect that there was a lot of not talking about the Skins at the water cooler today, which is enough to give you some clue what they’re dealing with today. There are still a few things you need to know:

A thick coat of shellac: Well, McNabb got a four year extension to play until he’s Brett Favre’s age while Mike Vick ran us for some 400+ yards and six touchdowns. President Obama, see, that’s a shellacking.

Redskins signed McNabb to five more years: This one’s a tough one, because there’s some controversy here. McNabb’s career has some significant milestones, but it’s clear he’s not the quarterback that he once was. He remains, though, a battle-tested leader and strong clubhouse presence.  Still, that won’t matter if the team can’t put together some form of defense.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Wizards Outplayed By Bobcats

Defense.

We know it makes champions, and it was certainly the key to the Wizards victory against the Rockets this past Wednesday. However defense was also a weak point coming into tonight’s game against the Charlotte Bobcats- the Wiz were 24th in the league allowing 106 points per game to opponents. Charlotte on the other hand entered the game 8th in the NBA in points allowed per game with 95.63.

So who’s defense would match up tonight? Would we see the Wizard’s continue with their tough defense that was displayed against Houston or will Charlotte stifle the Wiz?

The answer was neither.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Wizards Shutdown Rockets In Wall’s First Career Triple-Double

There was so much about last night’s game that reminded me of last Tuesday’s home opener.

A marquee match-up: this time around it was a Yao vs. Yi Chinese face-off.

A game after a notable embarrassment: a notably terrible practice that caused Coach Saunders to flip out.

An energy about John Wall that excited the crowd.

Well  I suspect every game will have that sort of anticipation.

What was also the similar to last Tuesday’s opener was the result: a win for the Wizards and another achievement for rookie John Wall. However that’s where the similarities end.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Zimmerman passed over for Golden Glove

Photo courtesy of
‘Ryan Zimmerman’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

Ryan Zimmerman is a joy to watch at 3rd base.  He’s the sort of guy that old school radio announcers loved to call games around.  “Zimmerman at Third like a Razor’s Edge!”  “Zimmerman makes the play, leaping on that ball like a mongoose!”  He’s a phenomenal athlete, and the core of the Nationals’ young franchise.  Unfortunately, he couldn’t repeat his Golden Glove performance of 2009.

This year’s Golden Glove goes to Scott Rolen of the Reds, who had 9 fewer errors in 6 more chances at third base, as well as five more double plays than Zimmerman.  While Zim had a great year for the Nationals, and was largely the team’s MVP, it’s hard to ignore the statistics.  Sorry Zim, you’ll get it in 2011.

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Bye Week Edition

Slapshot

Capitals
Record: 10-4
Last Two Weeks:
Place: 5-1 First in the Southeast, 20 points

A four-game winning streak. A trio of capable young goalies. Undefeated in Overtime. That’s not a bad first month of the season for the Capitals. Perfect? No, they’ve made some mistakes, but they’ve had a pretty good start, and that’s all that Coach Bruce Boudreau needs right now to keep things moving.

The Caps are still trying to find their offensive groove, and some of the lines are working better than others. They’ll be testing things out against the NY Rangers on Tuesday night at the Garden, then back to DC for Thursday night’s match with Tampa Bay. They bounce around a bit for the next two weeks, with games here and away against Buffalo and Atlanta. Continue reading →

Sports Fix
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Skins Mid-Season Report

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘dbking’

After half a season, the Redskins seem to have almost as many questions marks as they did during training camp. However, there is reason to believe things can come together and the team can make a run towards the playoffs. 4 wins matches the win total from last season, and there are significant improvements in the areas of preparation, discipline, and opportunistic play. There’s also a major issue at quarterback and a lack of depth at key positions that will need to be resolved. Here are the major storylines thus far in 2010.

The Haynesworth Saga – What seemed like a problem a few weeks ago appears to have been assuaged. Mike Shanahan and Albert Haynesworth are now on the same page, and Haynesworth is playing at his highest level since joining the Skins. We should remember that these two men were barely talking to each other during the off-season and Haynesworth complained about the new defensive scheme. His benching and the death of his brother didn’t help matters either. The last 3 games, however, Haynesworth has looked great and they need him to continue that play in order to make the playoffs.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Caps notch Overtime win against Philly, 3-2

Title Card

Sunday night’s early evening game against the Flyers was full of opportunities for the Capitals to assert their dominance, but it was Philly that struck first.  Nikolay Zherdev scored on the breakaway against Braden Holtby in his first NHL start.  Holtby would block 23 of 25 and earn the second star tonight, including three beautiful back-to-back-to-back saves against a Flyers onslaught in the third period.

Eric Fehr and Alexander Semin would chalk up regulation goals in the first and the second for the Capitals, in an offensive performance that was mostly lackluster.  The Caps would pepper Bobrovsky with 39 shots, striking just three times tonight.  Worse were the missed connections from the Caps offense, which just couldn’t connect on the cross tonight, and had a number of difficulties clearing the puck.

The best chance for the Caps to finish off the Flyers came with 3:55 remaining in the third. Chris Pronger got booked on a double-minor for high-sticking, as he swatted defenseman Dave Steckel in the nose.  The physical game was almost entirely in Philly’s corner tonight, with the Flyers outhitting the Caps 30-17, and that’s what got them into the situation that cost them the game.  The Caps started overtime playing 5 on 3, and just 29 seconds into the period, Mike Green beat rookie minder Bobrovsky high on a laser shot to claim the victory.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Andy Najar, Rookie of the Year

Andy Najar
Photo by D.C. United

The only good thing to happen to D.C. United this season was Andy Najar. The 17-year-old midfielder came up from their Academy team at the beginning of the season and lit up Major League Soccer with seven goals and two assists, as he became a mainstay in the center of United’s XI. Today, he reaped the just rewards and picked up Rookie of the Year honors, becoming the youngest player in the MLS ever to do so, and just the second ever as part of a last place team.

Najar became the first member of United to win the award since interim coach Ben Olsen did it in 1998. Congrats, Andy, and we hope that you have a long and storied career here in DC.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Wall Goes Double-Double, Leads Wiz To First Victory In Home Opener

A view of the Verizon Center prior to the game. (photo by Patrick Pho)

The Wizards fans arrived to the Verizon Center for their home opener eager for a win. After starting the season with losses to Orlando and Atlanta, the crowd was ready for 2010’s first overall pick John Wall to go toe-to-toe with the second overall pick Evan Turner.

That didn’t exactly happen.

While The Wizards finally earned their first W in the home opener, they did so in a nail biting overtime thriller that tested the team’s depth and will to succeed. The evening’s storyline of Wall vs. Turner was soon replaced with Nick Young’s 23 points off the bench, Wall’s double-double that was one steal short of a triple-double, and Cartier Martin’s game tying buzzer-beater to send the game in overtime and allow the Wizards to close out a strong performance that suffered a fourth quarter meltdown.

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