WTOP is reporting that the Potomac River Company will provide water taxis from the Alexandria waterfront to a dock at Nationals Park beginning Tuesday, September 8. It’s a 40 minute boat ride and costs $12 one way or $20 roundtrip. They will be offering the water taxi rides for seven Nationals home games in September (Sept. 8, 9, 10, 25, 28, 29, and 30).

For those wishing to water taxi their way over from National Harbor, a separate taxi can be taken over to Alexandria to catch the baseball water taxi, but this would be an additional $8 one way or $16 roundtrip.

According to the report, the company hopes to expand the water taxi service in time for baseball next season.

For More info, visit WTOP.com

MASN has just reminded me that some people like sports other than baseball! Due to a Ravens/Panthers pre-season football game (what’s football?), there is some shuffling going on at MASN to be able to broadcast the Ravens, the Os, and most importantly, the Nationals all at the same time on Saturday, August 29th.

Looks like the Nationals will be in HD for all of us DC area folks. Below is the announcement from MASN.

Saturday’s Channel Lineup for MASN’s Nationals, Orioles and Ravens Coverage

(Washington D.C.) — MASN will be carrying the Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore Ravens simultaneously on Saturday evening, August 29th.

In the Washington, D.C. DMA, the Nationals game vs. the St. Louis Cardinals will appear on WDCW-50, as well as on WDCW-50’s HD channel and MASN HD. Nats Xtra begins at 6:30 p.m.

The Ravens preseason game against the Carolina Panthers will appear on MASN, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The Orioles will host the Cleveland Indians on MASN 2 with O’s Xtra beginning at 6:30 p.m.

In the Baltimore DMA , the Orioles game will appear on WJZ. The Nationals game will air on MASN and MASN HD, while the Ravens game will be on MASN 2.

Exciting news for those who are Nationals fans and dog lovers!! The Washington Nationals will be hosting their first ever Pups in the Park days on Saturday and Sunday, September 5 & 6. You’ve probably been to a few games during which the Nationals had adoption events during which dogs in need of homes were paraded around the outside of the plaza. And perhaps you’ve seen ads for Pups in the Park recently and thought this was the same thing. Oh, but it is so much better…

This pilot program will enable fans to bring their favorite dog to the park with them! You heard me right: Your dog can watch the game with you from the Left Field Mezzanine area. Tickets are available for purchase online at www.nationals.com/pups and cost $20 for a human ticket and $5 for a dog ticket with proceeds from this event benefiting the Washington Humane Society. The entire $5 of the dog ticket, plus $2 from every human ticket purchased will go to WHS – that’s pretty dog gone good! That’s really like spending $18 on a seat in the LF Mezzanine and then donating $7 to WHS (and by the way, those seats cost $30 for regular games). Seats are limited, so please act fast!

This sounds pretty good, right? So how does it work? What’s the catch? First of all, tickets are only available for purchase online – no walk ups! Season Ticket Holders who already have tickets to this game must exchange their season tickets and then purchase a “Pups in the Park” ticket online from the site above in order to participate in the event.

On game day, you must enter through the Left Field Gate. After entering the gate, you must drop off a signed waiver indicating that your dog is up to date on all his/her shots and vaccinations. The waivers will be emailed to you after you purchase your tickets so you can fill them out ahead of time.

You might be asking yourself, “But what it if is a hot day and my dog is thirsty” (or my dog has to, you know, go)? For the comfort of all pooches, a water and relief area will be located on the landing of Section 201.

No dogs will be allowed at the concession areas! So now you are thinking, “But what if I want something from the concession areas?” Of course you can leave your dog with your guest, but what if you are alone? These Nationals event coordinators think of everything; you may leave your dog with Pet Sitters who will be located on the Section 201 landing area as well.

I can personally say that I love this idea, and I am completely disappointed that my dog Emma and I cannot attend this event. I will be out of town, and unless her grandma or her uncle offers to take her, she will have to miss out. But I can also say that I attended a Nationals game at Turner Field in Atlanta a few summers ago and it happened to be Pups in the Park day for The Braves. The event seemed to be very successful down there, and I have been hoping ever since that the Nationals would come through with a similar event.

The Nationals have provided me with some helpful hints for making Pups in the Park a success:

You are responsible for your dog’s behavior at the event

Keep your dog under control at all times

Watch for and immediately correct any warning signs of potential aggression (Carolyn’s added note here: These symptoms may also occur if the Marlins start to score runs)

o Tail straight up and stiff
o Hair raised on their backs
o Lips raised to snarl
o Growling

Dogs pick up on your energy – stay calm, assertive, and be the leader of your Pack!

When Humans Greet Dogs

o Greet the owner first and ask the owner if it is OK to greet their dog
o Avoid eye contact with the dog initially – they can interpret this as a challenge
o Do not offer food to a dog other than your own without the owner’s permission

When Dogs Greet Dogs

o Dogs sniff each other- this is a universal and appropriate way for them to greet
o Allow your dog to sniff and be sniffed by others – if they growl or snap, they are being rude – and you will need to keep them restrained

So I hope all you Nats fan/dog lovers reading this will go out there and have a great time with your best friend, while also raising money for the Washington Humane Society. After all, rescue dogs are awesome! Just ask my little Emma.

For any other information I may have missed or to purchase your tickets, please visit the Nationals online (www.nationals.com/pups).

Pups in the Park Release and Waiver

And the link on Facebook.

Another successful Ladies Night was had on the rooftop party deck at Nats Park last night. It was a hot and humid night, but that didn’t stop the party. The rooftop tent was packed right up until game time, with in fact, what seemed like a bigger turn out then the last couple of times. Everyone (including a lot of men as it turns out) looked to be having a good time eating some Hard Times nachos, relaxing with chair massages, doing some shopping, drinking from the sample table or the cash bar, hitting some balls at putt-putt, and of course getting their photos taken with Jim Riggleman, John Lannan, and J.D. Martin.

The Nationals usually try to provide giveaways for the first 1000 people to enter Ladies Night, and last night they did not fail to deliver, providing us with a really great Nationals picture frame. Thanks to Bree Parker and Katherine Mitchell of the Nationals for putting together a great event once again.

When the party was over, some of the participants gathered to watch the game from their Left Field seats. Seated next to me was a trio of women. One of them informed me that she wasn’t a big fan and didn’t follow baseball too much, but she couldn’t turn down a Ladies Night! The trio then told me that they had never been to a baseball game before. I assumed they meant that they had just never been to Nats Park before. Nope…Diana, Sydney, and Elaine each had never been to a professional baseball game anywhere before last night. Sometimes I forget how fortunate I was as a kid to be taken to games at Shea and now as an adult being able to go see The Nats whenever I want. I sometimes assume that everyone starts going to baseball from the time they are 2! As first timers, those three sure looked like they were having fun, and they definitely knew what was going on during the game. They asked me a couple of questions throughout, but really didn’t need to ask too much. They were pretty funny about two of the things they asked …

1. If one of them catches an important ball (someone’s milestone HR, let’s say) and the player wants it back, can they negotiate for free tickets to a future game?
2. If a hitter’s bat breaks on a hit, does he get some sort of ‘pass’ that allows him to get to first?

I loved it! I think they would need to work it out with The Nationals on that first one, but on that second question, given how often we see daggers of wood flying around, could you imagine how many bases would be earned if such a pass existed?! It was a pleasure sitting next to those three, and I hope they had a good time and come back to NatsTown for some more – even when it isn’t Ladies Night. It’s a shame the team couldn’t win for them.

But it was a ‘Win’ for those of us who attended the Ladies Night event. A good time was had by all (as seen here), and we look forward to next season’s events.

Well, as most of you probably know, The Nationals have done it. They’ve signed their number one draft pick and supposed phenom Stephen Strasburg for a record 15+ million dollars. There were celebrations heard all across NatsTown last night and this morning as many fans believe that having Strasburg on this team can only lead to good things.

Out of love for the team, I’ll say that I am that happy the Nationals were able to get him, assuming this amateur pitcher is as good as he is touted to be. However, I must qualify that by saying it sickens me to my core that they had to agree to those terms in order to get him and right now, I cannot consider myself a big fan. Even without Strasburg, I have a hard time understanding the ‘worth’ of proven players, but then to see this much money thrown at (and demanded by) a kid who has never played professionally or proven himself at that level, it is very hard for me. I am hearing that this amount seems ‘fair’, but I personally cannot make any sense of that, and while it is a great day for Nationals baseball, I hope it does not turn out to be a not-so-great day for baseball in general. But I’ll get over it. In the end, it doesn’t affect me, so what should I care? I’ve got my own life to worry about.

From what I can tell (at least from what I read and hear from my friends and fellow bloggers), fans are happy for his arrival. They have great hope that this guy can single handedly bring good things to this team. And while I may not be thrilled with the money part of this deal, I can still hold out some hope for that as well and truly want all the hype to be fulfilled.

And since we are busy hoping, here are a few of my other hopes…I hope that he is every bit as good as his bonus implies he is. I hope that he works his way up to the majors soon, but that he is not rushed and brought up before he is ready. I hope that he wins every game he starts and scares the pants off of every batter he faces. I hope early fame does not go to his head. I hope that he takes care of that arm of his. I hope that the stress of being the savior of the team does not wear him out, and that fans of this team have patience with him. I hope that his greed is not an indication of his arrogance. I hope that he appreciates what he’s been given and that he is accommodating and friendly to his new-found fans. I hope that he realizes that $15 million is not a shortcut to respect, and that some people think that he still must earn that on the field.

So with that I say Welcome to the Team Stephen Strasburg!! Good luck to you and your (hopefully) long career in DC (whenever you actually make it up here). Try not to spend all that money in one place, OK?

John Lannnan has launched his own Lannan’s Cannons program!

From the Nationals:

Pitcher Partners with The Children’s Inn at NIH to Provide a Baseball Experience For Their Patients

The Washington Nationals and Pitcher John Lannan today announced the launch of Lannan’s Cannons, a ticket program designed to bring joy into the lives of sick children and their families. Lannan will host residents of The Children’s Inn at NIH, located in Bethesda, MD, for a day of baseball and fun at the ballpark, away from their treatments and the hospital. Lannan will also lend his name and image to The Children’s Inn Sports Ambassadors program, which aims to raise funds and awareness for their $93-a-night-campaign, which refers to the cost of housing families at The Inn.

Beginning on Sunday, August 9, Lannan will host 25 guests from The Children’s Inn at Nationals Park for all remaining Sunday home games (August 23 vs. Milwaukee, September 6 vs. Florida and September 27 vs. Atlanta). In addition to the ticket to the game, each guest will receive a food voucher for a hot dog, chips and a drink, and a Lannan’s Cannons t-shirt. Lannan will meet with the children and their families when they arrive at the ballpark, schedule permitting.

“My hope is that bringing these children to the ballpark will provide them with an escape from the rigors of treatment, and that they can enjoy a baseball game and a day with their families,” said Nationals Pitcher John Lannan. “I’m proud to partner with The Children’s Inn at NIH to raise awareness for their mission, while creating new Nationals fans throughout the region.”

Also, this weekend is the annual Blood Drive at Nationals Park with the American Red Cross.

From the Nationals:

Ballclub Aims To Collect 250 Pints of Blood on Saturday, August 8

The Washington Nationals will host the fifth annual Nationals Blood Drive in partnership with the American Red Cross on Saturday, August 8 from 8:00am – 2:00pm. The Nationals have partnered with the Red Cross each season since returning to Washington for a blood drive in August; the 2008 drive collected 176 pints of blood.

The Nationals will host Blood Drive in the Nationals Park Conference Center, rooms three and four. Donors will receive a unique Nationals collectible t-shirt, two tickets to an upcoming Nationals home game, and the opportunity to win autographed memorabilia and a visit to batting practice along with four tickets in the PNC Diamond Club, along with the knowledge they’ve helped save a life. Nationals player Jordan Zimmermann (schedule permitting), will sign autographs and meet with donors during a portion of the drive. Appointments may be made by calling 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or visiting www.my-redcross.org. Parking is available for all donors in Nationals Park Garage C, located on the corners of 1st and N Street, SE. The Conference Center may be accessed through the Third Base Gate, located on South Capitol Street, SE.

“The Washington Nationals are thankful to our fans and to the community for contributing to the success of our blood drives over the past four years and we are hopeful that they will continue to support us as we aim to collect 250 pints of blood,” said Chartese Burnett, VP of Communications & Community Relations. “In our fifth year, we look forward to rolling up our sleeves with the community on August 8 to help save lives.”

Attention Ladies! It’s that time of year once again when the Washington Nationals host their Baseball 101 Women’s Clinic. If you’ve been to the clinic before, you might notice that the Nationals are mixing it up a little this year. For one, it takes place on a Friday - July 17th to be exact. In past seasons, one price included 2 hours on the field and about an hour or so having lunch followed by a Q&A session with several folks associated with the Nationals. This year there is no lunch, with the day being split into two portions, and lunch being replaced by dinner.

The day portion of the event will run from 9:30am until 12:00pm. It will include a “Behind the Scenes” tour of Nationals Park and the ever popular on-field skills session with Nationals coaches. The first two women’s clinics were not exactly the same, so I can only guess at what this year’s on-field skills will include. But I think it is safe to assume that you will have some sort of a discussion in the outfield about the decision making that occurs during games (or possibly a go at throwing and fielding the ball), a quick lesson on how to run the bases, some sort of baseball talk in the dugout, a turn in the batting cages, and of course my favorite, pitching in the bull pen. Now, during the first clinic, we actually took turns throwing the ball in the outfield and fielding ground balls, however, we didn’t even touch the ball in the bull pen, instead getting a demonstration only. At the second clinic we only had a discussion in the outfield with no physical participation on our part, but in the bullpen, we actually got to pitch (which is so much better than talking). So I can’t say exactly what will happen this year. Regardless, I am willing to bet that our base running lesson will not allow us to run around the actual bases, as we never have been able to do this in the past.

The evening portion of the event will take place on the Rooftop Party Deck from 4:30pm until 6:30pm. This allows anyone participating in both events to go home and clean up! During this time, participants can talk to Debbi Taylor and Bob Carpenter of MASN, Chartese Burnett who is the VP of Communications for the Nationals, and “more” although I don’t know what “more” is (it’s a tease)! Dinner will also be served overlooking the ball park. Then of course, at 7:05pm, participants will go inside the park to watch the Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs!

For those of you ladies who have always wanted to talk to Bob and Debbi, but feared picking up and throwing a ball, then this is your year. Women can opt to either participate in the entire day including the skills session ($85) or just the evening portion ($45). So if you are only interested in the Q&A and dinner and the game, or you attended prior years’ clinics and don’t care to repeat, there is still an option for you.

Oh, and important information I found out for you all: There will be new t-shirts given out this year, not the same pink ones as the first two years!!

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the first two seasons of Baseball 101, and I plan on attending this year’s – in fact, I am even cutting short my Jersey Shore vacation just to attend! I love being on the field, standing in the dugout, hitting, and hopefully…pitching! For a true fan of the game, it doesn’t get much better than this. In years past, the coaches have been terrific and really seemed to enjoy the event themselves. They were always surprised at our level of knowledge and fandom, although I don’t know why that should have surprised them. And of course, this year, we have a whole new set of coaches to impress!! If you haven’t gone before, I highly recommend it.

For more information or to register, visit the Baseball 101 site. https://secure.mlb.com/was/community/baseball_101.jsp

As many of you may have read, the Washington Nationals hosted a Blogger Day a few weeks ago during which we were able to interview several players, one being Adam Dunn. In many of the blogs, Adam was quoted as saying to us, “I don’t even know what a blog is,” which resulted in much laughter. Well, it looks like he figured it out!

Today it was announced that Adam Dunn would begin blogging on MASNsports.com. According to MASN, Adam has forged a partnership with the network that will include a monthly blog of self-selected topics in addition to a weekly video segment in which he will answer questions submitted directly from the fans. The blog and video segment will both appear on MASNsports.com.

“To talk to fans directly, answer their questions, and be able to explain what we do out here every night — that’s a pretty unique opportunity,” said Adam Dunn. “I’m obviously new to blogging, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Adam will also participate in several Wired Wednesday segments throughout the rest of the 2009 season. In case you are not one of the reported 9,000 folks who watch games on TV, Wired Wednesday involves players wearing a microphone during the game for the enjoyment of the viewers. The segment works best with players full of personality, and watching Adam wired up should be fun.

As part of their announcement, the network stated the following:

“MASN is proud to be the home of Adam’s new blog, which will surely showcase his energy, enthusiasm, humor, and humility. It will be a great platform for fans to get to know more about Adam, both on and off the field,” said MASN spokesman Todd Webster. “On television and online, MASN continues to implement new features that bring fans closer to the game and the Nationals.”

Unfortunately, MASN’s announcement did not give a definite start time and only states that his blog will appear “soon.” We’ll keep you posted when we know more.

On Saturday, 20 June 2009, The Washington Nationals took a step in the right direction and hosted their first Blogger Day. And no, Bloggers Day wasn’t just some free tickets in the same section and food coupons. What the Nationals did for those of us who blog about the team was open their doors and treat us, sort of, like regular media and give us access that we normally do not possess.

And here’s the recap…

Our day began at 3pm when we all met up at the Media Gate to receive our credentials. We each received our day pass with our names and blog sites listed, as well as the “F” for field access! We were then taken to the media room…you know that place with the MASN and Nationals logos covering the wall where you may see Manny Acta talk post-game or where Ryan Zimmerman discussed his contract? Yeah, that place. We were given time with Lisa Pagano and Israel Negron to discuss Community Relations and the work that the Nationals do for the community, especially with children to promote literacy, and their efforts to get this information out to the public.

When that interview was over, a parade of players came into the room. We were expecting Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn based on the itinerary given to us the day before, however, Willie Harris and Nick Johnson decided to join them. Although, Nick was a little question shy and asked us to leave him out of the Q&A and just let him watch!

The guys were good sports and answered all our questions without any hesitation. Although they may not have been 100% sure why we were there (“I don’t even know what a blog is!” – Adam Dunn), they all seemed comfortable with the laid back and casual atmosphere of our Q&A session. Unfortunately, 10 minutes was all the time we had scheduled for these guys. I wish it could have been longer.

At the end of the player interview, Manny Acta came in to give us 20 minutes of his time. Again, it was more casual than any “regular” interview he would normally give. Instead of sitting at the table, he came down and pulled up a chair and sat on the same level as us. He seemed genuinely interested our questions and seemed to have a good time himself. In fact, I spoke to Manny the next day and he told me that he wished he could have been scheduled for a longer amount a time. He also said he was looking forward to August when there is going to be another Blogger Day and hopes that he can be given more time with us then.

When these interviews were complete, we were guided on an in depth tour of the park by chief tour guide and NatsTown’s favorite usher, Coach. Many of us had already seen these sites, but it was a great time nonetheless. We were shown the Presidents Club, Shirley Povich Media Center, press boxes, and Diamond Club before being deposited onto the field to watch batting practice.

We were then joined by Mark Scialabba who is the Assistant Director of Player Development to discuss our farm system and the future of our younger players. For a very thorough recap of that interview, you really should check out Nats320’s blog post.

Finally, it was close to game time, and more importantly to me at that moment, time to eat. We were invited to dine in the press dining area (or to go out on our own). For ten bucks we were offered a buffet of some sort (I didn’t look at it, so I cannot comment on the offerings although I was told that “buffet” is a loose term) or to order from the grill. My eyes set sites on a cheeseburger and fries; so really, there was no other choice for me. Was the food good? Well, let’s just say for ten bucks, there isn’t much else at Nationals Park that I have eaten that was much better – of course, that is not saying much. I am not a foodie, admittedly, and don’t get all that excited about food in general, but there isn’t too much you can do to ruin a burger, so yeah, it was fine. I will say that the french fries were fantastic with coarse salt and cracked pepper sprinkled on them. Anyway…

For our last interview of the night, Stan Kasten and Mike Rizzo came in and spoke to us for about 20 minutes. They were both very cordial and did a good job of answering most of the questions, although I’m not so sure that Stan is a big fan of bloggers or knows what to think of us. Nevertheless, he was very generous with not only his time, but his press box as well. Stan gave up his press box for the night and allowed all of us bloggers to sit there, with the windows open and laptops on, to take in the game. Some of us wrote our blogs for posting the following day; some of us took the opportunity to get in some more interviews; some of us just watched the game (oh and what a game to watch!).

There were ground rules given to us on this Bloggers Day, and at first we were told not to cheer in the press box. I could understand this with professional media and the Blue Jays executives on either side of our box, and I was ready to obey this rule. However, we were then told that this directive was incorrect …we should go ahead and cheer. A few of us did cheer (myself included) since there was so much to cheer about in that game. I know a few fellow bloggers did not like this or felt embarrassed by the cheering, but heck, I am fan first. If I wasn’t a fan, I wouldn’t take the time to write on this blog. So cheering for my team is part of the package. If you don’t like it, then leave me out the next time! Oh, and there will be a next time. We were promised another Bloggers Day for sometime in August.

The only bad part about Bloggers Day for me is that I am new to this and wasn’t really prepared to be participating in interviews. I had no decent digital recorder to record the interviews (it was a good test of the iPhone 3.0 software upgrade with memo recorder: test results = failure) and my good camera was out of commission. So I took mediocre shots and was not able to record any of the interviews, for which I apologize greatly. I will, however, direct you to many of the fantastic blogs where interview content was recorded. They did a much better job with this than I did.

One last mention… I titled this post ‘Blogger Day Staring Willie Harris’ for a reason. I managed to squeeze in one and only one question in all the interviews we did that day. My question was to Willie Harris. He was sitting there during the player interviews, and all the attention was being shown to Nick (who was asked questions despite asking to be a spectator only), Zim, and Adam. So seeing that no one had asked Willie anything, I asked him my one and only question: Given how things are going, how does he always manage to come across so upbeat and positive?

His answer in a nutshell…He has to. He has to be positive to be a role model because guys feed off a positive attitude. He has to be positive because he knows that he is going to have way more good days than he will bad days. He said, if you stay positive and play the game hard, the game will give back to you eventually (I’d like to point out that he said the same thing to Debbi Taylor in a post-game interview, but said it to me first!!). I like Willie Harris a lot, and I am so happy that Saturday was a great day for him and that the game “gave back” to him. And I’m not going to say that my asking him that question caused him to a have a great game including that walk-off home run to win the game, because I know that I can’t take any credit for the way a player performs on the field, but I would like to think that maybe after he gave me that answer he took his own words to heart and decided he was going to have a great day. Not that the world revolves around me or anything…

I want to thank the blog Nationals Pride for recording video of Willie’s answer to my question and posting it on their blog.

I also want to thank the Nationals for Saturday’s event. Mike Gazda, Bill Gluvna, John Dever, and everyone else involved were excited for this event, made us feel very welcome, and were completely open to our feedback. And I think I can speak for the other bloggers when I say that the opportunity was appreciated and we look forward to the next time.

Check out my pictures of the event!

Read more about Bloggers Day at the following sites…

Federal Baseball

Nationals Inquisition

Nationals Pride

Just a Nats Fan

FJB

Nats 320

Nats News Network

I know that some of you may be getting a wee bit tired of my rah-rah attitude towards the Nationals. After all, they are the worse team in MLB, right? So why am I always defending them and seeing the positive side? Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I’m going there again.

I was reading Dan Steinberg’s Sports Bog about the series versus the Yankees. He posted several quotes from NY area newspapers about the series, specifically about the Nationals (more specifically, about how pathetic it was for the Yankees to lose to the Nationals). The adjectives used by these papers to describe the Nationals just about killed me. Lowly, wretched, woeful, dismal were just a few of my favorites that I saw posted there as well as in other places I found myself.

Lowly: low in growth or position

Wretched: poor, sorry, or pitable

Woeful: of wretched quality; sorry; poor

Dismal: characterized by ineptness or lack of skill

Ouch! But I am going to throw this out there at the risk of being ridiculed and torn apart…Are the Washington Nationals really a “bad team”? Are they characterized by ineptness or lack of skill? Are they of wretched quality? Or are there two sides to the story, one of which seems to always get overlooked?

Based on our record, we are a bad team, right? Sure we are. It’s a terrible record. But let’s take another look, shall we? Bare with me here. There have been games when we’ve been winning into the 7th, 8th, 9th innings only to lose the game by our bullpen. That’s terrible! It’s unacceptable that our relievers should fail, and it should not happen. But does that make us a bad team? Some of those relievers actually have been praised for outstanding performances in other games. So again I ask, bad team? In my opinion, if we were such a bad team, we’d never have had the lead at all in those games.

Let’s move on… How about all the errors! Yikes! I mean, really, outfielders who misjudge balls, infielders overthrowing or missing a simple play. We certainly must be a terrible team, right? Lowly, wretched, etc., let’s add to the list! But what about the phenomenal plays by those guys in other games? Zim, Nick, Guz, Willie, Hernandez, have all made some fantastic, score-saving plays (look at Kearns last night). And these plays are not that uncommon; there’s a good play in almost every game. Does this make us a bad team?

How about some more… How about the games back in the beginning of the year? Back when I had more hope for this team, I admit. We were scoring so many runs - just not enough! And our hitting? We were on fire! We just didn’t seem to score enough (loop back to the point about our relievers for some of those losses as well). Does that make us a bad team? Can bad teams score that much, hit that well?

And finally, I was thinking about this recently…We’ve had games in which we did not hit at all. We just had some terrible at-bats. Does that make us untalented, just plain bad? Because when we face a team (let’s say the Yankees since it is fresh in our minds) and their hitters are struck down by our pitching, the pitcher gets the credit. The pitcher gets the credit. But when we face a team and don’t get on base, don’t walk, don’t score runs, well then we suck, we can’t hit, we have no talent, etc. Really? Sure, some nights we don’t hit well, but on other nights the opposing pitcher deserves the credit.

Hey, I know it doesn’t matter how well you’re doing in individual moments when all that really matters is your record. I know that winning is the goal. I know that winning brings in the fans and the money. And winning keeps the team in this town for many years to come. I get it. Winning brings respect. Winning ends the ridicule, blah blah blah. I want the team to win as well. I’ll be happier when the team wins, too. Heck, if the team starts winning, maybe I’ll be able to sell some of my unused tickets that I currently throw away when I can’t make it to a game. I get it!

But like I said above, I feel like there are always two sides to the story. And to say that the Washington Nationals are a ‘bad team’ just doesn’t always sit well with me. I’m not saying we don’t sometimes look and play like a bad team, I’m just saying that I don’t think we are one. So to those media outlets which choose to use those adjectives to describe the team, go ahead. But if you don’t mind, I am going to choose the definitions of those words for myself.

Lowly: humble in station, condition, or nature

Wretched: very unfortunate in circumstances

Woeful: full of woe; unhappy

Dismal: gloomy, dreary, cheerless*

*OK, maybe I’ll save “dismal” for describing the fans.