Hey Ladies (and Gents)! In case you haven’t heard, this Thursday the Washington Nationals are sponsering an amazing event…Ladies Night! We attended the event in July and were impressed with how much we got for our $35. In addition to a ticket in the 300 level of the stadium (valued at $34), we also recieved complimentary food and beverages and were treated to player appearances! We are certainly looking forward to Thursday night and hope to see you there. Just because it’s called Ladies Night doesn’t mean men can’t come.

What a great weekend it was to spend at the ballpark! We attended all three games this weekend and even stayed through the extra innings in the rain on Friday night. We know the clock is ticking on the time we have left at RFK and we want to enjoy every minute of it.

Friday: 8-5 loss in 13 innings

As soon as we arrived at the ballpark and steady rain began and continued throughout the entire evening. The game was delayed for about 15 minutes, but when the game finally started the Braves wasted no time getting runs on the board. They scored 3 runs on 4 hits, but Belliard also put the Nats on the board in the 1st inning with a solo shot to center field. Matt Chico was able to hold the Braves to only 2 hits in the next 5 innings while the Nats were able to rack up some runs. Ryan Zimmerman hit a double and a home run, scoring Belliard two more time and Matt Chico even drove in a run. Unfortunately, Rauch and Chief each had problems and gave up one run each sending the game into extra innings. Although the bullpen kept the Braves quiet for 3 more innings, the Nats couldn’t score and Colome was unable to shut down the Braves in the top of the 13th for the loss.

Saturday: 7-4 win!

As Steph posted, we spent the morning at Baseball 101 and had only a few hours to get changed for a special Season Ticket holder Appreciation night. The Nats opened the gates at 4:30 and allowed fans to watch batting practice. Clint and the Nat Pack ran the raffle, while Stan Kasten informed us that fans will be able to watch BP everyday next year! We were able to watch the Nationals warm up with the same Strength and Conditioning coach that we warmed up with earlier in the day. I must admit though, I did feel bad for him at times because some players followed their own plan, which consisted of sitting on the ground.

Finally it was game time and we were certainly treated to a night of long ball! Jimenez, who had an outstanding series, got things started right away with a 2 run homer to deep right that also scored Nook Logan. In the top of the third, Chipper Jones also hit a home run that put the Braves up by one. Then things got scary. Dmitri Young reached down to get a hard grounder to first and the ball took a bad bounce and hit him hard in the head. He immediately fell to the ground, where he stayed for several minutes. He amazingly got up and finished the inning demonstrating how much heart he really has for this team. We are so proud of him.

Robert Fick came in the game to hit for D, and with a little extra motivation hit a 3 run shot. I never thought I’d see a Fick home run in person! It was great! The Nats went on to score 2 more runs and this time they were able to hold off the Braves and win the game!

Saturday night was also Hispanic Heritage Night and the Nats honored each of their Hispanic players before the game. Manager Manny Acta said, “You can’t lose on Hispanic Night when your manager is Hispanic. It’s the rule.”

Hit of the game: Oddly enough, this didn’t come from the end of a bat. Austin Kearns ran full force into Braves catcher, Corky Miller on his way to scoring another run for the Nats. Miller is notorious for blocking the plate and Austin was clearly determined to score!

Sunday: 3-0 loss

Unfortunately, the Nats just couldn’t get people home yesterday afternoon. Tim Hudson pitched a complete game shutout while Shawn Hill couldn’t get into a groove and gave up 3 runs. The Nats were able to get 7 hits off of Hudson, but just couldn’t find a way to get the guys home. Despite the tough loss, the girls and I enjoyed amazing seats right behind the Nats dugout. After learning about the signs on Saturday morning, we paid attention to Tolman has he gave various signs to his batters.

Earlier in the day, the Nationals dedicated their new press box to sportswriter Shirley Povich. He was a dedicated sports columnist for the Washington Post. His son, Maury Povich even sat in the seats next to us for an inning!

Weekend points of interest:

The September call-up rookies are still suffering through their initiations. We saw Ross Detwiler sporting his pink Strawberry Shortcake backpack on his way out to the bullpen all weekend. If you think these boys are able to hide their pink packs when the game starts, you are wrong. The bullpen vets seem to do a good job of ensuring their My Little Pony lunch boxes and book bags are in full view of the fans!

Felipe Lopez had a closed door meeting with Manny Acta and Jerry Morales to discuss his season. Lopez then broke his silence with the media and stated that he is frustrated with his season. We commend Lopez on not making excuses for his season and continuing to work hard. We’re behind you Felipe.

In a loss to the Marlins the Nats had their share of ups and downs throughout the evening. The Nats were unable to come out on top of the back and forth battle that ensued through the top of the 7th until the Marlins finally ran away with the game.Up: Justin Maxwell’s first big league hit was a Grand Slam!!! He was so excited he almost passed Brian Schnieder going around the bases.

Down: There appeared to be no one at the Marlins game last night with over 70% of the seats looking vacant. Bob and Ray even made a joke in the late innings that they remained at the ballpark with a couple hundred of their new friends. Up: Mike Bacsik continues to show maturity and class in taking responsibility for last night’s loss. He stated that, “Unfortunately I set the tone, and I couldn’t really get anybody out consistently.” He has been in AAA ball this year, and in and out of bullpen more times than I can count. It must be extremely difficult to mentally prepare for a role as a reliever and a different role as a starter. Mike has had to switch back and forth several times in the last month and the fact that he has done so without any complaints shows that he is here for the team and a class act. Up: The Nats bats were cracking last night. Even though they lost the game, hopefully guys got into a rhythem that will carry over into tonight for the series win.

Big Up: In 2 days, the Nats will return for the final homestand at RFK. We are certainly sad this is it for RFK, we are looking forward to an amazing week that will include Baseball 101 and another Ladies Night.

Down: It was clear that the Marlins were in a groove last night and it is difficult to stop a team when they are hot like that. However, it is also clear that the pitching from the Nats bullpen was not typical of we have come to expect from these guys, who are called on so much. Regardless of what they may say, they have to be tired from a long season and pitching so many innings. We are certainly proud of these guys and hope they are able to get some rest tonight and tomorrow to come out strong for the remainder of the season.Up: Buffalo Bills player Kevin Everett, who sustained a life-threatening spinal cord injury in Sunday’s game against the Broncos, has voluntarily moved his arms and legs. Doctors are optimistic now that he may have a chance to walk again. This comes after the grim prognosis of Monday morning when doctors initially thought walking would be highly unlikely. Our thoughts are with Everett, his family and the Bills organization as they work through this difficult time.

Photo Credit: AP Photo/J. Pat Carter

Be sure to vote for the Racing Presidents!!
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This weeks Nats Mailbag featured several comments that peaked our interest. The first issue is something that we have been discussing amongst ourselves and no doubt many Nats fans have taken notice as well. Tim Tolman, Nats third-base coach, has made some questionable decisions throughout the season. Perhaps the tipping point for me, was the decision to wave Bergmann home only to be thrown out at the plate and injure his hamstring. In a recent Nats Xtra or Nats Access, Bergmann talked about the play and the fact that he was surprised to be waved home even though he knew he wasn’t exactly what you would call “fast.”There have been numerous other decisions by the seemingly spontaneous Tolman. In a recent article, Tolman said that “you have to be aggressive” when making decisions to send runners home. I completely agree, however there is a difference between being aggressive and being unaware of your runner’s capabilities. There are times in games when we see Dmitri Young waved home on plays that speedster Felipe Lopez would have to hustle to get home. Anyone who has seen Dmitri run for a double, or that RBI triple, knows that he should probably only be waved home in instances when he can pretty much walk there. We love D, but let’s be honest about his speed. Isn’t the job of the third-base coach to know which players are quick, and which ones aren’t? As a former third-base coach, Manny Acta should perhaps consider having a long discussion with Tolman.

The other issue that grabbed our attention was a comment in the discussion of the Schneider/Flores debate. One person acknowledged that making Flores a starter may hinder his development, he also wrote, “Flores is a good player, but he is also a rookie who has never before played above Class A ball.”While it’s true that Flores had never played above Class A on Opening Day, he has now appeared in 64 games, taken 136 at bats and already recorded 3 home runs - 2 of which were game changing in Philly and Arizona. At what point are fans supposed to stop stating that he has never played above Class-A? Yes, he is a rookie. Yes, he has a lot to learn, but, more importantly, YES! he has not only played but proven himself a big-league catcher and should now be considered one. Flores has made the jump from Class A to Major League look far more seamless than many who go from AAA to Major League. As long as Flores continues to stay healthy, learns as much as he can, and works hard, the improvements are going to come and he is certainly part of the bright future of the Nationals.

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Reed Saxon

Three homeruns just wasn’t enough for the Nationals to hold off the Dodgers last night. Mike Bacsik gave up 2 of his 5 runs in the first inning to put the Nats in a quick hole. The Nats weren’t giving up that easy though. Dmitri Young started off the second inning with a bang as he homered to deep left. Austin Kearns was up next and singled to bring up Wily Mo. Pena hit a home run that scored Austin Kearns, bringing the score to 3-2. Unfortunately, Pena fouled a ball off of the top of his foot during that at bat and hobbled around the bases to the dugout, where he remained for the rest of the night. Ryan Church was brought in to replace him. Not wanting to be left out of the fun, Ryan Zimmerman also hit a solo shot to deep center in the top of the 5th, which would be the last run of the night for the Nats.AP Photo/Mark Avery

Bacsik, who had a tough night, said later that he didn’t feel good all night. In true fashion though, he would not use that as an excuse for a rough performance. Jesus Colome and Ray King combined for an inning, while Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch pitched an inning each. All four of these relievers were able to hold off the Dodgers for the rest of the game, but the Nats bats were unable to get a couple more runs.

Noteworthy Nats News:

Yahoo Fantasy Baseball publishes their top 3 Hot/Not Batters and Pitchers every day. Today, Ryan Zimmerman was listed as a hot batter, and sadly Chad Cordero was listed as a ‘Not’ Pitcher. Hopefully Ryan keeps up the hot swing and Chief can work on his issues and make it into the ‘Hot’ column.

Jason Simontacchi is out for the season. The pitcher has returned to St. Louis to determine if his elbow soreness is tendonitis or something more serious, such as the bone spurs Jim Bowden talked about. Let’s hope that whatever it is, Jason is able to make a full recovery and come on strong for what will surley be one of Major Leagues best pitching competitions in March!AP Photo/Mark Avery

As you can see, there were certainly some interesting photos from last nights game.

While the Nats are on the road, the girls and I decided to head south a little bit and check out the single A Potomac Nationals. If you’ve been there, you know that single A ball seems like a different world. We experienced, perhaps the craziest night in baseball we have seen in a long time.The P-Nats were able to come up with a 5-1 win, but not before some very exciting/interesting baseball. The first 3 innings were like clockwork for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Three Nats up, three Nats down. These boys were swinging at everything that came their way. A little tutorial from Lenny about patience would have done them some good. However, in the 5th inning, things got going. The Nats’ bats came alive and they scored 5 runs, which was all they would need for the night.

Some interesting notes on our Single A experience:

1. There are only two umpires! While one is charged with overseeing home plate and calling balls and strikes, the other is left with the entire field. The helped explain some of the questionable calls we saw throughout the game.

2. It’s a ‘wild’ game. We saw more wild pitches last night that we have all season with the Wash. Nationals.

3. Speaking of wild pitches, #43 Thissen, the 3rd baseman who looks eerily like Austin Kearns, saw a wild pitch that he felt was aimed at his head. So he promptly headed towards the mound and the benches cleared. I have never seen the benches clear so fast in my life…and the bullpen even got in on the action! Luckily, no punches were thrown. However there were several questionable pitches following the incident.

4. Apparently it doesn’t matter where you stand as long as one foot is in the batter’s box. The P-Nats’ second baseman, Rogelstad, was consistently standing with his back foot out of the box.

5. Pop fly’s drop! We probably saw around 5 or 6 very catchable pop flys drop to the ground. Some were even in a guys glove before they found the grass! I was amazed to see these players unable to get such easy outs.

6. Where is Ross Detwiler? We didn’t see him anywhere during the game.

Like the Potomac Nationals, our Washington Nationals had a 5-1 lead heading into the 9th inning. The girls and I comfortably walked into IHOP confident Chief would get the job done. Four runs is a good cushion right? WRONG! Chad gave up a single and home run in his first two pitches, yet Manny kept him in. Chief had some problems the night before, and it seemed that with a 4 run lead, Manny could have given him the night off. Chief would finally be sent to the bench, but not before the bases were loaded with no outs. Rauch was brought in and put in a difficult situation. With the bases loaded, we expect that a run is going to come in, but we also expect him to at least get an out or two. Unfortunately, the Nats watched their 5-1 lead evaporate into a 5-6 loss. Also, Hill was given a no decision despite another spectacular performance.

Either Don Sutton or Bob Carpenter posed this interesting question during the Nats’ Thursday night defeat of the Astros. There is no denying that this Washington Nationals team has something special going on in the clubhouse. Anytime there are shots into the dugout, we always see players chatting with each other and having a good time. Whenever someone hits a homerun, or gets an RBI the whole team gets jazzed about it. This may seem like this is the way it is supposed to be in baseball, but if you look around at some other teams, that’s not the case. However, we’ve got it goin’ on. In Ryan Zimmerman’s weekly column in ‘The Examiner,” he talked about the toll that road trips can take on players. At the end he said that he doesn’t mind going on the road too much because, “On the road you get a chance to just hang out with your teammates.” Zimmerman clearly enjoys the company of his teammates, and they enjoy his company. All of the time they spend just “hanging out” off the field is building a relationship on the field, whether they are aware of it or not. It is this great chemistry that allows plays like Ronnie Belliard’s flip to Felipe Lopez. It creates a camaraderie on the field that everyday the guys are out there to do battle for each other. It is something that can’t be taught and it’s something that every baseball manager probably wants on his team. It’s those little things that can make the difference in a close game. Even newcomer Wily Mo Pena has looked like he’s been in DC all season. Zimmerman ended his column by letting us all know what we probably already know: that these guys really enjoy going to the ball park together.Photo Credit: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais 

Lucky number 7 The boys took to the field last night and were ready to rebound from a tough loss on Tuesday night to the Phillies. Tim Redding headed to the mound after a solid warm-up and struck out 7 batters en route to his second win of the season. Coincidentally, Shawn Hill also struck out 7 Phillies on Tuesday night. Redding was apparently eager to get his second win because he took matters into is own hands at the plate. He hit a double into deep left during the second inning that drove in Ryan Church and Austin Kearns. It was Redding’s first RBI in nearly four years. Ryan Zimmerman was able to score in the bottom of the 6th after Kearns hit into a double play.Ryan Church scored the 4th and final Nationals run of the evening when he sent a ball flying into the upper deck over the Nats bullpen for a solo home run. Church, who has been criticized on and off throughout the season has certainly been producing recently. He is currently ranked 5th in the NL for doubles and has recently come up with a couple of big home runs in the past few days.The Nats ran into some trouble in the top of the 7th when the defense was unable to field what could have been a double play. Rivera came out to take over for Redding but had a rough night by allowing one hit and walking a batter. Ray King came out and recorded 2 outs before Luis Ayala, whom I nicknamed Lights Out Luis for his amazing performances of late, got the last out. Ayala came back out in the 8th and looked like the great set-up man he was in 2005 by breezing through the 8th inning. Chief came in and got the save! Last night we sat in Section 301 and enjoyed some lively discussions about the furture of the Nationals with several very enthusiastic Nats fans. One thing that we all seemed to agree on is that the Nats certainly have developed a great farm system that will likely carry them far in the future. We have sat near them a couple of times in that section and it’s always a great time with good discussions and a lot of cheering for the Nats!! Noteworthy Nats News: …The Nationals signed their sixth round draft pick, left hander Jack McGeary. …Teddy is one loss away from a 0-100 all-time record in the President’s Race. Maybe George, Tom and Abe can ban together and allow Teddy just one victory in RFK. I personally hope that the President’s Race continues in the new ballpark, the middle of the fourth wouldn’t be the same without it. 

What a great time to be a baseball fan! History is being made around the league and our very own Nats have chance to be a part of it this week. John Lannan will take to the mound tonight as the Nationals prepare to take on Barry Bonds and his Giants. Bonds tied Hank Aaron by hitting number 755 this weekend, and is looking to hit number 756 this week during the Giants’ homestand. Several Nats players have expressed their thoughts on this potentially historic series. Austin Kearns, who has seen a HR bounce back into the field has wondered what he should do if that were to happen on this trip with number 756. Ryan Zimmerman, says that Kearns should give the ball back to the fans, while Dmitri Young would keep the ball and “double dog dare” a fan to get it. Meanwhile, John Lannan recieved some advice from Ray King on how to pitch to Bonds. Bonds is only 2-16 against King. The Nats enjoyed a FANtastic weekend. They won their 6th straight game (8th straight at RFK) and also gnabbed their 4th series sweep of the season! The girls and I spent yesterday sitting in 301 (next to the bullpen). The shade gave us a little break from the heat and it is always fun to watch the guys warm up. We were also treated to a great view of Austin Kearns’ game ending, spectacular catch. While Matt Chico had a bit of a shakey outing, he was able to get key outs and keep the game tied at 3. Then the bullpen came out and did what they do best: shut down the opposition’s offense. Rivera pitched a 1 hit 6th inning and Ayala pitched a hitless 7th. Ayala came back out for the 8th and got himself in a little trouble with a double and a walk, but Ray King came through to end the inning. Ryan Zimmerman and Dmitri Young came through with clutch hits that drove in 3 runs. Chief pitched a hitless 9th inning to collect his 23rd save of the year. With the win the Nats improved to 51-60, a game better than the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. All those critics out there who placed bets that the Nats would win only 50 games or less this season…sorry but you lost. In addition to Bonds, Tom Glavine and Alex Rodriguez also made history this weekend. On Saturday, A-Rod became with the youngest player to reach 500 homeruns with his three shot homer to left field. Last night, on his second attempt to record win number 300, Tom Glavine pitched a great game and watched as his bullpen secured his 300th victory. In an age when the game has turned to favor hitters over pitchers, Glavine could very well be the last to ever reach the 300 win mark.Quote of the Day:“We are just looking at the next series. We are going to try and take three out of four games. We are not worried about the media spectacle that’s going to be there because a guy is chasing history. Whoop-de-woo.” — Dmitri Young, on facing the Giants

What a night! Sitting in 526 - our 2006 season home - we took in one of the best Nationals games this year. Taking the series with the Cards, following our sweep of the Reds put us at 50-60 — 14-8 since the All-Star Break. We trail the Marlins by only a half-game because they managed to pull out a win in extra innings over Houston last night. We are so close to getting out of last place and we’re playing good baseball. We are playing .500 at RFK this year and we couldn’t be prouder of these guys.

Ryan Zimmerman had his first multi-HR game - sending two out of the park. He’s up to 17 homeruns this season and will easily surpass his 20 from last year. He’s batting .500 through this homestand. Schneider joined him with a 2 run shot in the 7th. But the offense didn’t stop there — most of the Nats came through with hits in key moments including Joel Hanrahan whose 2 run double helped solidify the lead. Young, Lopez, Batista and Logan all helped generate those runs.

Hanrahan again looked great on the mound. He gave up only six hits and he struck out three. Rivera, Traber and Schroeder finished up the game as fans went crazy.

We met a great father and son in our section tonight and the father (I’m not sure if this was wise) asked me to explain to his son how to keep score. Given that I’m a beginner and the Cards made some errors, it was kind of a tough game to score but I think he understood the basic idea. I think my Dad would be proud!

Quotes of the Day: “It was the first time I could just lay back and wait for 27 outs. It was nice for my brain cells.”