Well, I can’t make Spring Training come any faster, but John Lannan and Craig Stammen will be among the attendees at the Bethesda Big Train Auction. Come support The Big Train, who were ranked #9 among colligate summer league teams and improve the quality of baseball and softball fields in Montgomerty County and the District of Columbia.

In addition to being able to see two of the Nationals most promising young pitchers, ESPN baseball anaylist, Tim Kurkjian will also be at the event. There are also some great Nationals Auction items, like a Ryan Zimmerman autographed baseball and a 2009 team signed ball.

The Auction is this Sunday, November 8th from 5:30 to 8:30 at the Pooks Hill Marriot. You can find out more about The Big Train and order tickets at their website (www.bigtrain.org) or buy tickets at the door for $50 (adults) or $25 (kids 5-12, under 5 is free).
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Welcome to September Nats fans!

The Nats know that sometimes being a Nats fan is not the easiest thing in the world.  They understand that the fans they do have tend to get a little bit of grief every once and awhile.  For instance, while walking my little chihuahua this evening (I was wearing a Nats tshirt), someone stopped me and said, “There are actually Nats fans?”  I, being highly offended, said, “Yes sir there are.  In fact, the average attendance in 2008 was 29,000.”  He then turned away and kept walking as he should have.  The point being that Nats fans are great.  We stand by our team through thick (and it can get REALLY THICK) and thin.  We are there cheering every time our Nats are playing down on South Capitol and we take naps so we can watch the Nats on MASN when they are playing on Pacific time (I did this last night and plan on doing it again tonight).  This month, because of our dedication and hard work (sometimes I feel like cheering for the Nats can be hard work!!), they have decided that September is Fan Appreciation Month.

Throughout the month, the Nats will be having ticket giveaways, awesome promotional items and will have players greeting fans at the gates.  On top of the extras, there will be three T-shirt Tuesdays during September.  I LOVE T-shirt Tuesdays, but always seem to get there too late to grab my size, so WORD TO THE WISE:  Arrive Early!!  Also, the team photo will be given out at the game on Monday, September 28th.  It sounds like a fun month down at Nationals Park and I hope to see all of you there!!

On a more serious note, along with Fan Appreciation Month, the Nats are partnering with the American Diabetes Association for Diabetes Awareness Month at Nationals Park.  I’m sure we all have someone that Diabetes has touched, so please be sure to stop by the American Diabetes Association Table at the Nationals Community Desk (Main Concourse, Left Field) and also take advantage of discount tickets with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the American Diabetes Association (www.nationals.com/diabetes).

It’s going to be a fun month here in NatsTown, so let’s show the Marlins, Phillies, Dodgers, Braves and Mets who has the best fans in the land!  NOW, off to take a power nap so I can stay up and watch the Nats take one from the Padres!!

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

Tomorrow, catcher Wil Nieves will participate in a Q&A with fans at ESPN Zone.

Doors open at 11 a.m. — the event begins at noon.   As always, Charlie Slowes is the moderator.

ESPN Zone
555 12th Street, NW
Washington, DC

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

So last night was Ladies Night at Nationals Park. The Nationals have had a Ladies Night for the past few years, and there are usually a couple per year, this being the first. For those of you who have not heard of this (where have you been?!), the Nationals offer a very good deal to Ladies (and men too, of course, since no discrimination is allowed at Nats Park) to pay $30 for Happy Hour and a ticket to the game sitting with other fellow Ladies Nighters or $20 for just the game if you can’t make it early and join the festivities.

Despite the rain that seems to have been going on for months now, Ladies Night took place on the roof of Garage B underneath the red party tent. And Party Tent is a good way to describe it as everyone there seemed to be having a great time. Along with a DJ providing entertainment and fun giveaways, there were vendors selling jewelry and other accessories, free chair massages and manicures, tables providing info on nail salons (they also had cupcakes…mmm) and gyms, and of course, food (nachos, vegetables, fruits, cheeses). In addition to this, there was a table offering beer and other flavored alcohol beverage samples (For the purpose of thorough blogging, I tried as many of these as I could, and highly recommend the Michelob Ultra Tuscan Orange Grapefruit. This is the sacrifice I make for you.).

The ladies of the Nationals Dream Foundation were also there with a table of items to sell. Ties, tote bags, new Curly W reusable bags, and of course my favorite, the Mystery Grab ball offering an autographed baseball from someone on the team for $25. I must have 20 of these grab balls at this point and sure enough, I grabbed another last night (Anderson Hernandez for anyone who is wondering). Each item sold raised money for the Nationals Dream Foundation.

But the Dream Foundation wasn’t the only ones raising money. At the other end of the tent there stood the imposing Mechanical Bull raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. A reasonable $10 donation to the LLS gave one the chance to ride this bull. I waited for a good hour or more to see if anyone was going to ride him, and at first, I didn’t catch anyone even tempted by it. But after checking back a little later, there were many brave women who took to the bull and gave it a whirl (yes, myself included – see above for mention of beer samples). I didn’t see a single woman get off that thing without a smile on her face, albeit a bruise here and there. In my opinion, it was the highlight of the event. Unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned, so the We’ve Got Heart site will have no pics of me on said bull!!

The game included in the Ladies Night deal was actually Thursday night’s, however, the rain postponement of the previous night’s game allowed us to look over the side of Garage B and watch the makeup game that was going on at the same time. Once we left the Ladies Night tent, we were free to actually watch the rest of “Wednesday’s” game in our seats and watch baseball history as Randy Johnson won his 300th game. Although I’ll admit, I was cheering for the Curly W in the books and not for the chance to see history. As much as winning 300 games is truly amazing and I am happy for Randy Johnson, I wasn’t one of those in the crowd cheering about Dunn’s ball four, oops, I mean strike three! I would have been just as happy to let some other park full of baseball fans watch the win on his next turn in the rotation. I’m a little tired of the Nats being on the opposite side of these historic games (anyone remember Bonds?).

Anyway…After the makeup game and a quick turnaround, the Ladies Night game began. Although Sections 102 and 103 were used for the seating, I have to admit that I took cover from the rain in a suite provided by a friend (special thanks to Kelly for that one). From what I could tell looking across the field, there were not many ladies sitting in the actual Ladies Night sections, and I can’t say I blame them as the rain just kept falling and falling. Eventually, the game was called early - another loss for the Nationals.

All and all, despite the weather, it was a successful Ladies Night for the Nationals. A good time was had by all, judging from the smiles and looks on the faces. And Ladies weren’t the only ones having fun. There seemed to be more men at this event than the last one I attended, not that there’s anything wrong with that! Unfortunately, due to the makeup game going on, none of those men in attendance included our Nationals players as planned (at least not to my knowledge as I didn’t see any or hear of any being able to attend). Perhaps the next time around will work better in that regard.

The next Ladies Night is at Nationals Park on Thursday, August 20. Visit www.nationals.com/ladiesnight for more details.

Here’s some pictures from the event.

This past Saturday was the make up game for that rained out April Nats/Phillies game. As a result, instead of blogger night with MASN, we had blogger day. MASN hosted the event and invited various Nationals bloggers into their suite at Nats Park for the game. Todd Webster and Kristen were gracious hosts and took care of everything for the group.

We all got to take a trip up to seventh heaven a.k.a the broadcast booth before the game, to check out the digs and meet Rob Dibble and Bob Carpenter. It wasn’t until I saw the view of the field from inside the booth that I realized how high it actually was. The sight lines were amazing though, I could see clear past the Capitol Dome from up there. Rob and Bob answered a bunch of questions for the blogger crowd and then we headed down to the suite for the start of the game. The suite was stocked with all the comforts of home: beer, food, soda, air conditioning, and comfy chairs; it was a great place to watch the game. I had a great time officially meeting everyone and putting faces to blogs.

Throughout the game we had several visitors — Johnny Holiday and Ray Knight stopped by for a few innings to hang out and swap stories about the team. Chartese Burnett, Vice President of Communications spent almost the entire game with us; it was a nice surprise. Debbi Taylor stopped by to say hello, as did Pete McElroy from masnsports.com, Ben Goessling from the Washington Times and Lisa Pagano of the Nats.

After a couple of innings we split into two groups and headed underneath the stadium to the production truck. It was sensory overload as soon as I walked in. I still can’t believe so much goes on behind the scenes to make the broadcast work. It was a really cool thing to see, and everyone included the production crew seemed to have a great time.

The outcome of the game wasn’t a pleasant one. The Nationals lost to the Phillies 8-5, but spending the day in the suite, and meeting a bunch of really fun baseball people was a great way to spend the day.

Many thanks to Todd Webster and Kristen Hudak for hosting the event and getting us bloggers together. I for one, had a great time!

From the Nationals:

The Washington Nationals Dream Foundation will host the fourth annual Dream Gala at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on Saturday, May 2, 2009 at National Harbor. The night will begin at 7:00pm with a cocktail reception and silent auction, followed by a dinner program and live auction at 8:00pm. Nationals players, manager and coaches will be on-hand to mingle with guests throughout the evening. The theme of the 2009 Dream Gala is “Answer The Call to Service in Our Communities”, with all proceeds benefitting the initiatives of the Foundation.

“The Washington Nationals Dream Foundation is thankful for the generosity of our supporters during these tough economic times,” said Dream Foundation Chair Marla Lerner Tanenbaum. “The Dream Gala is the Foundation’s primary fundraiser each year; its success allows us to serve our community and neighbors through our unique programs.”

Nationals television broadcasters Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble will serve as emcees for the night’s festivities with radio broadcasters Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler introducing the 2009 Washington Nationals. A performance of the National Anthem by the Washington Youth Choir will begin the dinner program. The live auction features unique items and experiences, including a hand-crafted team-signed bench, a private clinic for four children with Nationals players, and a suite for 16 for a Nationals game vs. the Boston Red Sox in June.

The Washington Nationals Dream Foundation’s programs are focused on children’s education, health and recreation. The cornerstone programs of the Dream Foundation are the creation of the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, in partnership with the District government, that will teach the game of baseball and provide after-school educational programs for children in the District; the creation of the Washington Nationals Pediatric Diabetes Care Complex at Children’s National Medical Center, a world-class facility that will provide a multi-disciplinary approach to supporting families of children with diabetes; and the Neighborhood Initiative, benefitting the Earth Conservation Corps, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington and numerous local non-profit organizations with grants, in-kind donations and additional resources.

Also, MASN will be broadcasting a special about the Dream Gala on May 11th at 9 p.m.

April 7th was the Meet the Players Banquet for the Potomac Nationals, 2008 Carolina League Champions. This was a booster club member only event but well worth the membership dues ($10 for individuals or $15 for families).

The dinner itself was very nice, with a chicken pasta salad, green beans, wings, and a large slab of beef along with assorted desserts. After dinner, the president, Lamar Boone, gave introductions of all of the players and coaching staff, including new manager Trent Jewett, who said a few words of welcome to both the players and booster club members.

There was a 50-50 raffle and half of the money went to a member and the other half went to a player; in this case 5 year Potomac Nationals veteran, Clint Everts, was the big winner. Then $25 givaways were raffled to the players, where the children at the event pulled the tickets (my brother won Brian Peacock $25). The Mills Cup that the team won was also displayed at the event.

It may seem odd that people are giving money to baseball players but these A ball players only make around $1,000 a month and it can be hard to make it by. This is why the booster club has host familes and hosts Saturday Night dinners and breakfasts before road trips. The minors are certainly not as luxurious as the majors, with pre- and post-game spreads and chartered plane rides. It is fast food and long bus rides. Someone once told me that only about 3% of players in A-ball ever make it to the majors, so with such slim chances it is really a tough way to live.

For anyone who lives in the Woodbridge area, the Booster Club needs more host families. It is really a great oppotunity to form a bond with one of the Nationals future players.

Here is the link to the Booster Club Website.