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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Here are our pumpkins from last year!

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Rookie of the Year: Thursday, October 15
Chris Coglan - Florida Marlin
J.A. Happ - Philadelphia Phillies
Tommy Hanson - Atlanta Braves

Cy Young Award: Monday, October 19
Tim Lincecum - San Francisco Giants
Chris Carpenter - St. Louis Cardinals
Adam Wainwright - St. Louis Cardinals

Most Valuable Player: Monday, October 26
Albert Pujols - St. Louis Cardinals
Prince Fielder - Milwaukee Brewers
Hanley Ramirez - Florida Marlins
Ryan Braun - Milwaukee Brewers
Ryan Howard - Philadelphia Phillies
Derrick Lee - Chicago Cubs
Ryan Zimmerman - Washington Nationals
Troy Tulowitzki - Colorado Rockies
Pablo Sandoval - San Francisco Giants
Adrian Gonzalez - San Diego Padres

Nats News Network:
N.L. MANAGER OF THE YEAR
3. Joe Torre, LAD
2. Bruce Bochy, SF
1. Jim Tracy, COL

N.L. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
3. Chris Coghlan, FL (.321/.390/.460, 9 HR—47 RBI—8 SB)
2. J.A. Happ, PHI (12-4, 2.93, 119 K in 166.0 IP)
1. Tommy Hanson, ATL (11-4, 2.89 ERA, 116 K in 127.2 IP)

N.L. CY YOUNG
3. Chris Carpenter, STL (17-4, 2.24 ERA, 144 K in 192.2 IP)
2. Adam Wainwright, STL (19-8, 2.63 ERA, 212 K in 233.0 IP)
1. Tim Lincecum, SF (15-7, 2.48 ERA, 261 K in 225.1 IP)

N.L. MVP (AVE/OBP/SLG, HR/RBI/RUNS/SB)
10. Andre Ethier, LAD (.272/.361/.508, 31/106/92/6)
9. Ryan Zimmerman, WAS (.292/.364/.525, 33/106/110/2)
8. Pablo Sandoval, SF (.330/.387/.556, 25/90/79/5)
7. Derrick Lee, CHC (.306/.393/.579, 35/111/91/1)
6. Ryan Braun, MIL (.320/.386/.551, 32/114/113/20)
5. Prince Fielder, MIL (.299/.412/.602, 46/141/103/2)
4. Ryan Howard, PHI (.279/.360/.571, 45/141/105/8)
3. Troy Tulowitzki, COL (.297/.377/.552, 32/92/101/20)
2. Hanley Ramirez, FL (.342/.410/.543, 24/106/101/27)
1. Albert Pujols, STL (.327/.443/.658, 47/135/124/16)

All of the participating blogs had the opportunity to vote for end of year awards which were named after successful Washington baseball players, similar to the end of season awards given to players as voted on by sports writers.

Here are the results…

Goose Goslin Most Valuable Player
Player most valuable to the success of the Washington Nationals
Ryan Zimmerman

Walter Johnson Starting Pitcher of the Year
Excellent performance as a starting pitcher
John Lannan

Frederick “Firpo” Marberry Relief Pitcher of the Year
Excellent performance as a relief pitcher
Tyler Clippard

Sam Rice Hitter of the Year
Excellence in all-around hitting, situational hitting and baserunning
Ryan Zimmerman

Frank Howard Slugger of the Year
Excellence in power hitting
Adam Dunn

Joe Judge Defensive Player of the Year
Excellence in fielding
Ryan Zimmerman

Mickey Vernon Comeback Player of the Year
Player who overcame biggest obstacle in the preceding season to contribute on the field
Nick Johnson

Josh Gibson Humanitarian Player of the Year
Player who meritoriously gave of himself to the community
John Lannan

Minor League Player of the Year
Minor league player most destined for big league success
Derek Norris

Today, she was featured on The Today Show, along with Troy Polamalu.  You can watch it here.  You can also visit the website her family set up.

If you would like to send a monetary donation (no matter how small), your donations would help her family with food, transportation and lodging for the numerous trips they make to Pittsburgh, as well as the increasing costs for Heather’s care.

Heather Miller Medical Fund
PO Box 229
Osterburg, PA  16667

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!!

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

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.

It began with a pretty good performance by Garrett Mock.  He pitched a few solid innings to set up the opportunity for the Nats scoring party.  It all started with some great base hits by Belliard and Willingham and then Wil Nieves hits a sacrifice fly and knocks Willingham in to score one of his 5 runs of the night.  Mock once again pitched a solid second inning and then the Cubs’ pitcher Carlos Zambrano hit a solo homer out to centerfield and believe me…this was the ONLY thing he was hitting tonight because it sure wasn’t strikes.  4th inning rolled around and Josh Willingham hit his first homer of the night (yes there was another) out of the park.  This was followed by what appeared to be an angry Cubs fan throwing the ball over the stands onto the field from the street below.  Ronnie Belliard hits a single followed by an Elijah Dukes double.  Then in a bizarre turn of events on this tragic nights for the Cubs, Fontenot makes an error where it looked like he literally threw the ball straight at the ground.  This of course gives Belliard the opportunity to score.  At this point in the game, the score is only 3-1, so we still have a contest.

THEN…

The 5th inning happened…

This inning had a striking resemblence to the 4th inning of the Sunday game of the last Cubs series at Nationals Park.  I literally remember feeling pain, like physical gnawing pain during this inning where we gave up 7 runs to the Cubbies.  It felt like the inning that would never end.  Well, the Nats gave one of these neverending innings right back to the Cubs tonight.  During this inning, we went through our entire lineup, we got six guys on base and all six of them scored.  The Cubs pitching disaster was just beginning to show itself.  Zambrano hit Willie Harris with a pitch, Christan Guzman singled to center, Ryan Zimmerman singled to left, Zambrano walked Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham, and then finally at the Cubs fans relief, they replaced Zambrano with Heilman.  Well this did not seem to do any good, because Elijah Dukes hit a GRAND SLAM.  All in all, at this point in the game, the Nats were up 9-1 and it felt glorious!

The pitching slightly fell apart in the 6th, but besides that, Mock pitched a great game.  The Cubs scored three runs during this inning before Riggleman replaced him with Tyler Clippard.  The 7th inning proved to be another hitting show by the Nats with Zimmerman doubling to left, Willingham singling to center knocking Zimmerman home, Belliard singling to left, Dukes getting intentionally walked, and Nieves singling to right knocking Willingham and Belliard in.  At this point, it is almost like batting practice for the Nats and gives us a score of 12-4.

Milton Bradley (yes like the board games…I can’t help but giggle a bit) hit a solo homer in the 7th (this did not make me giggle), but then Willingham answers that with his second homerun of the night knocking Zimmerman and Dunn home.  It was 15-5 at this point and with the exception of a solo homer by the Cubs’ Northern Virginia (Dale City) native Jeff Baker, the game was toast.  So the game finishes out on the scoreboard at 15-6 with Willingham having a great game going 4-4, hitting two homeruns (he’s up to 21 now for the season), knocking six runners home, and scoring five runs.  Needless to say, I think his slump is over.

This was exactly what I like to see from the Nats: A decently strong start by the starting pitcher (Although, I wish our starters could pitch a bit longer, but I can save that for another post), emptying our bases instead of leaving the guys hanging out there, great defensive plays, and a pretty good performance by the bullpen.  Now I would like to see the Nats play this great tomorrow and Thursday so we can show the Cubs how it feels to get swept at home.  I will personally send pictures (as I cannot be there in person) of brooms to all of my Cubs fans friends in Chicago, but Nats you gotta take care of business!

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.