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Posts Tagged “Washington Nationals”

purple prose

The Briny Ballers Achieve A Left-Columner

Slate's Robert Weintraub, like many of us, loves the old purple prose of early 1900s sportswriting, the Grantland Rices, the men who painted epic tales of warriors, grizzled combatants and lardywarks too manly to wear gloves. In an occasional series, Weintraub writes about the week's best baseball game in the style of the vaunted sportswriters of yesteryear. This week: Dan Uggla's two-homer game against the Nationals.

It's easy to dismiss the Miami entrant in the Senior Circuit. Some have even called for the franchise to meet a Pompeii-like fate. Yet these latter-day Diogenes' conveniently succumb to amnesia when the subject turns to the twin banners captured in the Big Series by the Spearfish. And while the gaseous trashman and angry art dealer in the corner office have taken it upon themselves to swing the demolition ball at championship rosters, attention must be paid to the fact that this current crop of caviar is playing winning hardball ahead of schedule. The Swinging Swimmers are back in form, and their gonfalon flies atop their divisional grouping for a good reason.

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mlb closer

Teddy Wins His First Presidents Race!


Only to get disqualified by Screech, the world's most useless mascot, for cutting a corner of the warning track. He was just following Cartman's advice! That's okay, because I found Frank Robinson sitting with me in the bleeds down the right field line. As for the game, the Nats jumped to a lead with a two-run homer by Nick "Yes, SexyBack is still my batting music" Johnson. The Nats' bullpen does what it do: issuing a bases loaded walk to tie the game at 3 in the 8th. Wil Nieves, using that extra energy he has from not having to carry around that second "L" in his name, ended it in the bottom of the 9th with a two-run walkoff. More »

pope benedict xvi world tour

Pope Benedict XVI Needs To Borrow Your Cup

Close observers of the Catholic religion know that the Pope will always come up throwing after a diving catch; unless it's the final out of an inning, of course. In that case, His Most Holy Father will make sure that the umpire sees the ball in his mitt. Another Papal web gem! I can't count the number of times the Pope has cut off a drive in the gap to rob a sinner of extra bases. The chief pontiff is all about fundamentals. That's why Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta considered it an honor to allow the Pope to use his office at Nationals Park on Thursday. More »

Dmitri Young gave birth, right? [Nationals Enquirer]

opening day

The Nationals' New Stadium Looks Rather Spiffy


I've been to two new stadium opening days in my life — Safeco Field and Pac Bell (now AT&T) Park — but I wish I could have made it a third in D.C. on Sunday. There's nothing like that new-stadium smell; even the restrooms are minty fresh. Following the jump, a few photos from the Nationals' Opening Day, with guest appearances by our 16th President; a pretzel shaped as the letter W that actually looks like poop; and that mascot I hate more than any other, Screech the Eagle. Although on Sunday the costume was probably occupied by a Secret Service agent. More »

president bush

President Bush's One Night Away From It All

President Bush is never more likable, engaging or, frankly, informed as he is when he's talking about baseball. He lights up, displaying a breadth of knowledge that, uh, we never sense when he's discussing the Al-Anbar Province. He threw out the first pitch at the new Nationals Stadium last night and was, predictably, booed. We almost — almost — felt bad for him. More »

duan

Behold Your Nameless Sporting Edifice

There may be no parking and no development around it, but, by cracky, the Lerners got their stadium. And D.C. got to chase all the gay clubs and small businesses away from the Navy Yard. Hooray! Gentrification isn't just for Columbia Heights! America's past pastime gets underway on its own shores and we Leitch couldn't be any happier. More »

blogdome

What In The World's In That Case? What'chu Got In That Case?


  • Da Meat Hook brings some interesting luggage to Nationals Park [Mister Irrelevant]
  • Those Brits and their track cycling! [Shot to Nothing...]
  • Taking issue with the Wall Street Journal's manager rankings. [Rumors and Rants]
  • NCAA says no Gridiron Bash for you, not yours. [The Wizard of Odds]
  • Jose Canseco and A-Rod in the key of Rick Springfield. [The Juice Blog]
  • Livan Hernandez has a kick for you, Ronaldo. [10,000 Takes]
  • More »

    2008 division previews

    Your NL East "Preview"


    As mentioned in New York Magazine this week, the Mets have a promotional flyer that says "It's Time For A Little Revenge." As NY Mag pointed out ... hey, you're the ones who choked. More »

    president bush

    President Bush Would Never Associate With Such Unsavory Characters


    The mainland Major League Baseball season kicks off Sunday night, with the Nationals opening their new stadium. President Bush is slated to throw out the first pitch. Usually, he throws it to the home team's starting catcher. Unfortunately for him, this year the home team starting catcher is all over the Mitchell Report. More »

    baseball season preview

    Baseball Season Preview: Washington Nationals

    For the third consecutive season, we are proud to introduce the Deadspin Baseball Season Previews. Yes, baseball is awfully close now; it's spring training, after all.

    Every weekday until the start of the season, a different writer will preview his/her team. We asked a gaggle of writers, from the Web, from print, from books, to tell us, in as many or as little words as they need, Where Their Team Stands. This is not meant to be factual, or dispassionate, or even logical: We just asked them to riff on why they love their team so much, or what their team means to them, or whatever.

    Today: The Washington Nationals. Your author is Dan Shanoff.

    Dan Shanoff blogs daily at DanShanoff.com, writes a daily morning column for SportingNews.com and spent the past college football season writing the weekly "Closer"-ish guest-post right here.

    More »

    segways

    Jim Bowden Uses Subtle Reminders Of His Authority


    We're not sure what much more we can add to this photo of Nationals general manager Jim Bowden riding a Segway around the team's spring training. More »

    wacky races

    Other Than That, How Was The Race, Mrs. Lincoln?


    New weekend editor Christmas Ape tried out to be one of the guys who run the Presidents Races at Washington Nationals games. Here's how it went.

    I've attended a handful of Nationals games each of the three years they've been in D.C. and the composition of the crowd is largely unchanged from the midpoint of their first season on: bored couples, bored families, Hill staffers I want to garrote with piano wire and more than a small smattering of opposing fans. But last year on Opening Day, I glimpsed what, to me, was the first moment of palpable excitement in RFK since baseball returned to D.C. in 2005 and, of course, it had nothing to do with the sport itself.

    More »

    duan

    Happy Presidents Race


    It's been a great opening stint of Weekend Daddy Duty for me, despite my many unplanned trips to Deadspin future. As a result of my poor choice of journalism as a career I'm now at the office and will be through the rest of the evening covering shootings and such in D.C. but luckily I'm off tomorrow. More »

    Ray King is skinny? No way. [Nationals Enquirer]

    dead dawg

    Elijah Dukes Might Have Some Lady Issues

    Just in time for the SHOTY Quarterfinals, our old pal Elijah Dukes is at it again. The guy just can't help himself; his fingers just tap threatening text messages as if they have a mind of their own. More »

    Do you realize we're going to have Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes and Dmitri Young on the same team this year? Heavens to Betsy. [UmpBump]

    we'll never forget the atmosphere

    Saying Goodbye To RFK Stadium


    It's a sad weekend in the world of outdated, monstrous sports buildings: It's the last three baseball games at RFK Stadium in DC. More »