Lannan’s Late Surge and Seat Counting

Last night, John Lannan went 5 2/3 innings and gave up 4 ER. For a Nationals pitcher in 2010, that wasn’t half bad. Of course, we know it’s not a very good start, but are you ready for some good news? That was his second worst start since coming back from the minors. BP gave him a game score of 41, only better than his 8/24 start against the Cubs where he gave up 4 ER in 5 IP. Since he’s returned from exile, he has been quite good. Including last night’s unimpressive outing, he’s gone 68 1/3 IP, with a mind-blowing (for Lannan) 47 Ks to 14 BBs and a 3.42 ERA. And most importantly, the team has gone 7-4 in those starts.

His K/9 of 6.2 is the best 11 game stretch since the last 11 games of 2008. Back when he was the de facto #1. He didn’t do anything like that even in his great 2009, where he finished the year with a career best 3.88 ERA. But more impressive than seeing him strike some guys out, is seeing out few he has walked. Simply put, his K/BB of 3.35 in this span is his best 11 game stretch ever. With someone like Lannan, who induces ground balls and doesn’t strike out as many guys as other pitchers do, he must keep his walks down. When he does, he can be very successful. If he doesn’t, it’s easy for a few grounders to leak through with a couple of walks and suddenly it’s a 2 or 3 run inning. But when that ratio is 3.35, what happens is teams need 3 or 4 hits in an inning, without hitting into a double play, to get more than 1 run on the board, and that is difficult to do.

Bryce and Next Year

Bryce Harper was on the Sports Fix today and said that he actually has a reason for saying that Mickey Mantle is his favorite player. He grew up a Yankees fan all of his life, and watching film and hearing stories, Mantle was the guy that popped out to him from switch hitting, to hardnosed play, to everything else. It’s not so crazy to me – one of my all time favorite players is Lou Gehrig, who died nearly 40 years before I was born. In my defense though, how can you not love a player nicknamed Biscuit Pants?

Harper also mentioned that he is a Cowboys fan and a Lakers fan, so he likes winners. We call those guys “frontrunners” where I come from. It’ll be interesting to see if he ever likes the Nats.

Every time I hear him speak, I always come away thinking that Harper sounds relatively polished, especially for a guy of his age. He doesn’t sound too cocky, and sounds very respectful of the game. He mentions that the game is humbling – I guess because when you only get on base half the time you’re out the other half.

Short Story Friday

It’s Friday, and I was basically gone for a week, so I decided to key in on a few things I’ve picked up on but wasn’t able to write about.

Lannan Looks Good Again

In his last 4 starts, since he’s returned to the team, John Lannan has given up exactly 2 ER in each start.  He’s pitched at least 5 innings in all of them, and more than 6 in 2 of them. He’s got an ERA of 3.09. He almost looks like the Lannan of old except for one thing: He’s struck out 15 and only walked 5. Of course it’s a small sample, but a 3:1 K:BB ratio is not typical Lannan. Typical Lannan is around 1.4 or 1.5 to 1. His 15 K in 23 1/3 innings (5.8) is actually exactly what he did in 2008, so it’s really about keeping the walks down. If he continues to do that, perhaps he’ll continue to have such good starts.

More Housing Near the Stadium

The Washington Post has a pretty interesting article up today on the housing that was being built near the stadium. The area known as the Yards, which was supposed to make the surrounding neighborhood much nicer, has basically been stalled. Everyone I go to a game with comments that the neighborhood is pretty bad still, I always have to tell them just wait, things will be built. Well this apartment complex is a good start, and hopefully it will make that area a destination for more than just baseball. Unfortunately funding is still tough to get, so we’ll have to wait and see before more development begins. We can all hope that it will some day look like this.

Ian Desmond is Hitting

Pictures from Blogger Day

Not much to say, Blogger Day II has been blogged about, and pictures have been put up by many others. But I’ve got some, too. Click on any image to view it full size.

Jim Riggleman was there answering questions like we were actually members of the media

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As were Collin Ballester, Garrett Mock, and Josh Willingham

Live Blogging and More to Love on Rizzo

Sunday is Blogger Day II at the park. I’ll be there, hopefully doing some sort of live blog. So if you’re gonna watch Sunday’s game, check back in to the Nationals Review and hit refresh. You can see comments as we make ‘em, from all of our incredulous reactions at blown calls to excitement at Dunninghammerman home runs. Yeah that’s my new nickname for the middle of the lineup. Dunninghammerman.

One more reason to love Mike Rizzo, from Boswell’s column in the Washington Post today:

Yes, scouting, for that is Rizzo’s deep root system. For the last decade, baseball has had a debate between those baseball lifers with an eye for the game — like Rizzo’s dad and Boras — and the younger, polished, generally more educated “Moneyball” types.

“I’m a hybrid,” says Rizzo, who then does his ode-to-Sabermetrics riff about the value of knowing Value Over Replacement Player and WHIP. “My dad still doesn’t buy it. But there’s a place for it. Why not use all the tools?… it’s not that tough.”

For me, evaluation is about stats the way it is about makeup, build and character. There all just tools and pieces and measurements. If you ignore EITHER (SABR people who think character means nothing, and old schools scouts who think the “new” stats are worthless) you’re missing the whole picture. Good to see the new GM is the kind of guy who seems to embrace it all.

Observations on my second visit

I went to my second game at Nationals Park last night, it was another barn burner. And by that I mean the Nats were in the game for 4 1/2 innings. Actually Redding did alright, and the 3-run 5th that pretty much put the game away was a combination of errors, walks, and dinky little hits that should have never been hits. Then again, depending on Ray King to field grounders is never wise.

• The crowd was large, and there were a fair number of Mets fans there. Not much more than I expected for a team that plays less than 5 hours away, in a city comprised of transients, to watch a home team that’s been around for less than 4 years. Anyway, the Nats fans were definitely louder, despite plenty of cheering from many many Mets fans. I’d say 75% capacity seemed about right, which isn’t bad at all considering what we’ve seen the first few months.
• The “O” that is yelled at many area events during the Star Spangled Banner was as inaudible last night as at any local sporting event I’ve been to. Thank god, I find it annoying to mildly offensive to interrupt the singing of the National Anthem, and extremely offensive that it is an Orioles cheer.
• Nobody sits in them fancy pants seats behind the plate. It’s insane how empty it looks there. The rest of the stadium was actually crowded, but that area was dead. In the 5th inning they should start bringing people from the 400 section down to the premier seats where tickets were never cashed in that day.
• Sections 237-239, above the home bullpen, were completely empty. There may have literally been 3 or 4 people there, but that’s it. It seems, like much of the stadium, seats that aren’t worth what they’re charging, and people have already figured it out. I’m not gonna get into the prices too much, but they gotta do a better job here.
• The food lines at the upstairs concourse were incomprehensible. Here is a brief rundown of what I observed when I got close to the place where you order

People behind counter yell “Who’s next?!?!”

Several customers look around not sure if they are next.

Customer who is next actually is on a cell phone discussing with someone that is not present what his order should be, stands in way of everyone else ordering, finally telling them to go around, but still physically standing in the way.

Finally someone orders something.

Person behind counter yells to another employee, who customer has already passed in line, to grab their drink, as customer didn’t realize they were supposed to order the drink there.

Someone else comes up and gets in a verbal altercation with person behind counter about who should be taking orders.

Person behind counter yells to others behind the counter about the impending lack of french fries, others behind the counter respond quickly by staring blankly.

Customer orders food to go with improperly ordered drink.

Customer gets drink and food shuffles 1.5 feet to get on line for cashier #1.

Behind cashier #1, cashier #2 waits with no line, tries in vain to get the attention of customer to come there.

Customer waits until they are next in line for cashier before seeing the open cashier #2.

Author of blog further holds up line by asking everyone to “do it again, so I can write it down this time.”

• Seriously, they have plenty of people, but some of the food stands aren’t run very well yet.
• The ramp in the back of the stadium, behind home plate, is a 30 hour ascent to the top level. Take the escalators or the other ramps, I think that one is twice as long.
• I sat in the 300 level (320 actually) and I think these seats may be one of the better deals in the stadium.
• I love the scoreboard, and they do lots of great things, but in the 5th inning or so I noticed I couldn’t locate what the batter had done in his earlier ABs that day. I found it a little annoying, as I haven’t kept a scorecard at a baseball game in 15 years.
• Johan Santana can HIT!
• It’s hard to win a game where you walk Brian Schneider and then Johan Santana on 9 or 10 pitches.
• BLastings had plenty hit towards him, and despite some hard hit liners in his vicinity, he seemed to have no problems out there with judging.
• It took me 50 minutes to get to Bethesda from the Park, which I don’t think is bad at all. Walking up to the metro was scary, it looked like it would take forever. But everything moved relatively quickly and we were outta there way faster than I thought. Really no worse than a commute from 75th and Riverside to 161st and River Ave.
• Wily Mo hit the ball well, and Guzman continues to make me believe, uh, something.
• Who was more surprised the Wil Nieves got two hits off of Johan? Me, Johan, or Wil Nieves?
• I have a serious complaint about the condiment stands. Every time I want onions out of those onion and relish dispensing stations, I have to go to 3 or 4 different stations before I get one that gives me onions. Is the demand for onions so great? Are they rationing onions like rice at Costco? Has my girlfriend somehow called ahead to Nationals Park in order to limit my raw onion intake?
• Between Tim Redding, Odalis Perez, and John Lannan, this team may have put together the start of an actual rotation. Now if only Shawn Hill could pitch well tonight…

Attendence isn’t Surprising, but They Could Do More

The Crowd is Thinning Faster than Your Hair

The first game sold out of course, but the second game in the new stadium was not so crowded. There have been people a little worried by this. It’s a new stadium, and in towns like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, the new stadiums (for cellar dwelling teams) all had more fans on day 2 than Washington. In fact, according to Capital Punishment, we set a record for lack of attendance. I am not big on the despair for this problem, for two reasons. First of all, the Reds, Indians, and Pirates have all resided in their respective cities for at least 90 years each. The Nats are working on their 4th. This is a big difference, in that fans are much more interested in seeing the new stadium for a team they have followed for generations than for a new team who also got a new stadium. For alot of fans, the team is the new thing, the stadium is just nice. Another reason I’m not concerned is that cold April weekday games don’t really have a big draw. Games at Yankee Stadium this time of year don’t look too crowded mid-week either (except for this season, when it is the last chance people will have to go to the stadium). Also, playing the Marlins doesn’t help with ticket sales either. People aren’t quite lining up to get a glimpse of Hanley Ramirez. Not yet, at least.

But What Can They Do?

Which brings me to a possible solution for the mid-week doldrums. When I wanted to buy a ticket package for the Nationals this year, I saw the minimum size was 20 games. 20 games! That’s a quarter of the home games. If you wanted Yankees tickets this season, you could have bought 15, 13, 12, 11, and even 8 game packages. The Nats would be smart to do something like this for several reasons. First of all, not many people are going to want to buy a 20 game package to a team that isn’t going to sell out many games this season. So the smaller deals adds incentive to people on the fence to buy games. They think “Oh, I only have to buy 12? Well, if I can’t go to all of them, I only have to try to sell off tickets to 2 games. That shouldn’t be too bad.” I wasn’t about to buy 20 games myself, for fear of my schedule not allowing me to go to more than half. Good luck trying to get my money back by selling the tickets I can’t use for a team that isn’t going to win.

The other nice thing about the small ticket packages is that if more people buy ticket packages, in any size, more people will go to mid-week games. That’s because if someone buys a ticket package, they’re much more likely to go to a mid-week game when a few of those tickets are forced upon them as part of the package. If they are only buying individual tickets, they’ll go when they want, which evidence suggests is the weekend. So with the smaller packages, there would be more people buying the packages, and consequently more people going to mid-week games.

Speaking of Giving Fans Incentive to Attend…

There I was, watching the Royals-Yankees game last week on my beloved MLB Extra Innings package, when I saw a local KC commercial that got me really excited. No, not the one for the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library Museum, North of Route 70. Actually, I’m talking about the commercial for the Royals game on April 12th where they GAVE AWAY JERSEYS to the first 20,000 fans. Look at those suckers!

I’m sure those weren’t the $80 replica jerseys, but still, this is an awesome giveaway. Could you imagine showing up to the stadium and getting a jersey? Well if you lived in Kansas City, it’s a reality. I scoured the Nats promotional giveaway schedule and the closest thing I could find to anything being as cool as a jersey giveaway was… nothing. Bobbleheads are nice, but they aren’t the same at this. T-shirt Tuesdays are too ambiguous for me to know, alhough I am assuming they will be smattered with corporate sponsors on the back. Nothing like a shirt that says EASTERNS MOTORS bigger than ZIMMERMAN. The Nats really don’t have anything that compares to this. Unless they are giving away laser-rocket arms on Roberto Clemente day.

Pictures of Nationals Park

Just got back from the Wednesday night 10-4 debacle loss to the Marlins. I don’t have much to say about the game, Bergmann looked strong until I went for food. Then it was 5-1. I took alot of pictures, and I know I’m a little late on the whole “what does the new stadium look like” thing, but, whatever, I thought it would be nice to post them. The stadium is beautiful inside, it’s laid out nice, the views seem great from everywhere, and the weather was great, so other than the Nats sucking, I really enjoyed it! I’m not going to have alot to write about each picture, just a basic caption below for most. Enjoy.

View of the Capitol from just out of the Metro

The Entrance from just out of the Metro

Centerfield gate

View from centerfield right by the entrance

The Pressbox is so high up

Some pretty good food choices, I still have quite a few foods on my list of things to try that I haven’t gotten to yet. Saw some guys munching on wings in the section over that looked real good. Also reports are that the cheesesteak stand makes a decent sammich.

The food at Ben’s was delicious… but you can get Ben’s Hot Dogs or Half Smokes (and Chili) all over the park at most hot dog stands.

Nice view from the LF concourse. Pretty much the entire concourse has great open views of the field, so you never feel like you are away from the game, even when you are getting food.

As you walk around the concourse, there are a couple of posters with the history of the game in DC. I think it could have been bigger, there is lots of room around that section, but its still a nice touch. The two big players at the bottom of the page are Walter Johnson on the left, and Josh Gibson on the middle-right.

View from the RF concourse.

Oh that scoreboard. It’s like my HDTV if Paul Lo Duca hooked it up with steroids.

There’s a section with batting cages and pitching cages. Looked pretty fun, I may have to play next time.

MLB The Show on Playstation 3 if you want to play. Colm loves it.

People rocking out at Guitar Hero III

The view from the Red Porch is nice, too.

The always exciting LF bullpen.

Future star Andrew Miller doing some fielding drills and soft toss in the OF before the game. Behind him stands someone who is clearly not a professional baseball player, or David Wells.

The upper level center field concourse is huge and open air. It’s real nice, and even has a Five Guys (it’s the little red sign just to the left of the big #10 in the background). The only picture I got of it was the very front, an area with another great view called the Barpen.

After a hard day of creating a new country, Jefferson and Washington are off to race their giant heads around a baseball field. It makes perfect sense to me.

And they’re off!

Jefferson wins!

Another great view, they seem to be everywhere.

A little over 23,000 is a decent but not impressive crowd.

Amezaga lines out to end the top of the 9th. Don’t worry Amezaga, everyone had left by then, so nobody saw it.

Aaaand that’s game. Oh well, maybe next time, eh?

On the way out we stopped by the team store. Nice Mt. Rushmore inside.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures of Nationals Park. I had a great time just soaking in the new stadium, and my only other observation is that the crowd was real quiet, even in the first few innings when the Nats were winning a close one. It may take some time, but a little noise from the fans would be cool.

Opening Night Journal

Ok, it’s overdone, and there are certainly more accomplished writers than me who write journals. But I’m sick of writing previews and I figured the best way to communicate what I felt about the game was to keep a journal, inning-by-inning as to my thoughts during the game, in chronological order….

• Pregame
  • I’ve cracked a beer (Red Hook ESB) and I’m set up on the couch ready to go. Opening day is the best day. I should have taken Monday off so I could watch day baseball, too.
  • The new stadium looks great, that scoreboard is HUGE. Also, I’m pretty sure HD was invented with baseball fields in mind.
  • I think the President’s embroidered name is a nice touch on his jacket – George W Bush, the W is the Nat’s cap logo.
  • That brick wall backstop could lead to some silly bounces. Maybe even right back at the catcher
  • Every year the Preseident should throw out the first pitch of the season, in DC, and the Nats should play the first game. It’s America’s pastime, it makes sense and it would be a great tradition.
• Top of the 1st Inning
  • Odalis Perez got the first K at the stadium. It’s history! Go crazy! WRITE IT DOWN!
  • So far so good, 3 up and 3 down, I like it.
• Bottom of the 1st
  • GUZMANIA! First hit in the new stadium goes to Christian Guzman. Think about that. Only Jim Bowden would have predicted that one. WRITE IT DOWN!
  • Hudson threw away a pickoff and Guzman got all the way to third. How often does that actually happen? I have a feeling that Nats are gonna get lucky with the bounces tonight.
  • Nick Johnson‘s hits a ball well, but what was great was seeing him run the bases without exploding. Also, first RBI. WRITE IT DOWN! [1-0 Nats]
  • Austin Kearns shocks me by hitting Johnson home. I’m not shocked that Kearns got a hit, I’m shocked about a 2 run 2 out rally. Is this really the Nats? [2-0 Nats]
  • Wow, thanks to ESPN for showing Dmitri Young in a suit… with a crooked tie… inexplicably carrying a metal briefcase. That was the funniest thing I’ve seen today.
• Top of the 2nd
  • McCann hits the ball well and tries to stretch it into a double, and he gets gunned down by Kearns. He played it perfectly, although not on purpose, I think.
• Bottom of the 2nd
  • Dukes hits a deep fly to center, but it’s still not close. FYI, before opening day he had 10 HRs in 184 career ABs. That is enticing.
• Top of the 3rd
  • Odalis Perez just picked someone off? Everything seems to be going right tonight. First one at the new park! WRITE IT DOWN!
• Bottom of the 3rd
  • Yuniel Escobar just made the first nice defensive play in the new stadium! Heyo! WRITE IT DOWN!
• Top of the 4th
  • Chipper just laced a HR over the LCF fence. It is allegedly pretty windy here, so liners may be the best shot for HRs right now, although once it gets all hot and humid outside, I think the ball will carry.
  • First time the ball hits the 3rd base bag and stays fair! WRITE IT DOWN!
• Bottom of the 4th
  • I like seeing Nick Johnson then Austin Kearns batting. Two batters in a row that can really wear down pitchers, that could be the difference between a pitcher going an extra inning or not.
• Top of the 5th
  • Acta’s interview with John Miller and Joe Morgan was interesting. It’s just weird to hear a manager use the term “On Base Percentage” when praising a guy. Made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
  • Chevy Chase ACura. That unnecessary accent drives me crazy. Also, I live right there, it’s Bethesda, not Chevy Chase.
• Bottom of the 5th
  • Mackowiak pinch hits, which makes me happy because I claimed that he’d be one of the first off the bench. And he was! WRITE IT DOWN!
  • So Perez is out, which is understandable. Remember, he didn’t have a complete spring training so might as well be a little careful. 5 IP, 2 K, 1ER – I’ll take that every time.
• Top of the 6th
  • I don’t mind the little Chipper tribute. People don’t realize just how good he is. And for fantasy baseball, even if he only plays 120 games a year, he’s putting up MVP type numbers when he’s in. Anyway, look at his stats, he’s actually healthy most of the time.
• Bottom of the 6th
  • Hudson’s keeping the ball down, lots of groundball outs. Not fun for us. But man, this stadium looks good.
• Top of the 7th
  • Cool view of the batting cages from those premier suites seats. Anyone want to take me to a game sitting there?
  • When the ball is hit to RF, I have full confidence that Kearns is going to make a good play on it.
• Bottom of the 7th
  • Hey, Joe Morgan, can you remind me again how well Tim Hudson is pitching? Oh, really well? Ok, thanks.
  • Paul Lo Duca hits the ballhard, but I wasn’t fooled into thinking it might carry over the LF fence. Not because I saw anything special, but because it’s Paul Lo Duca.
  • Racheal Ray is trying to sell me hot breakfast from Dunkin’ Donuts, which makes me want to eat it less.
• Top of the 8th
  • Speaking of Dunkin’ Donuts… Ladies and Gentleman, Ray King! First LOOGY of the new stadium! WRITE IT DOWN!
  • When King pitches to righties, I get nervous. I’m cool with him walking the righty.
  • A flyball out to Lastings Milledge is what I think his is first play of the season. There is talk that he reads the ball very poorly off the bat, but he seemed to get a good jump on that one.
  • It’s a shame to see Gilbert still in a suit on March 30. But what a nasty pass by Blatche… Sorry, I flipped channels during the commercial.
  • Zimmerman just made a great play on what turned out to be a foul ball. I love that play. I hear he’s good at fielding.
  • So there’s an MLB 2K8 video game commercial on with Dennis Leary as the voiceover. Does he always sound this angry? He’s like Bobby Knight, he could sing you happy birthday and sound pissed off.
• Bottom of the 8th
  • The Braves pitchers last name is Ohman? Oh, man? That could be good or bad I guess. It’s better than, I don’t know, being a goalie name Lettin’ In.
  • Joe Morgan’s talking about an Ernie Banks statue outside of Wrigley, which is a cool idea. I’d love it if the Nats have a player someday that is so synonymous with the team, and so great of a player, that it makes sense to make a statue for him.
  • I can barely hear it, but they’re playing Sweet Caroline during a break. This must be stopped.
  • Felipe Lopez comes in as a PH to show why he should be starting. He strikes out on 3 straight pitches. Well, he’ll have other chances.
• Top of the 9th
  • Jon Rauch is coming in instead of Chad Cordero. I wonder if it’s cause Cordero isn’t ready to play yet? They say his fastball’s off, a 1 run game in the 9th maybe shouldn’t be where he comes in if that’s the case. I’m ok with playing Chief in the middle innings until he’s healthy. Meanwhile, I think Rauch gets really lucky as Chipper hits the ball hard but right at him
  • Mark Teixeira hits a double about a foot south of clearing the fence. Again, Rauch got lucky and isn’t looking good.
  • 2 outs and McCann is up, I don’t have a problem if they walk him right now with a man on 3rd an 2 outs.
  • It doesn’t matter as Lo Duca muffs it and, I can’t believe it, a run scores on a passed ball. First passed ball in the new stadium! WRITE IT DOWN!
  • Everyone got all antsy with McCann’s popup to LF. Can I give some advice here? If you go to a game, and see a fly ball to the OF, just wait 2 seconds before you decide to loudly gasp, and check out what the outfielder is actually doing to field the ball.
• Bottom of the 9th
  • Wouldn’t this be the perfect vindication for Guzman? If he hit a HR here, Rob Neyer and Bill James would probably have that feeling that Obi Wan had when they blew up the planet. But, too bad, no such luck.
  • Wow, what a way to end the game. Ryan Zimmerman with a game ending HR! A game winning RBI! And then, the first curtain call in the new stadium! WRITE IT ALL DOWN! [3-2 Nats, final]

Well, what a way to ring in the new stadium. I enjoyed the replay of Zimmerman’s homer, where they show him jogging to first and clearly mouthing the words “Get the F— outta here!” as he’s watching the ball sail. I am thrilled with the way they played today, and Zimmerman’s home run will be remembered, but Odalis Perez pitched a great game and deserves some credit. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come with him. In the meantime, I will be looking forward to going to my first Nats game next week.

New Logo, Philly Phriends, Beer, etc

A couple of things to end this last week before real games start. First of all, you may have noticed a new logo on the top. That is mostly because I have been asked, along with many other Nats bloggers, if I wanted to be mentioned on MASN’s pregame show, Nats Extra. The idea is that each day they will mention a blog or two, and what we wrote about. I think it is pretty cool that the “big media” or whatever you want to call it is acknowledging those of us who are just passionate fans writing about them for fun, and realize that we may have something to contribute. So thanks, MASN, for that. Anyway, they wanted the website’s logo to put up on TV when they talk about TNR, and I figured the old logo, with a bunch of pictures I stole from various other websites, needed to be trashed. Thanks to my computer geek friend Adrian, who does all kinds of design for a living, for helping me make my idea look much better than what I originally had.

Philly Talk

I was asked to give a preview of the Nats for a Phillies podcast. Being interviewed was definitely fun although a little weird. I answered questions accurately and to the best of my ability, and when he asked me to come up with a # of wins for the Nats this year I was kinda put on the spot. I came up with 76 or 77, which although is doable, may be a bit high. I did caveat that by saying if they could find a constant rotation. I’ll stand by my prediction if that condition is met. We’ll get Pat from Philadelphia Baseball Review to give us some input when we have some Phillies questions. In the meantime, check out my interview at the Philadelphia Baseball Review. I’m not sure if my audio is up yet, as soon as it is I’ll post a link, in the meantime you can check out site, it looks at all area teams, not just the Philies.  Addendum: The audio is up and here is the link: http://philadelphiabaseballreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/phillies-vs-nationals-gameday-331.html

Stadium Beer

I felt it was worth mentioning, despite my aversion to regurgitating other people’s stories, that the Nats WILL indeed be serving beer at their ballpark. Actually, the DC Sports Bog has a list of what the options are going to be, and I think its important for everyone to know. Some thoughts:

1. If they are looking for a good local brew, Dogfish Head Ale has some great stuff
2. I am looking forward to trying the locally brewed Hook and Ladder, as well as Leinenkugel Home Run Ale (if it’s anything like Brooklyn lager’s Pennant Ale ’55, another baseball-themed beer, it will be my go-to drink at the stadium).
3. If you are paying $6.50 for a 12 oz. bottle of Corona, you… have a very different palette than me.
4. I am excited to see what Asian beers they have. No chance they have San Miguel (from the Philippines and one of my favs) but good chance I can get the delicious and originally German-made Tsingtao, a staple of my trip to China and most of my trips to Chinese restaurants.
5. I agree with Dan, more local brews would be fun, although I’m perfectly happy with the close to 30 brands that he has listed.

Finding the Nats

Just a reminder, if you’re looking to find the Nats, there are several places to get them. If you’re local, you can watch all the games on MASN with a handful on MY20, and MASN will be showing 40 games in HD on the MOJO network. The story’s all here. If you are local, you won’t be able to catch them on MLB.TV, but if you travel alot with a laptop, I’ve heard great things about it. Also, if you’re into the radio, you can catch every single MLB game, without blackout restrictions, on XM Radio. The nice thing about that is I believe you can login to their website and listen over your computer (hello, afternoon games at work). As for regular radio, or terrestrial radio as they say now, they’ll be on 107.7 FM and 1500 AM locally. Happy watching/listening.