» postseason | First Ladies of Baseball

Before it’s too late

By Maggie on October 11, 2012

Once again I could make an excuse about being a terrible blogger. I could apologize for not posting my September predictions. For not posting anything really at ALL during the month of September. For not having the time to acknowledge the amazing things that this team has done (other than clinching the postseason back on September 20).

Instead I’ve been at games – doing the thing I promised I was doing instead of posting. I’ve been a fan – eating hot dogs, drinking beer, cheering myself hoarse, high-fiving strangers. I’ve still been taking lots of pictures and thinking critically about this team, but without the pressure of “How will I write about this for the blog?” I’m able to enjoy this last and sweetest part of the season, and everything amazing that has happened all year long.

I promise to do more later. There may be some catch up posts with links to pictures if I ever get them from my computer to our picture site. For now – have this one. It’s totally out of focus. But I think it expresses a little bit of the exuberance that was palapable even from the “cheap seats”. The Nats are going to Game 5. They’re still in it. The season isn’t over yet…and I think they can do it!

DC-IBWA 2011 Player Awards Voting

By Maggie on October 7, 2011

As humble information managers (read: librarian & records manager) in our day jobs, it delights us to no end to have our little blog be called an “online media outlet” in the company of some fantastic Nationals baseball blogs. Even more enjoyable is being able to participate in the biannual rites of prediction-making and survey-taking that we milk for as many posts as we can. The most recent of these was the 2011 DC-Internet Baseball Writers Association Player Achievement Awards. Want to know how we voted, and why we chose who we did? Then read on. We’ll be presenting our first, second, and third place choices, along with the consensus winners of the award from the DC-IBWA.

Goose Goslin MVP: Michael Morse
First Ladies’ Choice: Morse/Zimmerman/Espinosa

Has any player meant as much to the Nationals this year as Michael Morse? Not only did he hit a lot of home runs, but he managed to knock in a lot of runs, and play good defense at both 1B and LF, but he cheered the spirits of Natstown with his catchy at-bat music and initiation into the joys of “Beast Mode”.

Walter Johnson Starting Pitcher of the Year: Jordan Zimmermann
First Ladies’ Choice: Zimmermann/Lannan/Strasburg

Recovering from Tommy John surgery is a very big deal. Recovering and thriving the way that Jordan Zimmermann did is nothing short of fantastic. He has definitely earned his place in next year’s rotation.

Frederick “Firpo” Marberry RP: Tyler Clippard
First Ladies’ Choice: Clippard/Storen/Coffey

Who else would we choose? If you look at his stat line for this year, it’s just ridiculous. Clippard more than deserved his spot as an All-Star, and proved it from March to September.

Sam Rice Hitter of the Year: Michael Morse
First Ladies’ Choice: Morse/Zimmerman/Desmond

This award is for “all-around hitting, situational hitting and baserunning”. Well, if you look at the National League batting average leaderboard, who sits at number 9 this year? Michael Morse. In fact, go to the National League batting leaders page of Baseball Reference, and do a Ctrl-F search for “Morse”, and his name comes up a LOT, and not in any embarassing categories either (I’m looking at Espinosa and Werth in Strikeouts). Seriously good stuff.

Frank Howard Slugger of the Year: Michael Morse
First Ladies’ Choice: Morse/Zimmerman/Ramos

How many times can we lavish praise on Mikey-Mo? One more official award will do. When you’re on the big board for Slugging, OPS, Home Runs, Doubles and Extra Base Hits…that’s the very definition of a slugger of the year.

Joe Judge Defensive Player of the Year: Danny Espinosa
First Ladies’ Choice: Espinosa/Ankiel/Ramos

This is the time on FLoB where we remind ourselves that Danny Espinosa is a ROOKIE. Yes, he made quite a few errors, but how many other seemingly impossible defensive plays did he treat Nats fans to this season?

Mickey Vernon Comeback Player of the Year: Jordan Zimmermann
First Ladies’ Choice: Strasburg/Wang/Zimmermann

Here is the first place where the First Ladies differ from the final standings, and from the voting tally, we weren’t the only ones who thought Stephen Strasburg belonged at the top of the comeback standings. Our reasoning for putting Stras as our first place vote is simple: 1 year ago at this time, Stephen was recovering from Tommy John surgery. In less than a year, he came back, lit up the minor leagues, and showed the Nationals that he is back and perhaps a little wiser than before.

Josh Gibson Humanitarian Award: Ian Desmond
First Ladies’ Choice: Desmond/Zimmerman/Lannan

Ian Desmond is this year’s nominee from the Washington Nationals for the Roberto Clemente award, which is given for positive contributions both on and off the field. Desmond has given so much back to the DC community, a fact that is evident in the predominance of his face at Nationals community events. Surely there are easier ways for a young father to spend his free time and off days, but Ian simply proves that he is more than deserving of this award.

Minor League Player of the Year: Bryce Harper
First Ladies’ Choice: Lombardozzi/Peacock/Harper

One last award where the First Ladies didn’t go with the crowd. Yes, Harper was the obvious choice, but as good as he’s been, he’s still young, and he didn’t get past AA-ball this year (a purposeful decision by the Nats management). Instead, we went with Maggie’s gut instinct of Steve Lombardozzi, who despite a potentially disappointing month in the MLB, displayed spectacular potential in both Harrisburg and Syracuse. We look forward to seeing Steve develop.

Biggest Surprise: Michael Morse
First Ladies’ Choice: Morse (seconded by Coffey’s enthusiastic running)

There are few among us who once the regular season started were saying that Michael Morse would be the biggest contributor to the Nationals this season. Oh, how he proved us wrong.

Biggest Disappointment: Jayson Werth
First Ladies’ Choice: Werth

Jayson Werth made 10 million dollars this year. As an outfielder, was he worth that? Not really. As a batter, was he worth it? Definitely not. Here’s hoping this was just a fluke, and that he proves his mettle in the years to come.

Will Ryan Zimmerman sign a contract extention before end of 2012: Yes
First Ladies’ Answer: Yes

If the Nationals don’t sign him to an extension before the end of 2012, they are stupid. And we think [and hope] they aren’t stupid.

Who won’t be on the Nationals 2012 Roster:
First Ladies’ Answers: Slaten / Gorzelanny / Maya / H-Rod / Wang / Cora / LaRoche / Marrero / Bixler / Brown / Gomes

It’s not that we don’t like these guys (well…some of these guys). We just think that some make better trade bait, and some just don’t fit the direction that the team is headed. This will be something to re-evaluate in the spring.

Favorite Professional Nats Writer:
First Ladies’ Answer: Mark Zuckerman

He’s really good at what he does – concise, appropriately humorous, with lots of interesting posts. If you’re not reading his column, you should be.

Favorite Nats Blogger:
First Ladies’ Answer: Andrew Kinback, Nationals Inquisition

We love bloggers with a sense of humor, who alternately do and don’t take things too seriously. He’s also active on twitter (@natsnq), which makes for good in-game commentary.

What do you think? If you had a chance to vote too, where would you differ from our (or the group’s) picks? Any other players on the Nats that you think could make a good candidate for team MVP?

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Tour of Nationals Stadium

By Ashley on November 12, 2010

Ashley and Maggie took the day off last month and headed down to the ballpark to check out the new uniforms and help Ashley pick out season ticket seats. After that was taken care of, they decided to tour the ballpark as well!

Verdict on the new uniforms? Both of the First Ladies like the emphasis on the Curly W. It’s always been a favorite part of the Nats branding, and the girls are glad it will be more prominent. Neither Ashley nor Maggie was fond of the flag W on the blue alternate jerseys (the piping makes the w too chunky), but they loved the script Nationals across the away jerseys.

Ticket guru Nicole (@NatsTix) took Maggie and Ashley around the stadium to give Ashley an opportunity to see the view from different seats. There were only a few areas that Ashley had not sat in before, but it’s still a hard call on where to call home next season. Ashley’s hoping that Santa will leave tickets under the tree…

There was some promotional filming/photography going on in the infield while the First Ladies walked around the ball park. From the looks of things, the Nats were making sure they had stock footage of key players in the new uniform. Zimmerman was out for a while, then Lannan took the field. (An aside – once again, Maggie and Ashley weren’t able to visit the bullpen on a stadium tour!)

The tour was very comprehensive (and lots of fun!). The tour guide was slightly chagrined that there weren’t very many places that Ashley & Maggie had not been, but they still learned a lot and had a great time. We saw:

The only clear view of the Washington Monument…

The Shirley Povich Media Center (and had lunch there too! These are pins from some of the World Series games Povich covered)…

What a panel from the scoreboard looks like in person…

The view inside and outside the infield club level, PNC Diamond seats, Lexus Presidents Club (above), and a private suite…. and much, much more! Click here to view the rest of the pictures!

Post-season Roundup: Best and Worst Games, plus some Miscellany

By Maggie on October 19, 2010

We are arriving at the end of our end of season write-ups. We have just a few more things to comment about, and then we’ll treat you to a photo post (which always seems more fun)! As another reminder, if you’re reading our blog regularly (or have read our archives and have an opinion), please take our end of season survey so that the First Ladies can make this blog better for you in the season to come!

Best Games

The consensus best game was the Strasburg debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 8. A beautiful night, a spectacular debut, fantastic offensive hitting from many members of the team, and an evening that ended before the First Ladies’ self-imposed 9:30 “bed-time”. We couldn’t have asked for anything more.
On July 27, it was t-shirt Tuesday, and Stephen Strasburg was expected to start. He was pulled at the last moment, and Miguel Batista stepped up and pitched a great game. Many fans attendees complained, but having “Miss Iowa” step up without signs of pressure and having the rest of the team show no signs of strain proved that the team didn’t need their rookie phenom to win games. Bonus: Ashley won a pre-game session of “One-Red-Cup”.
This is actually a tie, because Maggie and Ashley did not attend all of the same games – they decided to each pick an individual favorite. Ashley’s vote went to the September 24 game which featured an inside the park home-run by Willie Harris and two homeruns plus 5 RBIs by Adam Dunn.
Since Maggie wasn’t at that game, she chose the July 31 game that featured a 3-run walk-off home-run by Ryan Zimmerman that clinched the three game series over the Phillies. It was also Nyjer Morgan bobblehead night, and you can’t go wrong with awesome promotional items!

Worst Games

It’s horrible to say this – but Opening Day. Being overrun by Philthy fans, and then having to suffer a horrible loss was NOT the way to start the season.
The very next game that we attended was the April 7 debut of Jason Marquis. In the write-up you’ll see that we said it was a lot better than opening day, but as you can see, there wasn’t much that had to be done to improve. Marquis has a poor showing, the stadium was still overrun with Phillies fans, and the loss continued a streak that did not make us optimists.
There weren’t a lot of spectacularly bad games this year, but one of the more frustrating games was the September 12 game against the Marlins. The game seemed un-endingly long, and had a disappointing end to a game that was supposed to be a cheerful first viewing of Jordan Zimmermann for Ashley and Maggie.

Miscellany

The new opening montage was fantastic! The world of DC baseball depicted on an actual baseball featuring monuments and landmarks, with video highlights of the team in black, white and red.
We love the switch from the late inning music interlude of “Sweet Caroline” (which really, belongs to the Boston Red Sox) to Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual”, especially when the fan cam found fans doing the infamous “Carlton Dance”.
What were your favorite Nats moments this season?

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Post-Season Roundup: Promotional Items and Nat Pack Stuff

By Maggie on October 15, 2010

Today we take a look at the promotional items that the Nats handed out over the course of the season, and our favorite professional fans – the Nat Pack! Also – if you have yet to take our end-of season blog survey, you can find it here.

Promotional Items

Coolest items: While Maggie made the joke that the choice should be the cooler that was given out in May (get it? COOLer?), Ashley pointed out that the “Clipp and Save” t-shirt was actually a more interesting and fun promotional item.
Most useful: The cup and pitcher set! Ashley used her cups all the time at Nats games to get ice, and Maggie is looking forward to using the pitcher for lemonade, or sangria, or whatever.
Best t-shirt: This was another tough choice. Maggie loves the long sleeve “Mr. Walkoff t-shirt, but Ashley pointed out that you wouldn’t be able to wear it to the park as much during the season. So that left us with the kids ringer t-shirt that says “Washington Nationals”. Don’t be jealous just because we’re small enough to fit in XL kids sizes.
Best bobblehead: There were three to choose from this year – silver and gold Zim, Nyjer Morgan, and Pudge Rodriguez. We chose the T. Plush bobble because he has a very serious expression on his face, and his figure has the greatest amount of action.

Nat Pack & In-game Promotions

Best pre-game game: As good as Maggie is at trivia, both she and Ashley love to see (and play) One Red Cup. It’s like a race, and it’s very silly, and seems easier than it was. Plus – Ashley won her prize pack from it!
Best in-game promotion: Maggie is hated by nearly everyone because she got our winner – the Lucky Seat Upgrade. There is nothing like going from nosebleed seats to actually being able to hear the players and umpire talk, and to see the players up close. Plus – it comes with $35 of value on the ticket. Can’t beat that!
Best between-inning game: Ashley has no opinions (she’s usually too busy taking pictures), but Maggie thought the Nick’s Sausage toss was hilarious. How often do you get to see people throwing (fake) meat products against each others heads?
Worst in-game promotion: Thirst Row. Hands down. Who thought that up? It’s just an extended beer commercial!
Favorite NatsHD moment: Screech goes skydiving!
Worst NatsHD moment: The dueling piano bar dance. I’m not even saying the name of the place, because it’s just terrible. The song is bad. The dance is bad. The video is horrific.
Favorite Nat-Packer: Terrance! He’s always super happy, full of energy, and tries to get the crowd into the game. He dances during the Happy Hour, and is willing to wear wigs, and wave flags. (See picture at top of post).

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Post-Season Roundup: Food, Seats and Singers

By Ashley on October 9, 2010

Today we tackle a few of the topics that a baseball-going person might be concerned about before the game even starts.

Seating

Favorite Cheap Seats (less than $20)
1. Grandstand seating: These seats are way up high, but you don’t have to actually sit there – enjoy the beer and view from the Red Loft (as close as the Nats get to standing room only). The only downside is getting there early enough to snag one before they’re gone. [$5]
2. Upper Infield Gallery: These seats are on the same level as the Grandstand but provide a better, more central view of the game. 409 allows you to see the organist at work, and sections 416 and 417 are hot spots for upgraded seats. [$18]
Best Value Seats
1. Left or Right Field Corner. Closer to ground level, good food options on the lower level, excellent view. [$36]
2. Center field Lounge. Regularly $56, but comes with $15 of food value (+waiters), so really costs only $41, and you don’t have to get up for food. If you can get this one on a discount, it makes an even better deal. [$56]
Best Splurge Seats (more than $60)
1. Diamond Club (duh). Comes with $35 of value, but costs $170. Fantastic cushy seats, have “waiters”, great view (though it’s through the net), and you see the pitches well, hear the players, and hear the calls as they happen! [$170]
2. Home-side dugout box (the lower part of 127-131) – you’re close to the team, get to see them trot in and out, and again – close in on the action, but now, not blocked by the net. [$75]
3. Club seats are fun – more choices in food in the Stars and Stripes club, cushy seats, great atmosphere, people up there are friendly – again the problem of net and wires, but if you sit on the edges of the Infield club (or go to the 1st/3rd base club), then the view is still fantastic, if not as close in. [$65]

Food

Best Value (most bang for your buck)
1. Shrimp po’boy from the Triple Play grill. Ashley had this at the Strasburg game, and loved it then - lots of food for a non-obscene amount of money. [$9]
2. The Rough Rider is kind of expensive. BUT, it is more meat than you would expect, and it is covered in delicious barbecue sauce. An experience, and one we recommend tackling at least once. [$12]
3. Max’s kosher grill is a small stand near the stairs/escalator up to the Scoreboard walk. Somewhat overlooked, but not lacking in delicious, tasty, CHEAP (for the ballpark) foods. There are both meat and vegetarian options (kosher meats and falafel!). [$6-8]
Tastiest Ballpark Food
1. Max’s Kosher Grill – what can we say? It was that good.
2. Pit Beef/Turkey sliders from “The Pit” up near the Red Loft. As far as ballpark food goes, these were pretty good.
3. Hard Times Café nachos. So good. SO, so good. You can share them as an appetizer, or eat a whole portion by yourself as a meal. Yum.
Desserts
1. The dessert cart in the Stars and Stripes club. Maggie only had the Smore’s cake, but man, was that good. Creative takes on standard desserts, but with flair, and generous portions.
2. Churros (from the Nutty Bavarian). Cinnamon, sugar and textured fried dough. What else do you need?
3. Cinnamon-roasted nuts (from the Nutty Bavarian). These are Maggie and Ashley’s most constant purchase. They’re always delicious smelling, and never seem like a mistake.

Favorite Anthem Singers

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbSMdhpXf3w]

Glenn Donnellan – he will bring goosebumps to your arms, and a smile to your heart. Anyone with an electric violin carved out of a baseball bat is awesome in our books.
D.C. Washington – not only does he have the most awesomely appropriate name, but this man has the most amazing set of pipes.
Adalia Jimenez – 12 years old, but can belt out the anthem like a woman twice her age.
HONORABLE MENTION: Jaared, saxophonist - Everyone at Strasburg’s debut was not expecting a lot – something more along the lines of Kenny G. But then we were all treated to an amazing jazz-almost-rock rendition of the anthem. By the end, everyone was on their feet, pretenses dropped, and stereotypes broken.

Post-Season Roundup: Players and DC-IBWA Voting

By Maggie on October 5, 2010

Since the season is over, we have decided to do a round-up of all the things that make going to see baseball at Nationals Park interesting and fun. First up is something fairly technical. Our blog is part of the Internet Baseball Writers Association DC Chapter, and as such, we vote on player awards. The results came out today, and we thought we would share how and why we voted the way we did. Votes are shown in (1st/2nd/3rd place).

MVP: Zimmerman/Dunn/Rodriguez. Zimmy was an obvious choice for first place – he’s the heart and soul of the team. Dunn puts up big offense (38 HR? 100+ RBI?), and can squeak one out for the Nast. We chose Pudge as our third place MVP, because he lent an air of validity, and provided a veteran presence behind the plate for the many young pitchers who came up this year.

Starting Pitcher: Hernandez/Strasburg/Lannan. We chose Livo for #1 because he provided a steady presence all season, winning games, and eating up innings. Strasburg was like a Roman candle – a few fantastic shots, but flaming out way too soon. Lannan had a rough start, but after going to AA for a while, he came back strong – better than we had seen him in the past.

Relief Pitcher: Capps/Storen/Clippard. Sure, Capps was traded at the end of July, but that doesn’t change the fact that he electrified any game he was in, and got a ridiculous number of saves. Storen stepped up to the plate in a big way, coming in to the Bigs in early May, and proving he had the stuff. Clippard had a fantastic beginning to the year, a bit of a slump in the summer, and came back strong at the end of the year, coming up when he needed to.

Hitter of the Year: Morgan/Zimmerman/Morse. Sure, Morgan had a tough year – but every time he gets on the bases (which was decently often enough for our tastes), he was a danger to steal; he’s got a bunch of work to do in the off-season, but dude is bursting with potential. Zimmerman is a solid hitter who does what he has to do, day in and day out. Morse came in to the year with a lot to prove, but based on how he came up big quite a few times – we like the way he hits.

Slugger of the Year: Dunn/Zimmerman/Willingham. Easiest vote of the year – choose your Home Run buddies, and it’s a straight ticket.

Defensive Player of the Year: Rodriguez/Zimmerman/Bernadina. We gave Pudge the first place nod because of his strong defensive catching skills. Runners trying to steal had a tough challenge when going up against Pudge. Zimmerman earned himself a Golden Glove last year, and definitely could do it again this year based on spectacular plays from third. Finally – as for Bernadina, they don’t call him the “Flying Dutchman” for nothing – dude made some spectacular diving catches this year, and played excellent outfield all year long.

Comeback Player of the Year: Hernandez/Bernadina/???. We had a hard time coming up with players, because it meant thinking back to last year. But we did know that Livo had been pulled from nowhere last fall to shore up the pathetic pitching staff, and then did an amazing job this past year to show that he was worth the risk. Bernadina broke his ankle last spring, and came back to a spectacular season. We couldn’t think of a third, but Jordan Zimmerman showed up on the group list, and we should have thought to put him on our list.

Humanitarian of the Year: Lannan/Zimmerman/Willingham. Lannan’s Cannons is an adorable philanthropic endeavor. We love seeing his banner hanging in the 200 level, and seeing footage of him working with child cancer patients! Zimmerman does a fantastic job with his ZiMS foundation to raise money and awareness for MS, a cause close to his heart since his mother has MS. Josh Willingham was nominated for the Roberto Clemente award for his foundation which gives opportunities to underserved kids in his hometown of Florence, Alabama.

Minor League Player of the Year: Espinosa/Tyler Moore/???. We chose Danny Espinosa as our top player in this category because he made such a big splash during his September call-up. We both had a chance to see Tyler Moore play in Potomac, and he did a fantastic job. Despite having gone to a number of minor league games this year, we couldn’t come up with a third player.

Survey Questions:
1) Who do you think will NOT be part of the organization next year:
Mench, Nieves, Olsen

2) How long will Dunn’s next contract be:
3 years (but we really hope that

3) Who was the biggest pleasant surprise:
Michael Morse (especially after he cut his hair and got rid of that ridiculous mullet!)

4) Who was the biggest disappointment:
Marquis

5) Who is your favorite professional Nats writer:
Adam Kilgore (Maggie loves the Nationals Journal)

6) Favorite non-professional Nats blog/writer:
Nationals Inquisition (His irreverent humor about the team and the game made us laugh more than we would like to admit. He also said things we wish we had the guts to say.)

To see how everyone else voted, and to learn a little more about the DC-IBWA, please take a look at the results:
DC Internet Baseball Writers Association.

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