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Mid-Season Assessment: “At least we were right about one thing…”

By Maggie on July 13, 2012

The Nationals start the second half of what seems like a beautiful season so far tonight. Back in early April, we posted our predictions for the coming season. I was fairly optimistic, and Ashley tempered my optimism. And apparently, we shouldn’t have been quite so moderate in our guesstimations. Let’s take a look at those prognostications and see just how things stand here before the Nats start up again.

1) Who will lead the Nats in home runs in 2012?

Original Answer: Ryan Zimmerman
Current Leaders: Desmond at 17, LaRoche at 15 … Zimmerman 8

Oh Ryan. He had a rough first half, and things didn’t turn around until about 3 weeks ago when he got that cortisone shot. In the mean time, Desmond is having a career season, and Adam LaRoche is getting off to a faster start than usual.
Modified Answer: LaRoche – I’m not sure Desmond can keep up his furious pace through the rest of the season though I’d love to see him try.

2) Who will lead the Nats in RBI?

Original Answer: Danny Espinosa
Current Leaders: LaRoche 53, Desmond 51… Espinosa 24

This prediction was probably wishful thinking in the first place. Espi had a great first half last year – would it be silly to think he’d repeat? Maybe he’ll bounce back in the second half this time around, but it looks like it’ll be difficult to catch up with LaRoche and Desi who are running away with this so far.
Modified Answer: If we’re going with the “second place guy takes it” again, then we’ll give it to Desmond.

3) Who will lead the Nats in stolen bases?

Original Answer: Roger Bernadina
Current Leaders: Espinosa 14, Desmond 11, Harper 10 … Bernadina 8

This is a situation where the Shark’s new role as a pinch hitter has hurt him. He’s still a speedster, as evidenced by the fact that he’s only 6 bases behind Espinosa despite his fractional number of plate appearances.
Modified Answer: Gotta give this one to the Kid. Harper loves to run, and I have a feeling he’ll do a lot of base stealing in the second half.

4) Who will lead the staff in wins?

Original Answer: Jordan Zimmermann
Current Leaders: Gonzalez 12, … Zimmermann 5

Poor Jordan. We should have known from last year that the team’s bad habit of not giving him any run support would hold over. He deserves a better win-loss record (and fingers crossed tonight gives him another W in that column).
Modified Answer: Gotta go with Gio. He’s a workhorse, and he seems to love pitching in Nats Park. I have a feeling this one is locked up.

5) Who will pitch more innings for the Nats this season: Chien-Ming Wang, John Lannan, Ross Detwiler?

Original Answer: Ross Detweiler
Current Leaders: Detweiler 78.2, Wang 23.2, Lannan 0

This is one of the few answer’s we’ve got right so far. Yay us! With Wang’s hip acting up again, and Lannan pouting in Syracuse, we’ll stick with our original answer.

6) Who will get more at bats for the Nats this season: Rick Ankiel, Roger Bernadina, Bryce Harper?

Original Answer: Roger Bernadina
Current Leaders: Harper 248, Ankiel 158, Bernadina 111

With Ankiel in a reduced role, Bernadina as pinch hitter, and Harper debuting in the big leagues WAY before anyone expected, it looks like we were wrong on this one.
Modified Answer: Harper. He’s run away with it so far, and the only way I see this changing is if the worst comes to pass.

7) Date of Bryce Harper’s Major league debut?

Original Answer: June 2
Actual Answer: April 28

We were OH SO WRONG. But really…whoulda thunk? And dude is really proving himself.

8) Which minor leaguer are you most interested in keeping tabs on this season (other than Bryce Harper)?

Original Answer: Anthony Rendon or Matt Purke (btw, check out that photo!)

With Rendon essentially out for the season with a broken ankle, and Matt Purke not starting his season until late May followed quickly by a trip to the DL, it seems that both of them won’t be doing much for a while. In the mean time, we’ll be keeping an ear to the ground about Alex Meyer who did an awesome job at the MLB futures game.

9) How many all-stars will the Nats have? Who?

Our Answer: 2, Zimmerman and Strasburg
Real Answer: 3.5, Strasburg, Gonzalez, Desmond (withdrew), Harper

Let’s give ourselves partial credit. Of course Strasburg would go – that was the obvious answer. But the other 2.5 (we’ll call them that since the Nats technically had 4 all stars, but only 3 showed up) were awesome surprises. Congrats to the team on making the great leap from the last few seasons when they had someone at the All Star Game only because every team HAD to have someone at the All Star Game.

10) Total wins and what place in the division?

Original Answer: 85, 2nd
Current Answer: 49 wins, 1st in NL-East, 1st in NL, 3rd in MLB … more than halfway there!

This is amazing. The team currently stands 10 wins behind their entire win total from both 2008 and 2009. They’ve got 79 more games to win the 36 games needed to meet our prediction. That’s .456 over the second half of the season. It’d have to be a big drop-off on the current pace, but that means this team is likely to at least meet and probably exceed our expectations.
We won’t amend our prediction (just because we’re cautious), but yeah. This is very good.

Essay Question: Single most important development for the Nats this season?

Original Answer: The team really needs to stay healthy. Physically, this includes trying to avoid silly injuries early in the season that could be avoided and not overworking injury prone players. Mentally, the team needs to keep up camaraderie in the clubhouse and not get caught up in early season hype until they’ve proven themselves.

Response to Essay: DAMN STRAIGHT. How many more games could this team have won early on if they’d had Morse from the get-go? Had Storen as their closer, and didn’t have to deal with the nagging Lidge elbow-issues. What if Zimmerman had gotten his cortisone shot earlier? Or if Werth could have continued producing in his sophomore season without the devastating wrist injury? If Desmond and Harper didn’t have nagging injuries that they’re playing through (to All-Star caliber), that might be holding them back from their full potential? Who knows what would have happened…but it would have been fun to watch. Thankfully the camaraderie has been there to make up for the other failings. This is a team with clubhouse chemistry like you would not believe, and they seem to be having fun, but also being realistic about expectations. Good on them!

Ok – the second half starts now. Good luck, boys!

2012 Pre-Season Predictions

By Maggie on April 4, 2012

With the start of the season fast approaching (Yesterday was the last spring training game? Tomorrow is opening day? Eep! Where has the time gone!), it means that the First Ladies are back with their pre-season predictions. As members of the DC-Internet Baseball Writers of America, we participate in a survey every spring and an awards vote every fall. We tend to like the predictions best because it’s something we can watch and judge ourselves against. As a note, most of these predictions were made while the First Ladies were out of town, so if things seem slightly off…we’ll just blame foreign air. Here’s our thoughts on this spring’s survey (which can be found here).

1) Who will lead the Nats in home runs in 2012?

Ryan Zimmerman

Zim seems to be back and healthy this spring (we’re very thankful for that), so with a full season ahead of him, we’re pretty sure he’ll make a mark. And with that lovely extension – he’ll want to prove he’s worth every penny and more.

2) Who will lead the Nats in RBI?

Danny Espinosa

This is one that after watching the Nats-Red Sox game we’re beginning to question (Wilson Ramos looked REALLY good). But now is not the time to go back on guesses. After a fall that looked more crash-and-burn than rookie of the year, we think Danny will come back to the season with something to prove, and that may manifest itself in pushing guys across the plate.

3) Who will lead the Nats in stolen bases?

Roger Bernadina

This is another hopeful pick. With the Shark back on the Opening Day roster, we’ve got high hopes that he’ll stick around for a while. And when you’ve got Bill Ladson trying to force the name “Speed Racer” on twitter…well, he’ll have to live up to that somehow. If the Shark doesn’t get a chance to munch on bases this year, expect to see Ian Desmond in this spot.

4) Who will lead the staff in wins?

Jordan Zimmermann

This was probably the easiest call we made. J-Zimm is back and fully recovered from Tommy John surgery. He has no innings limit (unlike Strasburg), and based on the glowing reviews of his shortened season last year, we can’t wait to see what kind of magic he makes.

5) Who will pitch more innings for the Nats this season? (Wang, Lannan or Detweiler)

Ross Detweiler

This was more strategy than anything else. By the time we made our guesses, Wang had already been injured, and he has a history of being a delicate flower. That leaves the choice between Lannan and Detweiler. Lannan had options left, and considering the shocking fact that the Nats exercised these and are having him start in Syracuse, this pick is looking pretty good so far…

6) Who will get more at bats for the Nats this season? (Ankiel, Bernadina, Harper)

Roger Bernadina

This is another shot in the dark, and here’s the reasoning: Ankiel is injured, and also old (and seems to be a placeholder for Harper). Harper is starting out in the minors, and while he will likely get to the Majors this season, he’s not going to play every day. That leaves Bernadina – who is on the opening day roster, and will likely fill in for both Ankiel and the also-injured Morse, before slipping into a more utility-outfielder role.

7) Date of Bryce Harper’s Major League debut?

June 2

Fact: Maggie guessed this without looking at her calendar to see if there was a game being played that day, or even what day of the week that was. Turns out it wasn’t a terrible guess – it’s a Saturday game at the start of a homestand against the Mets. It potentially gives the team enough time with Harper in the minors to delay him being a Super-2, and would give the fans a lot of chances to see Harper play.

8) Which minor leaguer are you most interested in keeping tabs on this season (not Harper)?

Anthony Redon (or Matt Purke)

Rendon has a chance to make a splash this year. He was highly touted and while his position (3B) is fairly locked up at the big leagues, it will be interesting to see him develop starting at Potomac and working his way up. Other than Rendon, we’re eager to see what Matt Purke can do. Lefty pitchers can be VERY interesting.

9) How many all-stars will the Nats have? Who?

2: Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg

If Zimmerman bounces back from his shortened season the way we hope he can, he’ll be back at the all-star game. And what sort of NL manager would be able to resist the name-recognition and electricity of Strasburg on their pitching staff?

10) Total wins and what place in the division?

85, 2nd

This is where Maggie and Ashley had their only real disagreement. Maggie was more optimistic with 88 wins (probably because she was on vacation when she made her picks), and Ashley was more realistic with 82 (she was traveling for work). We’ve split the difference at 85 and will keep our fingers crossed that this is enough to get the DC boys of summer into second place.

Essay: What is the single most important development for the Nats this season?

We read this as more of “will the team need to develop over the season to be a winning team”, so here’s that answer:

The team needs to stay healthy. Physically, this includes trying to avoid silly injuries early in the season that could be avoided, and not overworking injury-prone players. Mentally, the team needs to keep up camraderie in the clubhouse and not get caught up in the early-season hype until they’ve proven themselves on the field.

So…with all that said – what do you guys think? Are we totally off base? Agree with our picks? Let us know in the comments.

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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2011 End of Year Prediction Round-Up

By Maggie on October 2, 2011

We’ve reached another October, and our beloved Nats have gone into hibernation, yet again. At some point in the next few years reaching real fall weather won’t mean it’s time for Nats park to close up – hopefully it will mean sweater and oat-weather games with desperate hope to keep going. This year, our boys are done, but with more accomplishments for the team record books and more hope for next spring.

Back in February, Ashley and I made some predictions about how this year would turn out. We did a mid-season re-evaluation of those predictions, and now present our final scores. Here’s how the scoring works: 1 point for a correct pick (if not revised), a half point for a correct revised pick, minus 1 for every win off on win total, minus 1 for every place off in the division.

1) Who will lead the Nats in home runs in 2011?

First Ladies Answer: Jayson Werth
Revised Prediction: Michael Morse
Final HR Leader: Michael Morse

Sticking with Mikey-Mo halfway through the season was the right choice. Our buddy ended up with 31 homers for the year, while Jayson had 20, which was good enough for third. (Points Total: 0.5/1)

2) Who will lead the Nats in RBI?

First Ladies Answer: Adam LaRoche
Revised Prediction:Danny Espinosa
Final RBI Leader: Michael Morse

If only Danny hadn’t slumped in the late summer. But it also helps that Michael had a lot of homers this year. Sadly, we get no points. (Points Total: 0.5/2)

3) Who will lead the Nats in stolen bases?

First Ladies Answer: Nyjer Morgan
Revised Prediction: Roger Bernadina

Final Stolen Base Leader: Ian Desmond

Another wrong answer. Bernadina had 17 total for the year, while Desmond closed things out with 25. (Points Total: 0.5/3)

4) Who will lead the staff in wins?

First Ladies Answer: Jordan Zimmermann
Winningest Pitcher: John Lannan

If J-Z had run support, or had the opportunity to pitch more games, he would definitely have been more of a contender for this, but we don’t begrudge Lannan his winningest season ever.. (Points Total: 0.5/4)

5) Who will lead the staff in saves?

First Ladies Answer: Drew Storen
Savingest Pitcher: Drew Storen

43 saves for Drew! Hot Damn! (Points Total: 1.5/5)

6) Which starter will lead the team in starts?

First Ladies Answer: John Lannan
Pitcher with Most Starts: John Lannan

It’s easy to get the most starts when you’re allowed to pitch through an entire season. (Points Total: 2.5/6)

7) Who will pitch more innings for the Nats this season: Chien-Ming Wang, Yunesky Maya, Ross Detwiler?

First Ladies Answer: Chien-Ming Wang
Revised Prediction: Ross Detweiler
Most Starts: Ross Detweiler

Detweiler got the most innings pitched, but not by a lot. He had 66 over Wang’s 62 (Points Total: 3/7)

8) Who will get more at bats for the Nats this season: Rick Ankiel, Jerry Hairston, Alberto Gonzalez?

First Ladies Answer: Rick Ankiel
Most At Bats: Rick Ankiel

With Gonzo traded before opening day, and Hairston traded mid-season, Ankiel is the last man standing. (Points Total: 4/8)

9) Who will get more at bats for the Nats this season: Ivan Rodriguez, Jesus Flores, Wilson Ramos?

First Ladies Answer: Jesus Flores
Revised Prediction: Wilson Ramos
Most At Bats: Wilson Ramos

With the Nats keeping Pudge and Ramos in the bigs to start, and Flores only coming up to the Show mid-season, Ramos got all the attention. (Points Total: 4.5/9)

10) How many all-stars will the Nats have? Who?

First Ladies Answer: 2; Ryan Zimmerman and Tyler Clippard.
Real Answer: 1; Tyler Clippard.

This is actually two questions. We didn’t get the number of All-Star players right, but we did get one of the players (Goggles the Vulture!), so we give ourselves 1 point out of two available. (Points Total: 5.5/11)

11) Total wins and what place in the division?

First Ladies Answer: 78 Wins; 3rd Place
Total Wins; Place in Division: 80 wins, 3rd place

Another stealthy two-part question! But since this one is more about how “off” we were with our predictions, we stick with our 5.5 point base from the last question, and realize that since we got the third place part right, we get 1 point, but two points off for two wins off (though I think we should get points for predicting the close to 10-point leap). (Points Total: 4.5/11)

Final Point Total: 4.5 – Less than 50%, but considering we made these guesses 7 months ago, we did pretty good.

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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Help the First Ladies make this blog better for YOU!

By Maggie on October 10, 2010

We’ve put together a survey for our readers. We really want your input so that this blog can be the best it possibly can be.

If you’ve spent any time at all reading our blog, it would be fantastic to get your opinions by answering some easy questions.

Survey this-a-way. Thanks in advance!

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