Trading the Snow for a Bag of Balls

The snow has shut down pretty much everything today, but there are box scores pouring forth on electron beams originating in Florida and Arizona and the weatherman says the outlook is for continuing box scores for at least seven months. The Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles played their first exhibition games over the weekend in […]

Building a Better Mousetrap in DC

Traditional analysts give great credence to building the proper batting order, while statistical analysts regard it as a secondary consideration at best.  Examining the performance of individual ball players over a lifetime yields little evidence that batting order is significant.  Was Ted Williams a better hitter when he hit third or fourth in the lineup?  […]

Anticipating Something Better from DC in 2014

The expectations of baseball fans that begin to stir as the winter days slowly lengthen have a long, cruel history in Washington, DC. The collective winning percentage of all teams stretching back to 1901, when the Washington Nationals fielded one of the founding franchises in the nascent American League, is .458.  The new kids on […]

Ain’t No Cure for the Wintertime Blues

The snow is piled up and it hasn’t been above freezing since last weekend. What’t the cure for the wintertime blues? The Bob Davids annual SABR meeting in Rossyln, Virginia is about as good as it gets. The Bob Davids Chapter is the original SABR chapter, the largest and most active and this year’s meeting […]

Watching the Money Flow

One of the many things missing in the discussion about the new contract for Clayton Kershaw–a mere $30 million annually–is how much money the Dodgers have to throw around. The money the Dodgers got from Time Warner for media rights last season–reputed to be $7 billion over 25 years–gives the old Brooklyn franchise $280 million […]

Giving Thanks for Baseball This Holiday Season

It’s hard to find ‘Peace on Earth,” but if you look in the right place this holiday season, you will find baseball in about as cheerful and bountiful a spot as it has been in many years.  That aura of bonhomie is worth celebrating.  It has many origins, but certainly begins with the new found […]

Thanksgiving Pardons and the Washington “Americans”

In 1937 the  Boston Redskins professional football team moved to Washington and began to play their games at old Griffith Stadium, where baseball was still king. The Redskins, as they are unfortunately still known, were owned by George Preston Marshall who earned opprobrium in many circles for refusing to integrate his football team and using […]

What Could Bring the Scherzer Rumors to Life

The GM meetings this coming week will likely just be a first chance for some of the first off-season rumors to get wings or disappear. One that has a chance to grow is the notion that the Tigers would trade Max Scherzer. Rumors about Scherzer’s departure have been met generally with skepticism. Why mess with […]

Will the “Big Marine” Be Running Basic Training for the Washington Nationals Next Spring?

“When he talks, people listen.” Reggie Jackson said that about Sal Bando. Reggie attributed Bando with running a very tight clubhouse for the very contentious but always successful Oakland Athletics in the first half of the 1970’s. Matt Williams–the newly minted manager of the Washington Nationals–has that same reputation. He was a championship caliber third […]

It’s Still Farm to Table in St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals secured the right to play for their 12th World Championship on Friday night, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers four games out of six. It was not exactly David and Goliath although the Dodger salaries are almost double those of the Redbirds. More important is the standing of the city itself. The […]

News of Baseball’s Demise Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

Baseball is big news these days. It made the holy grail of journalism, the Sunday edition of the New York Times, where Jonathan Mahler asked the question “Is the Game Over?” Mahler’s symphony of woe is reminiscent of the premature reporting of Mark Twain’s passing by the New York Journal in 1897. News of baseball’s […]

Strasburg Redux

Washington has many fine sportswriters. Atop the list are Tom Boswell, Tim Kurkjian, and until recently John Feinstein. Last season Feinstein was one of the louder voices calling for the Nationals to keep sending Strasburg out every five days in September. And now he is using the failure of the Nationals to make the playoffs […]

Keeping Navy Yard Neighbors in Our Thoughts and Prayers

Events like those that transpired in DC yesterday, just down M Street, SE from Nationals Park, seem to plague our country with disturbing frequency. It is unfortunate that they happen at all, or that they happen in any neighborhood, or any work place. But they came home yesterday to the Navy Yard that is an […]

Remembering Pittsburgh from the “We Are Family” Era

Back when Fisher Bodies were made of steel that was cooked in blast furnaces in Pittsburgh, there was a great baseball team that played along the Allegheny River called the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite the fact that cars are made of plastic now and the city of Pittsburgh is a high-tech center supported by three top-of-the-line […]

Ian Desmond, Washington Nationals Rock Star

You will not find his picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated nor even Rolling Stone. You will barely find him in the Washington Post sports pages, but Ian Desmond is a rock star. He is a rock, one of the most solid players on the Washington Nationals roster and he is emerging as a […]

Can Washington Continue to Compete Without Major International Signings?

As an organization the Washington Nationals have eschewed big international signings. The few forays they have made have been disappointing at best. They announced today that they are pursuing legal options to recoup the $1.4 million that they paid to Dominican phenom Smiley Gonzalez in 2006. Smiles turned to frowns when the 16-year old Gonzalez […]

The Nationals a Team That Is Less Than the Sum of the Parts

Drew Storen’s demotion to Syracuse has caused more soul searching among Washington Nationals aficionados than it deserved. Storen’s ERA was 5.23 at the end of April and while he labored to get his groove back, lowering the ERA to 3.86 at the end of June, he melted down in July and when he was sent […]

A Weekend in the Colonies

My wife’s Uncle Leo never left the comforts of Brooklyn except on rare occasions. His world began in Bensonhurst and extended no further than an occasional trip to Atlantic City. When my wife and I got married in Atlanta in 1982, Uncle Leo flew into Hartsfield International where I met him as he left the […]

Hairy-chested Guys and Deadbeat Dads

The Washington Nationals ship of state was supposed to be sailing for glory. Instead, at the All-Star break it limped into Washington Harbor, their sails in tatters after a trip to Philadelphia and Miami that saw them lose three of four to the Phillies and two of three to the Marlins. The Nats scored 19 […]

Which Way Does Davey Johnson’s Second Act Go?

Davey Johnson was Manager of the Year in 2012 because he brought out the best in a team few picked to win much of anything. Patience and quiet confidence in his players worked those wonders. But this year that same enduring belief in his players has become equal parts tragedy and comedy. Not comedy as […]

Halfway Home and Competitive Balance is Winning With Pitching

The first half of the 2013 season is in the record books and surprises abound. Chris Davis is quietly on a pace to hit 62 home runs when most were predicting an end to the offensive surge of prior years. The Boston Red Sox team that unraveled under Bobby Valentine has vaulted to the lead in […]

Remembering Chuck Hinton

In a pregame ceremony Saturday, the Washington Nationals recognized the contributions of former Senators’ player Chuck Hinton who died January 27th, earlier this year. His wife Irma “Bunny” Hinton was at the game for the ceremonies along with daughter Kimberly and grand-daughter Gabrielle–they are pictured below. Though born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Hinton and […]

Will There Ever Be Another All-Star Game In Washington, DC?

The Washington Nationals did an about face in their 2013 Rule 4 draft last week. For several years GM Mike Rizzo has pursued an aggressive draft strategy in which the team spent well beyond MLB recommended signing bonuses. If you were looking for a continuation of the Nationals spendthrift ways, look again. Jake Johansen was […]

Anthony Rendon Arriving Gate 4

Anthony Rendon’s path into the station was blocked by Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Yet most of the time he has spent in the minors–until very recently–was at third base. Like all good ball players Rendon has made his own opportunity. He has found an open track to run on at 2nd base and he […]

Tapping the Foot to a Souza March

Last night’s game against the Orioles was one of many low points in the 2013 season, but looking up at the score board at Camden Yards and seeing four players in the lineup with averages under the Mendoza Line–.200–was more discouraging still. Tyler Moore swung and missed at the same Freddy Garcia junk all night […]

Mike Rizzo on a Cold Day in Hell

Mike Rizzo’s father was a scout before him and he followed in those footsteps even after the senior Rizzo advised a more conventional path anchored by a college degree. But he proved his father wrong. Mike Rizzo rose to become GM of the Washington Nationals and Baseball Executive of the Year in 2012. Rizzo worked […]

The Air Was Shattered by the Force of Danny’s Blow

Strikeouts are proliferating throughout the game of baseball like never before.  Last year was the highest strikeout rate in the history of the game and the American League is on a record-setting pace in 2013. Batters in both leagues flail helplessly just over twenty percent of the time. Historic rates were usually no higher than […]

The Case for Denard Span

Denard Span is no Michael Morse. Morse had the Kung-fu warm up cut–immortalized in his bobble-head doll—and there was his A-Ha walk-up music. Denard Span had large shoes to fill on many levels. It did not get easier when Morse ripped up the Cactus League for 9 home runs and a .357 batting average in […]

The Bull-Moose Juju

As the first month of the baseball season drew to a close in 2012, the Gio Gonzalez trade looked like an inspiration. Stephen Strasburg was back and the Nationals had the best pitching in the National League. Davey Johnson was looking for offense and summoned Bryce Harper. Everything Mike Rizzo touched in 2012 turned to […]

Giving Away Outs to the Braves

It wasn’t the newly arrived Upton brothers that crushed the spirits of 120,000 fans that flocked to Nationals Park this weekend. No, it was a team effort. The Atlanta Braves beat the Nationals in every aspect of the game. They outscored Washington 18-5 for the three game series. After Friday night it never really seemed […]

She’s Not Pretty, But Has a Great Personality

I know pretty when I see it. There was lots of it last night at Nationals Park. But when my attention was drawn to the field where the Nationals beat the White Sox 8-7, well, let’s just say that when Davey Johnson described the Nationals’ win as “not pretty,” he was just being kind. It’s […]

Seamheads Podcasting Crew Fantasy League

Perhaps there should be age-appropriate fantasy baseball leagues, the real world equivalent of over-fifty baseball leagues. Some of the Seamheads writers play in those leagues I know–not to name names. Bill Gilbert and I ventured forth this season as the wise sages of the Seamheads Podcasting Crew fantasy league. We are likely a few years […]

Early Look at Possible NL Pennant Match Up in Cincy

The baseball season is the sum of a million small parts, “millions and millions of stars” as Carl Sagan used to say. As with the cosmos, the magic of baseball is both the enchanted aggregate and its many component parts. And that is why even at this early juncture there is no shortage of excitement […]

An Opening Act With A Bullet

Bryce Hapre and Stephen Strasburg made a compelling case on Opening Day to be considered the two best talents ever to play Major League Baseball in Washington, DC. Facing a depleted Miami Marlins roster, Stephen Strasburg seemed to hardly work up a sweat as he breezed through seven innings on eighty pitches without allowing a […]

Lonely at the Top–Jeffrey Loria’s Vision for Baseball in South Florida

Jeffrey Loria’s lawsuit against the only two remaining season ticket holders in the Miami-Dade area has sparked a debate about the worst owners of professional baseball teams over the years. Charlie Comiskey was an early favorite in the race based on his penurious handling of payroll that some have argued was the reason for the […]

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