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?

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?

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?

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?

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.

The atmosphere down in 129 was like the last day of school.  Fans and ushers were hugging, and taking pictures.  Lucky season ticket holders chatted on the field as they prepared to be the starting nine – those who run out on the field and welcome the Nats starting fielders at the top of the first inning.  And then festivities really started.  Glenn Donnellan got the call to do the final National Anthem of the year on his electric batolin.

Ross Detweiler pitched six innings in a start where he hoped to prove he deserves a spot on the rotation next year.  He got himself into a couple jams with the bases loaded, but managed to work his way out of it with the help of an excellent defense behind him.

I stepped away from our seats after the President’s Race to get a snack when I heard the roar of the crowd.  I quickly turned my attentions to the monitor near the concession stand to see a replay of Wilson Ramos hitting his home run.

At that point, the Nationals had all the runs they would need to win the game.  At the top of the seventh, Davey Johnson brought in Henry Rodriguez, who went on to throw seven triple-digit-fastballs in a row.  It was such an unbelievably dominant performance that the Braves fans behind us asked if the radar gun in the stadium was stuck, because no one could throw like that.

And just when everyone in the stadium was thinking it couldn’t get any better, Michael Morse went on to smack a two-run homer (his 29th of the year) to lift the team up to 3-0.  It was such an electric moment that the fans kept cheering for Morse until he came out and gave a curtain call to the fans.

Cap that off with lights out innings from Clippard and Storen, and it was a magical afternoon.

That’s the last of our game posts for the year.  We’ll be back after the season to do some wrap-up posts.  So be on the lookout.  And if you’re free the afternoon of Wednesday September 28 (final Nats game of the year), there’s a group meeting up at the Clyde’s near Friendship Heights.  We’ll be the group in the downstairs bar, and it’s as good a place as any to close out the season.  Game starts at 4pm.

P.S. recognize this nerd with the sign? F.P. Santangelo commented on the sign saying, “I’ll second that.”

Full album can be found here.

My husband and I decided to go all out for the end of the season and attend all three games in the last homestand. It was intense, but we’re both glad we did it. Friday night was a bit rough (even though we had cushy seats in the Club), but the weekend just kept getting better from there. I’m going to do a brief round-up for y’all  with lots of pictures because I managed to pick up a cold that has completely knocked me out. I would like to blame the rain, but it held off for all three games this weekend without causing any delays, and for that I’m grateful.

Friday night was a Strasburg start, which is always fun. Drew had not seen him pitch yet, so he was looking forward to it. However, the biggest excitement of the night was actually the President’s Race. Jayson Werth is really trying to get the home crowd on his side, and roped several other players into helping him try to take down Abe, Tom, and George to let Teddy finally win a race.

Ha! You thought you’d see that here? Just scroll down a bit. We’ll revisit this in a moment. In all honesty, both the pictures and game were much better on Saturday…

Ahh, Saturday. Lovely weather, a fabulous win, and a showing of pre-game friendliness. There was a lot of that going around actually, Ashley’s cousins drove up to watch the game with her. As former Georgians, they were both rooting for the Braves to win, so they did not have as much fun as she did.

And now for a parade of pictures. All of these (except the President’s Race) were taken by Ashley’s husband. Above, Ashley was thrilled to see Pudge behind the plate. She hadn’t seen him play in months due to an injury, and he didn’t disappoint. In Ashley’s favorite move, he threw out two baserunners at 2nd.

Despite only getting to base on walks, Werth scored two of the Nat’s runs.

Ankiel made a terrific catch to end the 3rd inning. This leads us to…

Werth, Ankiel, and the bullpen all tried to help Teddy break his streak, but he was taken down by Abe and ultimately no one won this race. Werth crossed the finish line, but refused to take the win. He did declare himself the last supporter of the Bull Moose party after the game, which is making Ashley consider ordering a 26 jersey with “Bull Moose” on the back.

Look for a post on the last game of the season later this week with pictures from Ashley (up in 311) and Maggie (down in 129).

More pictures from Friday and Saturday can be found by clicking through the links.

So we’ve reached mid-late September, and both Ashley and I are struggling.  The evidence of my struggle was the fact that I could not make myself go to the season ticket holder Picnic in the Park yesterday, nor the game that followed (which might have been for the best since last night’s game went through 13 innings).  Thank goodness I only have 1 more game – next Sunday.  Ashley on the other hand, is likely screwed.  She has tickets for all three games against the Braves next weekend.

In conclusion: we will try our best to be better bloggers, but it’s September, and we have been to a LOT of baseball games.  Does anyone else have this problem?  How do you deal with being “baseball’d out”?

In the mean time: take a look at the pictures that you may or may not have seen.  And pray for us, as we reach the end of a marathon baseball season.

August 17: Nationals vs Reds
August 25: Nationals vs Diamondbacks
September 10: Nationals vs Astros
September 11: Nationals vs Astros

On Saturday, September 3, the Nats gave their fans a chance to get up close and personal with the team.  Fans stood on the warning track, while players, coaches, and broadcasters walked the field to shake hands, take pictures, and sign memorabilia (even though they weren’t supposed to).

We had a chance to talk to some of the players and shake their hands.  Here are a few of the things we said to them.

To Rick Ankiel: “My mom loves you!” “Awesome – tell her I say hi.”

To Ryan Zimmerman: “Hi Ryan!” “…” [As you can see, he waved instead of responding. We forgive him, because he was on his way to talk to the Wounded Warriors.]

To Jonny Gomes: “Can I get a picture of your hair?” “Sure” (turns around) “Can you take off your hat?” “Sorry – gotta keep my costume on.”

To Stephen Strasburg: “I saw you pitch in Syracuse last Saturday – you were great!” “Wow, thanks for coming out.”

Also to Stephen Strasburg: “I like your socks.” (he wears them tall) “…Thanks?”

To Collin Balestar: “Big fan of the ‘stache” “Thanks – I’m thinking of growing it out again” “You should – get it full and powerful”

To Roger Bernadina: “I saw you play last Saturday in Syracuse – that was an amazing home run!” “Really? Thanks!”

If you had a chance to say something to any player, what would you say?  Is there anyone you would be/were too nervous to talk to?  (Maggie only managed to squeak out “Big fan!” to both Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen).

As always, the full album is here.

On Saturday, before the Nats game against the Mets, we had already been on our feet for two hours.  This was because the Nats had an on-field photo session that had lasted for about 2 hours.  And thus we decided to try something new: dinner at the Red Porch.  We didn’t get a seat outside/right next to the window/open area, but there was still a cool breeze, and we had a different sort of dinner at Nats park (which included crab balls, a club sandwich, nicer beers than usual, and red velvet cupcakes.  All of it was pretty good.)

And then there was the game.  We went to find Maggie’s friends who were at the game, and just barely saw Desmond hit his home run at the top of the first, and by the time we got up to our seats on the gallery level, we saw (but did not talk to) Clint as he gave away lucky seat upgrades to a couple in the next section over.

But the real action showed up in the second inning.  Recently called up minor league pitcher Tom Milone got his first strikeout at the top of the inning, and followed that up with a 3-run home run on his first pitch seen in his first major league at bat.  The crowd went wild – I mean…how often does that happen?  Magical.

Then things started to get ugly.  In the fourth inning, Milone let his first runs score, and he was taken out the next inning.  Gorzelanny replaced him, and did ok for a while…only to have a 2 run homer against him the next inning.  Tyler Clippard allowed a run in the seventh, and for the rest of the game, the bullpen shut things down, but the Nats were still down a run, 6-5.

There were good things about the game too, don’t get us wrong. We got to see a new face at 1st – Marrero. He played solidly. We didn’t see him make any huge plays or huge screw-ups. We also witnessed Pudge’s first at-bat in a while. He snuck in off the DL when no one was looking… and promptly grounded out into a double play. Oh, Pudge. We miss you and can’t wait to see you back on the field soon.

And if we’re being honest – this is where Ashley and I left.  It was getting to be a long day at the ballpark (close to 6 hours), and watching Clippard slip was difficult.

So we listened to the rest of the game on the radio (hi Dave and Charlie – yes, people do listen to the games on the radio) on the way home.  Cue dramatic bottom of the ninth moment.  For some reason, Bobby Parnell (the Mets reliever) walked Roger Bernadina to fill the bases, which brought Ryan Zimmerman up to bat.  And Mr. Walkoff didn’t disappoint.  On the fourth pitch he saw, Ryan lifted a ball into right field, and for once when we all willed it to drop, it did, allowing the two necessary runs to cross the plate and finish the game.

Sometimes I feel bad about leaving games early (especially ones that are frustrating, and the Nats are losing), but occasionally, you get to do a little fist-pump and dance in the drivers seat.  Good times. 

Full album of photos from this game, including the photo session from earlier in the day (post to follow), can be found here.

It turned out that I was very lucky.  I snagged two 4th row from the field seats to see one of Strasburg’s best starts yet since coming back from Tommy John surgery.  7 strikeouts, 64 pitches, 47 of them for strikes, and a fastball that topped out around 98 (according to the most-likely broken Alliance Bank Stadium scoreboard).  Strasburg knew he did well too – his quote from after the game was “The numbers did the talking.”

After five innings of no runs, no hits, no errors, Strasburg proved he was human by allowing two singles (only one of whom would go on to score).  The Chiefs would go on to win the game 4-3…though they did it in dramatic fashion in the ninth with two runners on before getting the third out.

Not only did we get to see the spectacular pitching by Strasburg, we got a sneak preview of some of the other guys who will likely be called up in September – Roger “The Shark” Bernadina (who is already a Natstown favorite) who had a homerun and a double which provided the bulk of the Chiefs’ offense…

…Steve Lombardozzi Jr. who made a couple of amazing plays, as well as helping the offense with a hit and a stolen base, and Matt Antonelli who made the most incredible diving catch you’ve ever seen to end the painful 6th inning.

Chins up Natstown…September looks bright from Syracuse.

The rest of the pictures from this game can be seen here.

Being a Nationals fan is never super easy – supporting a team that has been down in the dumps for a while is hard work.  When a team with a passionate fan base comes to town (a fan base that has no problem calling our ballpark “theirs”), it becomes even more difficult.  Think of being a Nats fan at a Nats vs Phillies game as Advanced Placement Fandom.

Friday night was a good game to come off of – there was suspense, dedication (for those who stayed through a 2.5 hour rain delay), and a dramatic win – courtesy of a grand slam home run by Ryan Zimmerman in the bottom of the ninth.  Saturday was Ian Desmond bobblehead night, a night which has (from anecdotal evidence) usually been good for the subject of the bobblehead.  Nats fans went in to Saturday’s game hopeful, and maybe a little bit cocky off the late night win.

Saturday was not a day where fans deserved their bravado.  Roy Oswalt pitched lights out – an 8-hit shutout.  John Lannan and the defense behind him could not handle the Phillies that night, and the game was a painful reminder of why it’s hard to be a Nats fan when the Phils come to town.

Sunday was a different day.  The Nats knew that they still had a chance to take the series and that it was a new day.  They hit against Halladay early to get the lead, and though the Phillies tied it, the weather was on their side.  For the second game in 3 days, the Nats and Phillies had to sit through a rain delay – this time 1 hour 11 minutes – and when the tarp came off the field, the Nats came back with a vengeance to tie the game.  Drew Storen may not have pitched as well as he has, but Ian Desmond made up for his pitiful bobblehead night with a game-tying home run in the ninth.  Then a great inning by Sean Burnett, followed by a solid inning of hitting to win in a walk-off Hit By Pitch.

Ashley and I did not stay through the end of the game on Sunday due to previous commitments, but we were there to the bitter end on Saturday, and we can honestly say that Nats fans are really living up to expectations.  They are there for their team with a cheer, and more and more… their team is there for them with a win.

Pictures from Saturday’s game are here.

Pictures from Sunday’s game are here.

Morse and Lannan are ready to play.

So are Desmond and Espinosa.

Desmond watches from the on-deck circle.

Werth breaks for 3rd after the ball is overthrown trying to stop him from stealing 2nd (he goes on to score the first run).

Hey, beer man!

3 runners on base…

… and Ankiel hits a grand slam!

These guys were really into the game.

Finally, one last picture of Werth (because I think it will make you smile).

It really was a fabulous game. Drew took even more pictures, so hopefully I can convince him to upload the best ones tomorrow. The rest of mine are here.