The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

MLB.TV graphic

As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on life as we know it, “live” baseball is still off in the distant future. We all want “live” Nationals baseball, and that will happen at some point in the future. But in the meantime, we cooked up an idea that we thought had some merit. Why not take the 93 regular season wins of the Nats from the historic 2019 season and play each game in chronological order 1-to-93 followed by the 12 postseason wins, and you have 105 games to broadcast. That is exactly 3 ½ full months of games. This seemed like a great idea, and we tweeted it out a few times and TalkNats writer, Erika C., also tweeted it out. I personally contacted an executive at MASN who said he would run it up the chain. That was weeks ago. Crickets since. Maybe MASN will do it, but why wait for them. MLB has opened up their archives of games on MLB.TV for free. We can start on Monday with Win #1 from March 31, 2019 at 6:30 pm.  Continue reading →

Open Day graphic by Steve Mears

It is quite clear that we are all yearning to a return to some semblance of normalcy. If you are like me you have read several books, you’ve watched many bad TV shows, tried to get a grip of where we are medically, socially and economically and if you have any sense you avoid the political talking heads like the plague itself. Continue reading →

The TOOTBLAN. (Photo by Susan Walsh/AP)

No Nats fans want to relive October 6th again. The Nationals were tied 1-1 in the NLDS series coming into that crucial game at Nationals Park. They were facing Hyun-Jin Ryu and needing the win to avoid elimination game(s) in a best-of-five series. It was not meant to be as the Nationals blew a 2-0 lead with a 7-run meltdown in the 6th inning leading to a 10-4 loss. There were so many misplays in all facets of the Nationals game, and Howie Kendrick was getting some heat. He was batting .182 in that series with two errors and a few more plays that were ruled hits that he should have fielded. His one hit in that game against the Dodgers was soon erased in a baserunning blunder known as a TOOTBLAN. It was not looking good for Kendrick as he was looking like a “weak link” for his team. Continue reading →

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

This pause in sports has given fans a little window into how some of our favorite athletes like to spend their time when not training or playing. Some, like Juan Soto, have been playing video games against other baseball players. Teammate Trea Turner has been working on his Soto Shuffle in his backyard. Ryan Zimmerman is finding he finally has the time to meet friend Washington Capitals player Nicklas Backstrom for a round of golf, only to realize they’re unable to actually get together to play. It should come as no surprise that Sean Doolittle is filling much of his time with books, which he occasionally reads. Continue reading →

Is it Walter Johnson, Sammy Baugh, Wes Unseld, and Alexander Ovechkin as the Mt. Rushmore of DC athletes? Do we do the right thing and add the greatest D.C. athlete, Katie Ledecky, who is probably the greatest female swimmer ever? There are so many questions to ask and answer. And what about Sugar Ray Leonard who was a great boxer or athletes who grew up in Washington and played elsewhere? Ledecky, Leonard, Maury Wills, and Elgin Baylor never really played in D.C. although they all grew up in the area. Nobody will ever agree on who the greatest athletes are from D.C. and maybe it is best to look at the team sport athletes for the Mt. Rushmore who actually played long stretches of their careers in D.C. We have Max Scherzer with five years of tenure as a D.C. athlete, and he has to be the best baseball player since Walter Johnson who donned the W on a baseball cap. But is five years enough? Continue reading →

Nationals.com graphic

This is the time you need Facebook! Players and coaches from the Washington Nationals 2019 World Series team will be watching the game on www.Facebook.com/Nationals live beginning at 6:45 pm leading into Game 7 of the World Series. If the technology works, Dan Kolko of MASN will be doing some Q & A with players who will be sharing some stories you have never heard before. Continue reading →