The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

While Steve Mears’ advanced copy was read pool side, Erika C. provides the review!

In case you haven’t heard, the Washington Nationals won the 2019 World Series, and they managed to do so against almost every odds in the books. After an abysmal start, the ball club was staring at a 19-31 record on May 23, with just a 1.5% chance of winning the World Series, and there were calls for second year manager Dave Martinez to be fired — immediately! The team faced a choice — they could either fold and go home, or stay in the fight and chase a championship. Over the next four months, the team rallied together and found a way to defy the odds on their way to a World Series title. Continue reading →

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

Every 2018 and 2019 MLB game is now unlocked on the MLB.TV channel and their MLB app! Free to all for a limited time of course. You can watch all 105 wins from the Nats magical 2019 World Series run from Trea Turner‘s walk-off to Howie Kendrick‘s World Series clanker off of the Minute Maid Stadium foul pole. On YouTube, they have gone back a little further to 2014 through 2017 for some of the most memorable individual performances in Nats history including the three no-hitters and Max Scherzer‘s 20 K game. Interestingly, Wilson Ramos caught all four of those historic games.  Continue reading →

Different directions for these players; Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

One of life’s lessons is learning from your past. Baseball calls that the learning curve part of the process. Last year, were you paying attention on August 17th to what happened? You might be thinking of the Sean Doolittle blown save where he could not protect a 3-run lead and exited with a deficit of one run at 12-11 in an eventual 15-14 extra innings loss against the Milwaukee Brewers. Juan Soto might have changed the divine line of destiny for his entire team in the dramatic Wild Card game against those Brewers, but if Anthony Rendon did not learn from a previous decision to chase high fastballs against Josh Hader, Soto probably never gets his chance. There was more to it than that; a Michael A. Taylor HBP that survived a nail-biting challenge, and a lob wedge broken bat single by the veteran, Ryan Zimmerman, that landed in the only place it could — to not be caught as three Brewers fielders chased it. Zim was inserted strategically as a pinch-hitter and that shattered bat should be bronzed. Every bizarre play that clicked into place seemed so unlikely at the time and then it added up to the improbable. Continue reading →

Near the height of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic the Red Sox and Cubs played the World Series to packed houses.

Spring will silently arrive tonight just before midnight.  It always comes.  Some seasons get a pass every now and then.  There was “The year without a summer” in 1816, caused by volcanic eruptions.  There have been years without a winter.  We just lived through one.  The dominant High Pressure system in the western Atlantic set up shop in the south over the Sargasso Sea.  There it provided an exit lane for the cold air that came and left just as quickly.  It happened time after time.   Such setups occur every now and then. But, forsythias never fail to bloom.  Western civilization has attached tremendous affection to this season of rebirth and renewal.  It’s a fresh start from the tiresome and seemingly endless grays of late winter.  We celebrate its arrival in all manner of festivals, ceremonies, and events.  Of the four seasons only spring has its own set of “Rites” ascribed to it by seemingly every sport and recreational pursuit.  Whether it’s the Cherry Blossom Ten-Mile Run, the Maple Festival in a tiny town nestled in the mountains of western Virginia, or baseball’s Opening Day the overarching theme is one of celebration.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at due East on the compass, the forsythias will be in full bloom, and all of nature will be on notice to begin the march to summer.  But, everything we do as a society to celebrate such a wondrous time will be cancelled or postponed due to an invisible and menacing microbe.  Our “Rites of Spring” have simply vanished into a dense and impenetrable mist.  For the first time in our lifetimes we have arrived at a year with a spring season stripped of its attendant and our cherished commemorations.   There is no shortage of madness afoot during this March.  There just isn’t any basketball to accompany it.

Continue reading →

All quiet at the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

“The show must go on,” will not even hold true on Broadway which has gone dark. More baseball players are shutting it down as reality spreads that this is going to be a very protracted shutdown and a second offseason. The two week delay initially announced for the start of the baseball season looks to be months away at a minimum due to the Covid-19 virus. Now several NBA players have tested positive for the Coronavirus prompting some to believe that contact while sweating and open pores makes it easier to transmit the virus. Athletes in minimal contact sports like basketball, hockey, soccer and lacrosse are probably at a higher risk of passing the virus even though their athletes would be in the category of highest survival rates if infected because of their age and previous health history. Baseball has minimal player-to-player contact on the field of play, but the dugout and bullpen is in close quarters and goes against the new “social distancing” suggested mandates. Continue reading →

Photo provided by Mike Toomey in his baseball scrapbook

They call him coach now. This man has spent his entire adult life of over 50 years in baseball and at the end of his working days is giving back to his community while coaching high school ball at the ripe age of 69.

Caring,
One of a Kind,
Always inspiring,
Charismatic and
Humble

For those who have been involved in baseball in the DC area since the 1960s, you might have crossed paths with a baseball lifer like Mike Toomey. He epitomizes the way our American Pastime should be viewed both on and off the field. He has been a successful player (George Washington University), coach at both the collegiate (GW) and pro level (Alexandria Dukes) and a Hall of Fame scout who earned a World Series ring. However, what the baseball purists would miss about this baseball treasure is his undying love, loyalty and devotion to this amazing game! Continue reading →