The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

The last time we visited with “The Little Presidents”, they were visiting sick children at INOVA Children’s Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia. We were told that the Nationals invited them for a visit to Nationals Park and they came through on the promise. What great timing that their special day was on Saturday which was Stanley Cup celebration day with a crowd of over 37,000. The Nationals finalized the date 2 1/2 weeks ago and certainly could have postponed them given the day had changed with the Washington Capitals in attendance. Luckily for the children, it just added to the magic of the day.

Many of “The Little Presidents” had their own playoff games on Saturday morning before they would head to Nationals Park. When Andrew Ladd arrived at his game on early Saturday morning, his coach asked him how he was doing that morning as Andrew was set to be their starting pitcher for their playoff game.

“Well coach,” Andrew Ladd said. “Given that this is basically the best day of my life, I’m doing pretty good.”

Could life be better? Starting pitcher in the morning, and a Little President on the field in Nationals Park in the afternoon. That about summed up his day perfectly and the rest of the Little Presidents also.

When the boys and parents got to Nats Park, they put the boys and a few of the parents in a locker room for the first two innings. After that, they walked the tunnel of the underground concourse where they met up with the real Racing Presidents to do a quick run-through of the race. Spoiler Alert: yes, there is a little bit of a script and choreography with these races like a professional wrestling match — yes, a shocking revelation to most of you.

The Nationals entertainment group then had the boys come out of one of their tunnels to get ready for the race. The reaction at that point from the fans sitting nearby who could see the boys was priceless as mom, Catherine Ladd, described it! As a side note… The weather forecast for the day looked really iffy! There were supposed to be big thunderstorms in the whole area from noon to 5pm as you recall, and it never rained more than a few big drops that were just a tease even though there were ominous skies!

The kids had been praying that the weather would hold off and they were nervous as their big moment was coming up as the big dark clouds came rolling in and some huge raindrops started to come down but not enough to disrupt anything which you probably remember as that is how the MASN crew described it on the TV. Catherine Ladd just kept praying that the weather would at least hold for the 2 minutes so the boys would be able to be a part of the President’s race, and miraculously she said that their prayers were answered and the rain held back. The boys ran out onto the rightfield line in foul territory to cheers from the crowd.

The Little Presidents let George Washington through the line which you can see in the video above as they made a blockade so the other Racing President’s couldn’t pass while Little Screech cheered with Big Screech at the finish line! Their word for the experience was “epic”… They loved every minute of it even though the experience on the field was less than 2 minutes it really was a dream come true — and an experience that they will remember forever. For Catherine Ladd who created the Little Presidents, it was amazing for her to stand there and see these boys, and see the reaction from the crowd and those close by wanting pictures.

The staff working with the boys at the stadium were amazing and made the experience even that much better.

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

After an easy dismissal of the Tampa Bay Rays, the week ends on a sour note.

1) A series between the Nats and the Giants where the Nats have Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Max Scherzer going against Suarez, Rodriguez and Holland should be a sweep for the Nats; 2 of 3 at worst. The whole series felt like we were swimming upstream.

2) Injuries continue to mess with the season. Just as Adam Eaton returns we lose Stras and Brandon Kintzler to injuries. Seemingly the prognosis in both cases is pretty good but it’s still a maddening pattern.

3) With Eaton’s return we are at a crossroads. We now have 4 regular outfielders for 3 positions. It will be interesting how manager Dave Martinez plays this in the long run. Michael Taylor is making this interesting by finally making offensive contributions.

4) Daniel Murphy is set to return, gimpy knee and all. We have a week to ease him back by using the DH in AL parks. It’s becoming blatantly obvious that his steady productive bat is sorely missed.

5) The catching position remains a terrible black hole offensively. Pedro Severino is pretty much an automatic out these days. At the very least Spencer Kieboom should get more playing time. He looks somewhat less of an automatic out than Severino.

6) The starting rotation is down to 3 of the opening day rotation of Scherzer, Gio and Tanner Roark and without the many off-days, we would have been in serious trouble. Wednesday looks like a reverse lock type of game, and we really should be hoping that Hellickson returns ASAP from his hamstring tweak.

7) Justin Miller has been a god-send; this year’s version of Matt Albers. He might just save us the need to trade valuable assets for relief help.

8) Playing with the DH this week in American League ballparks, the need for pinch-hitters is at a minimum this week so having a huge compliment of pitchers might well come in handy.

9) Our position in the standings is fine, and as the Phills begin to fade it’s slowly coming down to a 2 horse race, and Atlanta doesn’t look invincible either although they have an easy part of their schedule coming up.

10) The 2-game set in NY will be a solid test. The Yankees hardly ever lose and their lineup is fearsome. Couple that with the fact that we will be sending our 4th and 6th starters and one can honestly feel a bit uneasy. Yes, Tanner Roark and Erick Fedde look like the starters on Tuesday and Wednesday in Yankees Stadium.