Welcome to the my Web site, v. XII. The blog is typically published Monday - Saturday. My primary topics tend to be the Nats, Penn State (esp. football), BeltwayLand, transportation, media, photos and more. The rest of the site gets updated as warranted and is noted on the blog.
MR. WALKOFF! Ryan Zimmerman hits another walkup homer to beat Marlins - William World News
Monday, September 07, 2009
MR. WALKOFF! Ryan Zimmerman hits another walkup homer to beat Marlins
Zimmerman's Walk-Off Home Run Lifts Nationals - The Post Walk-off shot lifts Nationals - The Wash. Times Ever since I assigned Ryan Zimmerman the nickname of Mr. Walkoff seconds after he beat the Atlanta Braves on Nationals Park Opening Night in 2008, he had not won a game with a walkoff home run. That streak, along with the Washington's recent 8 game skid, is thankfully over. For the fifth time in his first four full seasons, Zimmerman ended a game with a home run. This was the third such occurrence against the Florida Marlins.
I've been at two of Mr. Walkoff's game winners which is only 40% of them now. Most have been on special days -- July 4, Father's Day, Opening Night and now the day before Labor Day. I guess since the Nats are not playing today for some reason, he moved it to yesterday.
Austin Kearns, who was benched last night, singled as a pinch hitter in the ninth and was technically the winning run.
Probationary Period Is Over For Dukes - The Post Dukes to start his rehab stint with Potomac - The Wash. Times Troubled outfielder Elijah Dukes no longer has any legal clouds hanging over his head. While on the DL, he completed community service requirements for his weed convictions at a Tampa Bay area zoo. He got to clean out cages there which probably is not much fun.
Dukes will start his rehab assignment in A-Potomac which should be called Prince William again.
Boone not playing, wants a job - The Free Lance-Star Bret Boone wants a job in the majors, not AAA. I'm sure he will have more luck with organizations that don't have his father making decisions in.
THOMAS BOSWELL - Mound of concerns - The Post Bos thinks that we could be in for a long summer if Shawn Hill and Chad Cordero cannot get healthy. I think he has a point about Cordero, but given that Hill has about six wins in his career, I can't feel the same way. It would be great if Hill could get on track, but how can we miss what we never had?
Metro was very crowded on the way in, but efficient.
I like the walk down Half Street with the balloons and all the bunting. Everything looks good on Opening Day/Night.
Security lines were not bad when we went through.
I walked around the stadium taking photographs, which I will upload tonight. Some seats have Capitol dome views, while others don't. It is very unfortunate that the neighboring high-rise got approved not long before the ballpark site was selected.
I respect that the President throws off the mound, unlike most politicians. I did not cheer or boo, though both were done by many.
Why did P Matt Chico think he was the tallest major leaguer ever during introductions?
Where was Charlie Brotman? Is he "retired" from any ceremonial duties?
P Odalis Perez was solid, if unspectacular. He did his job -- keep that Nats in it long enough to get to the bullpen.
The first inning was great, 2 runs and forcing Tim Hudson to throw something like 35 pitches. Little did we know that there would not be any Nationals hits for the next 23 batters. Any Nats batter that faced four pitches felt like a miracle after the first inning.
SS Cristian Guzman got the first hit and the first run; good for him. He made an error later though.
I had forgotten how painful it is watching 1B Nick Johnson run the bases.
Johnson's defense was quite welcome though, I mentioned to Fritz that "Dmitri Young doesn't make that play."
We were sitting in 203, the mezzanine along the third base line -- we liked our seats.
A co-worker, who has never been to a Nats game, asked "did Teddy win?" No, of course not.
The scoreboard is pretty, but not having replays was disappointing.
For the third time in four openers, the visitors wore alternate jerseys. UniWatch didn't like that at all. Neither did I.
RF Austin Kearns make a great play off the wall early, hitting the cutoff man who flipped to second for an out. His defense is an asset, and hopefully his offense will be too. His introduction music isn't.
CF Lastings Milledge usually gets a bad jump on the ball.
The curly W clock next to the scoreboard is hard to read.
While a lot of people leaving early made it easy for me to get out, they missed a good and fairly quick ballgame.
I am going to strongly insist Ryan Zimmerman be called Mr. Walkoff. You should too.
With RFK dimensions, it would have been a 2-0 game.
"Sweet Caroline" was played in the middle of the eighth inning. Sigh. No "Bustin' Loose" after Mr. Walkoff's homer.
I had a hot dog and a half-smoke (with chili, onions, mustard) from the nearby stand. Thumbs up on all accounts. Had to settle for Bud Lite though.
I like the park, but I don't know that I can decide if I love it until I see a day game.
The ride back was pretty good, we got the first train out of Navy Yard and switched a L'Enfant with about an eight-minute wait.
No replays? What a waste of a great scoreboard! For those watching at home, President Bush stopped by the announcing booth for an inning and a half. They joked about his “high heat” from the mound and whether it would have been a strike on the K-Zone. They also talked about the Mitchell Report, which Bush called cleansing and necessary.
# posted by dl004d :
Monday, March 31, 2008 1:55:00 PM
Apparently, the lack of replays is a bug they need to work out.
# posted by WFY :
Monday, March 31, 2008 2:35:00 PM
Post a CommentRyan Zimmerman is Mr. Walkoff - William World News
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Ryan Zimmerman is Mr. Walkoff
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Ryan Zimmerman sent a telegram to the baseball world this evening: "I am Mr. Walkoff." The fourth-year third baseman did with a ninth inning solo home run into the left field seats. His homer won the first game at Nationals Park for the home team. This may be even better than his Father's Day 2006 home run to beat the Yankees or July 4, 2006 homer to beat Florida.
I think they cheated us out of hearing "Bustin' Loose" though.
I will have more to say tomorrow, though possibly not until lunch. I'm tired and hoarse from yelling "Mr. Walkoff."
UPDATE 6:27 p.a. Monday morning Video of the homer, courtesy of Awful Announcing.
Sunday: WASHINGTON 6 Florida 4 (ESPNBoxscore) Saturday: WASHINGTON 7 Florida 3 (ESPNBoxscore) Friday: WASHINGTON 6 Florida 0 (ESPNBoxscore)
Things are looking up. After having another week long losing streak, the Nats came home and took care of business this weekend, taking the Marlins out in a three-game series (The Post). Good things happen when you score six runs or more most of the time. Given that the Nats pitching has been a strong point of late (it feels weird saying that, doesn't it?) the bats waking up would mean some curly W's.
Yesterday, Jason Simontacchi got his first win since 2003 (The Wash. Times), going 5 1/3 innings. Cristian Guzman got his first RBI since 2005 too. Six players used pink bats (nationals.com):
Ryan Church, Robert Fick, Jesus Flores, Cristian Guzman, Austin Kearns and Ryan Zimmerman used the bats and went a combined 7-for-22 (.318) with four RBIs. Flores and Guzman drove in two runs apiece to help the Nationals win, 6-4.
Saturday night's game was delayed by a couple of rain delays. Only a few fans were left to see Zimmerman hit a walkoff grand slam in the ninth (The Post). That is at least three grand slams in his career so far and his second against the Marlins this season.
From the limited vantage point of this picture, it looks like there was a slim crowd there. Fourth of July notwithstanding, should I be worried?
# posted by Billy Ray Smith :
Tuesday, July 04, 2006 10:35:00 PM
I, too, was disappointed in the sparse crowd. I got an inkling of this when I crossed the 14th st. bridge on the way to lot #8 and ran into virtually no traffic, and that was 75 minutes before game time.
It isn't a 4th of July tradition with most of the fans yet, but it is with me. There's no other place I'd rather be on Independence Day than watching our national pasttime in the nation's capital.
I hope that this BECOMES a tradition with more fans when the team gets better T.V. coverage and they can generate more excitement.
To be fair, yesterday's weather was BRUTAL if your seats were in the sun the whole time, as mine are. It was around 92, with a high 90's heat index. It must've been 100 on the field.
# posted by CrashRiley :
Wednesday, July 05, 2006 10:13:00 AM
Washington Nationals, Nats, Ryan Zimmerman, Florida Marlins
Facebook | 
Del.icio.us | 
Digg | 
Technorati | 
Blinklist | 
Furl | 
Newsvine | 
Reddit it!
# posted by
Anonymous :
Monday, September 07, 2009 12:38:00 PM