William World News William F. Yurasko's blog v.14 – Nats, Redskins, Capitals, D.C. life, transportation, not so much Penn State anymore,

The Washington Nationals bowed to fan brushback, media scolding and common sense in reversing the stupid ticketing policy I blogged about earlier today. Andy Feffer was quoted in this Nationals Journal (The Post) entry:

“It’s a nice problem to have. We haven’t talked about what happens when you have high-capacity crowds every night at Nationals Park. That hasn’t been an issue up until last year. And so those are part of things we learn together and address. How do we best provide that value to our fans and our customers?”

Hey Feffer, you are the top executive for a $600 million company playing in a publicly financed $600 million facility, if you need a learning curve, you should be in that job. Lerners! Do you provide on the job training for your the executives at your real estate development company? I doubt it.

Here is the official response from the front office; at least they learned quickly.

Last night’s Washington Nationals postponment brought the front office’s new rainout policy to the forefront. Tickets from last night’s game can only be exchanged for tickets to the Thursday afternoon make-up game.

Numerous fans expressed displeasure with the Nationals’ decision, particularly given time constraints. Many ticket holders were concerned they would not be able to attend a 4:05 p.m. weekday game after planning to go to a night game two days earlier.

Prior to the season, the Nats allowed tickets from postponed games to be exchanged for a future game, subject to availability. It is a common-sense policy that many other teams use. Moving away from that policy presents several problems:

• It antagonizes ticket-buyers, fans and D.C. taxpayers

Around a conference table on S Cap St today, @nationals suits are stunned at the lack of gratitude for not suing fans like Snyder does.

— BallWonk (@ballwonk) May 8, 2013

• It discourages buying tickets in advance
• It gets negative media coverage:

On the Nationals’ new rainout ticket policy – The Post

Nationals – Tigers postponed until Thursday at 4:05 p.m.

The NY Post even mentioned it and thinks Bud Selig should get involved.

Nats aren’t alone in not giving exchanges, but it’s short-sighted. They cited increased attendance. There are still 10K empty seats a night.

— Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) May 8, 2013

All in all, a stupid policy made worse by poor public relations skills, something the Nats have always had whether they were being run by MLB, Stan Kasten or Andy Feffer who wouldn’t even go on the record about it.

Telling that #nats COO Feffer, who has NEVER been shy, refused to answer @adamkilgorewp’s e-mail re: rainout tix. #coward @nationalspr

— Luigi de Guzman (@ouij) May 8, 2013

The front office is going against my two rules of franchise stewardship:

So, it is good to see the outrage is being directed where it belongs.

However, I do note that this kind of media coverage has been generally lacking in one area — the treatment of the Nats, their fans and the District of Columbia by Peter Angelos and the Baltimore Orioles. The bad behavior out of Baltimore towards D.C. from voting no on relocation to the nation’s capital and most notably the Nats television rights situation has not reached this level of outrage. Giving fans a voice when the Nats front office screws up is important. It is just as important to give us a voice when external forces are going against our interest too.

SOMERSET, Pa. — Traveling to Pittsburgh this past weekend, we stopped at a Sheetz. It was there that I learned Pepsi was available in 24 oz. cans. I figured for the sake of journalism I would try one out.

• That’s a lot of Pepsi
• It stayed sufficiently cold for the duration of the experience – aluminum > plastic
• The can fit in my cupholder
• There might be more than two 12 oz. cans worth of aluminum in the 24 oz. can.
• They didn’t have Pepsi Throwback in 24 oz. cans, but they did have Wild Cherry Pepsi

It is probably for the best these are not readily available in Northern Virginia.

PITTSBURGH — In the post World War II era, seemingly every big city/region had “its own beer” along with its own baseball team. My colleague Vince Guerrieri touched on this last year in an article Budweiser – King of Beers, and Baseball^*. The local brewery tended to sponsor the local team — Detroit had Stroh’s and the Tigers, Brooklyn had Schaeffer and the Dodgers, the Twin Cities had Hamm’s and the Twins and Baltimore had National Bohemian and the Orioles.

In Pittsburgh, from what I can gather Iron City Beer, then brewed in Pittsburgh, sponsored the Pirates and Steelers. When we were kids, a friend of mine had some Iron City commemorative cans from the championship runs in the 1970s which was strange because neither he nor his family were from Pittsburgh. So, I knew of Iron City from an early age. Despite going to Penn State, I don’t think I ever came across Iron City on tap or anywhere else. Other Pennsylvania beers like Rolling Rock and Yuengling were readily available. having actually had Iron City, both on tap at the old Pennsylvania Pourhouse on Capital Hill and now out of a can in Pittsburgh, it is easy to understand why.

Iron City Beer is pretty bad. As in it tastes skunked out of a can or on draft. One friend, with some experience in construction, suggests that it leaves a similar taste as after a day out by a site with lots of steel grinding going on. When I told two Pittsburghers natives that I had an “Arn” this past weekend they both exclaimed “WHY?!”. Then I joked that maybe the Western Pennsylvania population loss that is only now stabilizing was people trying to get away from that beer. They both laughed. Iron City really has nothing going for it for it other than nostalgia. Even that isn’t the same anymore, Iron City is no longer brewed in the city of Pittsburgh and is now brewed in Latrobe in the old Rolling Rock brewery under contract.

In fairness to the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. they have recently created a tasty beer called Iron City Amber. I had that in the Blue Knob ski lodge a few winters ago. I’d have that again without reservation. As for the regular stuff, if you really want to try it, go ahead but the conclusion I drew from it is that sometimes nostalgia is nostalgia because it wasn’t good enough to stick around.

^*I never really got around to writing about that article — D.C. never really had a beer of its own and I was going to wonder aloud whether that correlated with the Washington Senators departure. Given that in most cases the beer and/or the team is gone (or is somewhere else) I don’t think it would have mattered one way or another for D.C. baseball or beer. Thankfully, a local brewing renaissance is underway in BeltwayLand and elsewhere.

After a good weekend in Pittsburgh and a day off yesterday, the Washington Nationals are scheduled to host the defending American League champion Detroit Tigers. Rain is forecast throughout the day, so this may be a tough one to get in.

To learn more about the Tigers, I brought in my former neighbor J.J. who moved to Michigan when we were kids. He is a big Detroit sports fan now – we’ve previously done a Q&A about the Lions.

WFY: After another pennant that was followed by a sweep, how have the Detroit Tigers played this season? Any hangover from last year?

JJ: The Tiger’s hit a slight ‘bump in the road’ early on in Anaheim, but have bounced back to win 9 of their last 10

WFY: Is Justin Verlander going to pitch in the series?

JJ: Although I was hoping for the Verlander/Strasburg matchup, JV will not be pitching VS the Nats this week (even though I’d probably consider Zimmerman your ‘Ace’ thus far . . .

WFY: The Nats apparently made a run at Prince Fielder before he signed with the Tigers. Has he started regressing to the “old player skills” portion of his career or is he still a superstar?

JJ: 2013 stats : 8 HR – 32 RBI – 301 average – 428 OBS . . not too shabby

WFY: Do you expect playing in a National League ballpark to be a problem for the Tigers lineup?

JJ: I expect a competitive series all around

WFY: Where do the Tigers rank in the Detroit sports scene?

JJ: The Lions will always be the ‘Detroit’ team . . the Wings have the hockey fans spoiled after 22 straight playoff appearances . . I’d put the Tiger’s as a solid 2 in the Detroit team rankings . .

WFY: Did you make it out to old Tiger Stadium? What was that like? How do you like Comerica Park?

JJ: I attended the last game at Tiger’s Stadium and the first game at Comerica . . Tiger’s stadium was ‘old school’ but had a certain charm to the entire place. Too bad it’s now and empty field . . . the flagpole in center field the only thing left. I have a pic someplace that I’ll send you . .

WFY: Is there a signature food and beer at Comerica or is it the standard macro beer that most stadiums have now? can you get a Stroh’s in Comerica?

JJ: Detroit is known for their Coney’s and you can get them at the park. There are a few micro beers that can be had, but mostly Miller Lite for this Tigers fan . . or the occasional ½ pint of Beam concealed in the back pocket J

WFY: Where do you get your Tigers coverage?

JJ: Fox Sports televises all Tigers games w/ the exception of nationally televised games of course.

WFY: What about the broadcasters, how have the post-Ernie Harwell years been to the viewer and listener?

JJ: Rod Allen (former player) and Mario Impemba are the local broadcast guys.

Don’t know if I ever told you, but Ernie Harwell lived 4 houses up from my parents house when they lived in Farmington Hills. Awesome guy !! Mario and Rod are entertaining, but Ernie was truly one of a kind!

WFY: True or false – “Born and raised in South Detroit” is an awful lyric.

JJ: Truth be told . . there is no “South Detroit” . . .

WFY: Who wins the series and the season series? I say they split the 2 game series this week and again here in Detroit.

JJ: Then the Tiger’s win the series (finally) over the Nats : 4-2

On common ground, Orioles and Nationals have complicated relationship – The Sun
Oh, the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles have a complicated relationship? That’s the fault of MLB commissioner Bud Selig, Peter Angelos and his franchise. Selig coddled Angelos when he didn’t have to:

When the Nationals, after 36 seasons as the Montreal Expos, arrived in Washington for the 2005 season, MLB said the team’s operating territory would be defined in the Major League Baseball Constitution, the occasionally amended governing agreement among the 30 clubs. At the time of the Nationals’ move, the document defined the Orioles’ territory as the city of Baltimore and the counties of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Howard and Harford. It did not include Washington, even though the Orioles then had a retail store there.

That’s right — I can’t get a Sun at a local newspaper box cluster or watch Baltimore television stations. D.C. and Baltimore simply aren’t the same market.

Selig handed over the supermajority of the Nats TV rights to Angelos, who doesn’t believe Baltimore fans are good enough to support a team. Two cowards, one fearing a lawsuit, the other regional competition, punished Washington fans and the District of Columbia who made a significant investment in Nationals Park. Most Washingtonians couldn’t even watch every Nats game until September 2006. MASN’s coverage is still not very good. Angelos and the Orioles are still fighting MLB and the Nats over TV rights compensation for the next 5 year cycle. Since the Orioles are contractually bound to receive the same amount of MASN revenue, Angelos is actually fighting reinvesting into the team. Don’t the Oriole-fanboys and Angelos apologists (is there a difference?) realize that the owner doesn’t want to invest into his own team?

If Angelos hadn’t been such a crybaby, there could a better situation for all involved, but his desire to hurt Washington more than help Baltimore prevented that from happening. I’d be completely indifferent to the Orioles for the most part if he had not kept me from watching my team and demanded a subsidy from it. Otherwise, I’d be going to see the Nats and New York Yankees in Baltimore annually. This is why I have called on all Washingtoinans to boycott the Orioles for years and will continue to do so.

There is no timetable for this bad situation getting resolved, but Selig and Angelos won’t be in power forever, right? I think the 2018 battle is going to be the most important battle.

Last week, I was pretty happy to learn from WTOP that the Fairfax County area was not likely to get hit hard by the Brood II cicadas this year. However, today I heard a report that said we’re going to get them though mostly in the suburbs – Billions of cicadas to emerge this season.

Which is it WTOP?

PITTSBURGH — PNC Park is transcendent.

After trying to see the Washington Nationals play the Pittsburgh Pirates in PNC Park since 2005 (the visitors won 2 of 3, including the game we attended), this past Saturday my wife and I finally made the trip. Since it opened in 2001, PNC Park has been thougth of as one of the best stadiums in baseball if not all of sports. Having now seen a game there, I don’t think it is possible to understate what an amazing ballpark lies upstream from the confluence of the Three Rivers of Pittsburgh.

There are three things that tend to make a view from a ballpark spectacular: skyline, water and hills/mountains. PNC Park is perfectly situated to show the beautiful Pittsburgh skyline and Allegheny River in all of their glory with Mount Washington visible between the skyscrapers in a few spots. Behind center field, the Roberto Clemente Bridge spans the Allegheny to the Golden Triangle. Many fans eschew parking in stadium lots or using the newly built light rail tunnels to walk over the river to the game. If there is a finer entrance to a baseball stadium, I haven’t heard of it.

Even if PNC Park was just a cookie-cutter stadium (such as the late Three Rivers Stadium) with no outfields stands blocking the view, it would pretty special, but the beauty does not stop there. The exterior of the stadium isn’t concrete or the traditional brick — it’s a vibrant limestone. Along the third base side, there are multiple eateries outside under the structure of the building that opens up the design in addition to giving fans a chace to dine al fresco. The steel work is elegant and painted navy blue, as are the seats. Even the ramps to get to the upper deck slope gently in a octagon design. The stadium also has only two decks, so the upper deck seats are not too high and the ballpark is cozy. The seating capacity is about 38,000 which is pragmatic for a market the size of Pittsburgh. The statues of players don’t even have extra limbs!

[flickr : Photos tagged with pncpark /slideshow]

I can’t emphasize just how much I love PNC Park, I want to make visit annually when the Nats go there. The venue is so good that you can’t mock somebody for claiming it is one of the best things about the city, because more than any other ballpark I know of, PNC Park celebrates the city and not just its team or its sport.

After many years of wanting to, I finally followed the Washington Nationals to Pittsburgh for their annual series against the Pirates in beautiful PNC Park. I made it to the Saturday game. The Racing Presidents were there too for the Great Pierogie Race (Let Teddy Win).

The series went down just as Sam predicted it would — Pirates won Friday night, Nats won the last two. Raise the curly W!

FRIDAY

Ross Detwiler fell behind early — Andrew McCutchen homered because that’s what he does. The Nats struck out a lot. Ryan Zimmerman earned the golden sombrero. Bucs 3 Nats 1. A.J. Burnett is a good pitcher, as long as he isn’t with the New York Yankees.

SATURDAY

PITTSBURGH — For the first time since Opening Day, Stephen Strasburg got through the first inning with out giving up a run! He gave up two 2-run homers though, one after a bad jump in right field by Tyler Moore put a runner on who should have been an out. Strasburg made it through 7 innings with 8 strikeouts though. He hit two batters, but Pittsburgh’s pitchers hit 3 Nats. The final plunking put the winning run on. Zimmerman, fresh off the DL due to his hamstring took a pitch in the leg. Then, after Adam LaRoche, who isn’t hitting his weight, walked (so many boos from Pittsburgh fans) for the third time they pulled off an improbable double-steal with no throw. Zimmerman then scored on Moore’s sacrifice fly to win the game. The Nats were 1-10 RISP. They left 11 runners on base. The Pirates, who issued 6 walks and hit 3 batters, just wanted to give the game away more.

Davey Johnson was awarded the Chuck Tanner Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award too.

I’ll have a lot to say about my first visit to PNC Park soon. It is transcendent.

SUNDAY

I was driving back from Pittsburgh, so I barely got to listen to the game. Gio Gonzalez got out of a first inning jam. Danny Espinosa and Moore both homered, the latter off the back of a inattentive spectator:

A 6-2, series clinching win. Bryce Harper got ejected too for arguing balls and strikes in the 1st inning. John Hirshbeck was trying to make himself the story I’ve heard.

The Nats are now 17-15, two games back of the Atlanta Braves.

BREEZEWOOD, Pa. — We had just gotten away from the indirect connection for Interstate 70 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike when I saw a familiar color scheme on a bus. As I got closer, I was kind of surprised to see that it was a D.C. Metrobus. Why it was approximately 128 miles away from Washington, D.C. I’m not sure.

If you were hoping there was a Metrobus route that services Breezewood, you are probably out of luck — the electronic sign said it was OUT OF SERVICE.

This still isn’t as unexpected as the time in the mid 1990s I saw some Metrorail cars on the back of trucks on I-81 in southern Pennsylvania.

Photos by Erica Yurasko