Another Caps Season Has Come and Gone...A Morning After Thought

And so we’ve come to the end of the road. Another year ending to early, another year ending in heartbreak.  The Caps were amazing this year and the resiliency last night gave us all hope of what could be.  Unfortunately we’ve all seen this movie play out repeatedly, instead of Bill Murray though, it’s Alex Ovechkin. It’s not even funny anymore, like Adam Sandler movies….just punch me in the groin and get it over with right?

The Caps deserved better than the outcome they got.  Due to the NHL shitting the bed with their playoff format the Caps, the top seed in all of hockey had to try and beat the #2 seed in the East (4^th best overall) to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals….NOT the Stanley Cup Finals BUT the EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS!!!! Luckily for the NHL Tampa only had to play the 15^th and then 10^th best overall teams to make the ECF…because yeah that makes a whole lot of fucking sense. Then again it works out perfect for the NHL, the Caps had struggled versus the Penguins all season and now they should have it pretty going up against Tampa Bay and Sir Sidney of Dingleberryville should be able to bring in those precious ratings in Canada that the NHL lacked all post-season since NO Canadian teams qualified for the playoffs this year.

The Caps struggled against a hot team in Pittsburgh. They didn’t always play 60 minutes, which we were accustomed to, based on how much they’d fall behind early for the past 3 months. They didn’t always make the adjustments they needed to. Sure they said the right things, we need to play better, smarter, blah blah blah, we need to shoot high on the rookie goalie Murray, and then they’d come out and get penalized, try to be fancy, turn the puck over, make ill-advised passes and shoot the puck directly at Murray’s mid-section or legs…I mean I know he’s 6’ 5 but that’s not high enough fellas. A few calls or missed calls here or there that changed games, questionable suspensions by the NHL changed games, some of the most ridiculous bounces or own goals (something else Caps fans are accustomed to this time of year) that didn’t go the Caps way changed outcomes and all of a sudden they were down 3 games to 1. Fans tried to remain optimistic, these were the Comeback Caps, this was arguably the greatest team the Caps have ever put on ice. Then Game 6 happened.

Like many, I pretty much wrote the team off when they were down 3-0 knowing they were capable of coming back but fearing they were too far gone. Alzner was hurt, the team was slow and sloppy, Brooks Oprik was Brooks Orpik, and the Caps just seemed to not be showing ANY type of fight whatsoever.  Then they came alive, in large part to some mental breakdowns by the Penguins/semi-stupid rules for Delay of Game. As a Caps fan I’ll take it, we’ve been neutered over the years from the wretched DOG penalties so it was nice to have that happen in our favor for once.

So the team, down 3-0 didn’t quit, just like they hadn’t all year long. They fought back, tied the game and gave fans hope but we all knew the ending. Going into the final 5 minutes when they should have had momentum…they looked tired. The Pens controlled play, in OT they came out slow and sloppy. With every rush, every chance, every shot, I felt where this is where it ends and it didn’t…until it did.  It’s the same script, different cast and in overtime Bonino scored the game-winner, but not until after an amazing save by the stick of Jay Beagle after Holtby had lost his stick. That was it, the series was over, the all too familiar nut punch and sour stench was back as the teams lined up for handshakes. We had to go back to the reality of DC Sports teams just can’t have good things. Regular season juggernauts see the clock strike midnight in the playoffs and their chariot turns back into a pumpkin.  It’s so bad we can’t even be the bridesmaid or the girl who catches the bouquet at the wedding, no we’re the girl who gets pushed to the floor and stepped on so the stuck up bitch can be next in line.

The Caps also deserved better from its fan base. Too often we take for granted what we have, be it team success or the player(s) on the team.  We expect to be good every year, at least those who have only been fans during the Ovechkin era. The older fans know the struggle the Caps went through before Ovi got here, the late 80s and 90s teams were vastly underrated in my bias opinion, but then we had the dark years after the Caps lost the Stanley Cup Finals to the Detroit Red Wings. Those years sucked bad but you have to go through trials and tribulations before you see the light at the end. 

Now I won’t tell someone how to “be a fan” but it sickens me how many people quit on this team. I get it in the moment you’ll say things out of frustration but this team NEVER QUIT. They didn’t quit on themselves, they didn’t quit on games, they didn’t quit on YOU! Yet so many are “done with this team.” Fine! Goodbye! It hurts, it takes a few years off your life with every loss or every high pressure stressful situation, but this team was fun to watch. This team gave the fans so much to be happy for. This team didn’t let us down, the NHL did, the expectations did, but not this team. I’m rocking my Caps hat at work today, I’m proud as hell of MY TEAM. Would these “fans” have preferred they not make the playoffs? This would hurt worse had it been a sweep, had it been a blowout, had it been a Game 7 at home and to meet it would hurt worse had they not made the playoffs. So feel free to give up on this team, we’ll find newer fans who will learn to love the game.

Personally I hate that it happened against Pittsburgh. I hate that it happened versus Crosby. I hate that we didn’t make it out of the 2^nd round. I’m glad we didn’t lose to Philadelphia in the 1^st round. I hate that once again we fell short and won’t have the Stanley Cup in DC.  I hate that we’re going to hear “Trade Ovechkin” or Ovi doesn’t come to play in big moments or that Sid the Shithead is better than Ovi because he’s had more success with hit TEAM.  FACT: Alex Ovechkin showed up to play this series with his scoring and play. FACT: Sidney Crosby scored as many points in the series vs the Capitals as Ovechkin did in 3 different games vs the Pens.  But let’s not let facts get in the way of a rivalry that really doesn’t exist anymore. Both guys are great players, both future Hall of Famers but the rivalry is between the teams. Ovi has outplayed Sid just about every time and when he hasn’t Sid has matched production. One player does not a team make however. I love that we won’t have to listen to the bias announcing of NBC sports any longer against the Capitals.

The offseason will probably bring a few changes but doubtful many. MoJo is prime trade bait due to expected raise but would suck to see him go. Chimera is a leader for sure but his age will be the reason he’s not back unless it’s on the cheap. Tom Wilson will be resigned for probably two years. Mike Richards I think could be back on the veteran minimum again but he played well enough and is now past the drug charges to where he’ll have other teams willing to offer him more. Latta will probably resign also for two years. I think Oshie gets an extension, the Caps would be wise to lock him up long-term if they have cap flexibility, Galiev may get another shot next year. Orlov I could see resigning for 3 years but I could see them moving him based on some of the breakdowns he had late in the season. Weber is gone thanks God. Winnik will get his chance for a full season with the team next year, though I’d still rather have Brooksie, and outside of a splash in free agency, at some point the Caps will have to look at Madison Bowey and Riley Barber though each is probably a year or two away.  I’ll always believe that, despite his size, Chris Bourque is more than just a great AHL player and would love to see him get ice time with the Caps…he’s small but he’s pesky and does grunt work. Under no circumstances do I see reason or value in trading Ovechkin, Backstrom, Alzner, Carlson or Kuznetsov.

For now, it’s time to rest, unwind from the season and stress over the Nats.  I’ll still watch the playoffs as a fan. All but the Lightning have former Caps still on their teams (Preds – Kuzy and Riberio (bleh), Penguins – Fehr, Sharks – Ward, Stars – Eakin, Blues – Brouwer).  I’m fine with Nashville, San Jose or St. Louis hoisting this year.

Until next season (there’s an all too familiar saying)….

Is It Time For the Caps to Fire George McPhee?

Is a shake-up necessary in DC to get the Washington Capitals back on the right track? In a city where panic buttons are pushed after the first quarter of the Redskins season opener and coaches in the major sports hold shorter tenures than one term by the President of the United States the Caps are looking like a team that will be in need of a change to possibly get the team in gear. I don't usually write a team off from making the playoffs until certain points of the season.  For the Wizards, I can normally get a feeling 5 games into the season, the Nationals need to have a winning record by the trade deadline and the Redskins need to show me something by Week 8. The Caps however can rarely be written off because when they seem to be done, that's when they go on their run....until the playoffs then you can write them off.

Over the past five years I've been vocal  in my belief that the Caps window of opportunity to be a Stanley Cup contender was closing within the past two seasons. The team still has the talent to win and be a perennial playoff contender but at some point the current crop of talent would need to be broken up. As a fan its hard for me to want any member of the team gone, I'd be okay with some, such as John Erskine, being healthy scratches however. However also as a fan, I want to see this team achieve its maximum potential and for the past few years they haven't done that and while some of that falls on the players it also falls on management.

I believe many of the players have become complacent due to the success they've had finishing atop the Southeast Division for so long, even making a late season rally to squeak their way into a Top 3 spot in the playoffs last season. Once in the playoffs though the team, even when they had the best record in the NHL a few seasons back, looks over matched. Either opponents tighten up their defensive approach or the team gets away, ever so slightly, from what got them their success and tighten up a bit too much. Of course that late in the year injuries also play a role in many of the team's shortcomings but that happens to all teams so that excuse holds little water.

Over the past six seasons the team has made the playoffs every time, under three different coaches, 5 different goalies starting playoff games (Huet, Theodore, Varlamov, Neuvirth, and Holtby) and the many of the same forwards and defensemen while making a roster tweak at the trade deadline deal to upgrade a roster flaw. In the end its never just enough and the same issues come up, Ovechkin gets shutdown by the opponents, other players don't step up, mental errors pop up more, and a few unlucky bounces off of Caps players end up behind their own goalie (I'll avoid the yearly goalie interference calls that NEVER go in the Caps favor nor get called the same way twice). One other constant over the six seasons, and every year since 1997, is General Manager George McPhee.

Before I touch on GMGM lets look at how things have gone for the Caps since the start of the 2011-12 season. The team began the season with an amazing 7-0 start only to fall on hard times fast and by the end of November the team had fired head coach Bruce Boudreau. As the struggles mounted his coaching philosophy was called into question, as was his inability to get players to change or adapt come the playoffs and through this struggle. Boudreau had actually gotten the team to play differently in the playoffs the season prior but at the expense of their offense and it once again lead to an early exit. The fans and many of the players loved Boudreau but it appeared like he had lost the team, especially franchise player Alex Ovechkin. It was a shame because Boudreau held the best winning percentage in Caps history and while his offensive coaching style could be compared a bit to the NBA's Mike D'Antoni (circa Phoenix Suns) the difference was his style actually produced championships (in the US). When Boudreau was the coach of the Caps AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, he lead them to the 2006 Calder Cup championship and to the finals again in 2007. After being fired by the Caps Boudreau landed in Anaheim where he took over a struggling Ducks team (6-20-6) that went on to accumulate 38 points in its next 24 games before struggling and eventually missing the playoffs. During the 12-13 season the Ducks finished 30-12-6 and won the Pacific division but were eliminated by the 7th seed Detroit Red Wings. Currently the Ducks are 35-8-5 under Boudreau, the best record in the NHL.

Boudreau had been replaced by former Caps great Dale Hunter who was more of a defensive minded coach and maybe a tad less vocal than Boudreau when it came to ripping into the players. Hunter saw success in the OHL, winning one championship. Under Hunter's guidance the Caps got back on track and rallied to finish 2nd in the Southeast, 2 points behind Florida for 1st, and 7th in the Eastern Conference.  They got their with mainly Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth in net but when the playoffs came they turned to rookie goalie Braden Holtby. The Caps went to the second round of the playoffs before losing in 7 games to the New York Rangers and after the series Hunter stepped down. In all honesty he didn't seem to fit well with the team that had been assembled but the team did play better defensively under him. 

After Hunter left, the Caps hired another former Cap Adam Oates. Unlike the previous two coaches, Oates isn't a yeller and screamer, instead he prefers to teach the players the errors of their ways. Under Oates the Caps scored the most power play goals and had the highest power play conversion percentage of all teams in the 12/13 season. Once again the Caps needed a strong late season rally to make a playoff push before being eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, again by the Rangers. Holtby also firmly unseated Neuvirth as the team's #1 goalie. This season the Caps had managed to achieve the best record in the Metropolitan division, for about an hour, and the top Power Play and Penalty Kill in the NHL but since that time in late Novemeber the team has been average, at best and currently have the 5th most points in the East, but are only 5 points from being in 13th place so there is little room for error over the next few weeks before the break for the Olympics.

Once again this year there is goalie controversy. It happened with Boudreau (Kolzig/Huet, Theodore/Varlamov, Varlamov/Neuvirth, Vokun/Neuvirth) and Hunter (Vokun/Neuvirth/Holtby) and now with Oates (Holtby/Neuvirth, Holtby/Neuvirth/Grubauer). While its nice to have an abundance of young talent in net, they also need to be given regular starts. Since Kolzig left, the team seems to find a possible franchise goalie only to have him replaced by the next young glove that goes through a hot stretch. Neuvirth lost his spot as the back-up (he'd prefer starter) when he stepped on a puck during pregame warm-ups which cause the team to call up Grubauer. Holtby was unseated by Grubauer after a couple bad games and seems to not be able to stop much of anything. After getting his first start in I think 6 weeks Neuvy had a great game on Friday only to end up a healthy scratch on Sunday.

Another problem is line chemistry. All three coaches have been guilty of not sticking with their lines for more than a few games. If players can't build chemistry together its only going to make it harder for the team to find that winning formula. Add to it each coach has a player that ends up in the doghouse and eventually wants to be traded and it makes for a bad atmosphere. Currently the Caps have 3 players that requested to be traded, Martin Erat, Dmitri Orlov and Neuvy. I don't see Orlov going anywhere, in fact I think he's played himself into the Top 6 defensemen rotation. Neuvy could be a nice trade chip while Erat needs to just be dumped.

And that is what brings me to McPhee. GMGM used to be able to have a Midas touch when it came to trades and free agency. Always able to find that right plug to fix a leaking ship. However when he traded promising prospect Filip Forsberg for veteran Erat it seemed like a move made just to make a move rather than one that would help now and in the future. Forsberg was amazing in international play while Erat toiled away in Nashville. Since coming to DC he's been a scratch or seen limited ice time, many times on the 4th line and his trade value is less than a bag of pucks. This trade screamed of they type the Bullets/Wizards would make in the 90s (Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond or Rasheed Wallace for Rod Strickland and Harvey Grant..actually liked Strickland so not too bad). That Erat trade is where GMGM lost me. I hated but understood the trade of Bondra (my favorite Cap of all-time) and was disappointed when he traded Dave Steckel and Chris Bourque but those moves either made the team better or were players that weren't necessarily in the team's long term future. GMGM has done a great job with being able to skirt the salary cap but it may be time for a change of the puppet master because the less things change, the more they stay the same.

By no means am I saying the season is over. I don't even know if a major personnel change is needed but mental changes are. I'd scratch Erskine except when the Caps play physical teams. I'd think about seeing what Mike Green looks like as a winger, though that means teaching him to also play in front of the net, and rotate Laich as a defenseman since he's filled in their previously but I don't know if his groin can handle it. At the very least don't let Green have the puck coming out of the defensive zone. Oates and GMGM need to find a way to make the team stronger mentally so as to not give up goals immediately following a Caps goal, they need to quit taking dumb penalties, figure out how to count so as to stop getting hit with, or luckily not getting called for, too many men on the ice and the team needs to avoid the delay of game (over the glass) penalty as much as possible. Of course its easy to say that from behind a computer and while watching the game from the outside but these are the things I think the team needs to focus on most as the latter ones have plagued the team for years. 

I'm sure there are other things that can be pointed to, mainly using sabermetrics like Corsi and numbers like that but I just don't understand them. I love numbers and understand the baseball ones but I haven't spent enough time or don't care to investigate the hockey ones yet because I fear it'll take away from part of the game I've come to love. I prefer to watch a game where guys hit, score, fight and make great saves without trying to figure out what players match-up best and where. That's the coaches job.

The Debate Over the 2013 NHL Hart Trophy...Was Alex Ovechkin the Most Valuable?

As word leaked on June 15, 2013 that Alex Ovechkin would win his 3rd Hart Trophy (league MVP) I knew that there would be much outcry from fans, writers, etc around the NHL. Be it the Mike Milbury types, Crosby/Penguins fans, just about any homer of any player on any team that's not the Washington Capitals or people that believe that awards in a strike shortened season shouldn't count or should carry an asterisk, there was bound to be debate.

When Crosby was announced as the Most Outstanding Player (Ted Lindsay) recipient, I felt that it was fitting. Crosby was NOT the Most Valuable Player, not to his team and not to the league. Sid the Kid was playing out of his mind before being beset by injuries however those injuries killed any chance of him being named league MVP, whether that's fair or not. The fact remains that the Penguins survived just fine with Crosby sitting in the press box. As it turned out, despite missing so much time (12 games), Crosby still finished 2nd in assists and 3rd in the league for points. While great numbers he still paled in comparison in other categories compared to the players that finished in the Top 5 (forwards) in vote getting in shooting percentage (12% - last) and game winning goals (1 - last) while collecting 17 power play points (T-2nd but second lowest in goals with 3...he did lead in assists with 14). Crosby still ended up finishing second to Ovechkin but for me he was no better than 4th.

The 4th and 6th place finishers were Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane respectively.  Being on what was the best team in hockey for most of the season certainly helped these two get their votes, not to say they weren't deserving, they just weren't necessarily as valuable as their goalie tandem, in my opinion, and in the end the two pretty much cancelled each other out for the MVP voting. Both players scored 23 goals which puts them behind John Tavares and Ovechkin for most goals scored of the top 5 (forwards) MVP vote receivers while shooting 16.1% (3rd) and 16.7% (2nd) respectively.  Toews did very little on the power play while Kane had 8 goals (3rd) and 9 assists (3rd) for 17 points (T-2nd) among the top 5. In the end they'd probably end up my 5th and 6th choices for MVP.

The remaining 3 I would have been fine with any of them receiving the MVP award because they earned it.  Tavares, along with goalie Evgeni Nabokov, propelled the Islanders into the playoffs where they were a few calls and bounces away from eliminating the Penguins. While Nabokov was a huge upgrade over Rick DiePietro, and the worst contract ever handed out in sports history, it was Tavares and his leadership that really propelled the Islanders this year. With the shortened season I expected the Islanders to fight for a chance and possibly make the playoffs and I expected Tavares to be at the forefront of the elite players in the league and he didn't disappoint.  Of the Top 5 (forwards) Tavares had the worst +/- rating at a -2, the only player finishing in the negative, and finished 5th in total points with 47. Tavares finished 3rd in the league in goals, scored 16 points on the power play, netted 5 game winning goals (tied for most among the top 5) and scored on 17% of his shots. The Islanders also saw an improvement in their record, winning half their games (24) after winning only 34 of 82 the previous season. While I would have been okay with Tavares winning the Hart, he'll get 3rd from me

The lone goalie to make the Top 6 in votes was Sergei Bobrovsky. Bob showed flashes of brilliance two years ago in Philly before being jettisoned to Columbus prior to the season. Columbus just missed the playoffs, but if it weren't for Bob they wouldn't have been close. Finishing with 21 wins (T-3rd), a 2.00 GAA (T-3rd), a .932 save percentage (2nd) and 4 shutouts (T-2nd) Bob put up similar stats to other top goalies in the league (Rask, Anderson, Crawford, Lundqvist) but one glaring difference...the Blue Jackets don't have near the talent those other goalies do. Had CBJ made the playoffs then Bob wins the MVP, they didn't and instead he ends up 2nd in my book, but again I have no problem with him finishing 1st.

That brings me to Ovechkin. There is a lot of talk that Ovi only scored against the more inferior teams, that he played in the weakest division in the NHL, the Southeast, and that most of his scoring came on the power play so he needed to have an advantage to score. While valid statements, the Capitals were complete and utter garbage early in the season as they learned on the fly under new head coach Adam Oates and Ovechkin was attempting to adjust to switching to playing right wing after playing left wing his whole career. Down the stretch the Capitals caught fire and it happened to coincide with Ovechkin getting hot. Ovi ended the season as the top goal scorer with 32 goals, half of them on the power play, and only 4 of them game winners. Overall Ovi scored 27 points on the man advantage leading in both goals and total points (tied with teammate Mike Ribiero). Ovechkin's shooting percentage was 14.5%, the 2nd highest of his career and only .01% less than his best season in 2007-08. Had Ovechkin not channeled the Ovi of old there is no way the Caps would have made the playoffs nor garnered him to be the most valuable player. The Caps needed every one of those goals to get them into the playoffs, without them or him they wouldn't have been close. Of course there was much debate throughout the season that Mike Ribiero was possibly the team's most valuable player but he was more so just the perfect fit for their #2 Center position than he was the most valuable since other players put up similar stats metrically to what Ribs put up.


So there you have it. Was Ovechkin worthy of the league MVP? Yes. Should he have won it? Probably. In the end Ovechkin wins his 3rd Hart Trophy, tying him with Mario Lemieux. That has drawn the ire of many Penguins fans and writers. While Ovi isn't in the same stature of Super Mario, don't blame him. The game was different when Mario played and had a lot more worthy candidates.

Caps Eliminated From the Playoofs. What to Take From the Season and Where Do They Go From Here.

That is not a typo! Fans are going OOF this morning after that kick in the gut and while I tried to keep my expectations low going into the season because of how the off-season went and the injuries to Laich and Backstrom early on, the team sucked me in with their play and gave me and all fans hope that this year would be something special. Unfortunately.....

A season of ups and downs came to a crashing and resounding halt last night as the Capitals inexplicably failed to show up for a series deciding Game 7 against the New York Rangers. One game removed from a heavily one-sided and poorly officiated Game 6 in New York the Caps saw the team's disappointing history once again rear its ugly head. Game 7's are not good to the Caps, now 2-7 all-time. Of course this series never should have gone 7 games. Despite the Rangers being one of the least penalized teams, and the Caps one of the most during the regular season, there was a lot of questionable calls or non-calls throughout the series that extended it to play until there was nothing left. 

Some people say "God hates Game 7's" or "God hates the Caps" by no stretch of the imagination is that remotely true, unless you believe that Gary Bettman is indeed God, which he himself does, so if that's the case then I guess it would be true. If you listen to Ovechkin after the game he said somebody wanted it to go 7 games, the NHL needed ratings, the NHL needed extra revenue, well after the first two East series ended in six or less it kinda makes sense. In fact of the "Original Six" that made the playoffs Chicago advanced quickly against Minnesota, Montreal went out quickly in an ugly series against Ottawa and the other 4 (NYR, Boston, Toronto and Detroit) all went 7 games with three of those teams winning, Toronto being the exception but they were playing Boston and blew a 4-1 lead to lose in OT.

I'm not saying there is a conspiracy and I'm am salty over what happened. Its one thing had the Capitals completely blew it themselves like they did against Montreal a few years back or Tampa Bay but this series was dictated by the refs who did a poor job in most of the game. However good teams find their way to overcome it. If there was one good thing to come of it, you have to hang your hat on the fact that the Caps penalty kill was very good against the Rangers allowing only 2 goals.

All of that said the Caps fans should be satisfied. The season could have been completely lost to the lockout. Once the season started fans had high expectations, they've become accustom to their team making the playoffs the past 8 or so years. However the season started terribly. I, as did many, chalked it up to a 3rd (or 4th) coaching staff and regimen in the past year. Once the team fully bought in to Oates' system, learned the power play, and became 100% healthy, or at least as close as they would get over the final two months of the season, the Caps rallied from being the worst team in the NHL to the 3rd seed, albeit by default to being the winner of the Southeast Division...a division which no team seemed to want to win and which if not for the NHL's set up they'd have been looking at a lower seed.

Regardless the Caps saw a resurgence from Alex Ovechkin which could end up with him being the MVP of the league, if only because Sidney Crosby ended up breaking his jaw and missing the final month or so of the season. A season that saw Mike Green healthy for the first time in 3 years recapture his offensive prowess. A season that saw a Power Play start slow and finish at 25%.  The Caps have a long way to go though. Their defense let their goaltending down far too many times. Their second tier players either struggled (Chimera, Mojo, Perreault) until late in the season or were injured (Laich) for most of it. Penalties became the team's undoing early in the season and ultimately at the end. To win you have to stay out of the penalty box or your team will be too tired to hold a lead or make a comeback at the end. The Caps main problem was the delay of game penalty though they also were a team hit with unsportsmanlike conducts for chirping the refs, mainly Mike Ribeiro. Ribeiro was also a huge positive as he was the 2nd line center the team has been seeking for years but with the lower salary cap, how much Ribs wants and his stupid penalties you have to wonder if he'll be back.

Next season won't be an easier. I've stated for years the Caps window of opportunity would be closing this season, that's not to say they don't still have a few more years it just won't be as easy. Now that the Southeast Division doesn't exist they'll be facing the Rangers, Penguins, Flyers Devils and Islanders more often and in turn it will make getting to the playoffs that much tougher. Of course gritty wins against those teams could help increase the Caps likelihood for advancement in the Playoffs as it will make them that much more tougher and hopefully smarter, even if the playoffs are a totally different ballgame. One positive, and huge lift, would be if the Caps are able to bring over Evgeny Kustensov. That kid could be better than Ovechkin and if he joins the team late in the season he could end up being a secret weapon if he adapts to the NHL game quickly and the other teams don't have a good scouting report on him or aren't used to him since they haven't played against him.

As the off-season approaches changes are bound to happen though most guys are signed for next season. In my mind the locks to return, unless the team needs to get under the cap or can acquire other pieces to build their depth with, are Ovechkin, Backstrom, Brouwer, Green, Carlson, Oleksy, Hillen, Alzner, Laich, Hendricks, Beagle, Erat, and Holtby. Players on the bubble, based on cap situation, their play this season or the fact that they could be replaced internally, include Perreault, Johansson, Riberio, Ward, Fehr, Chimera, Erskine, Crabb, Volpatti and Neuvirth. Players that won't be back are Wolski, Schultz, and Poti. And players who could fill needs internally include Wilson, Kundratek, Orlov, and Kustensov. All of this is my opinion and I'd be fine with seeing most of the roster return but I know its not overly likely. Some of my "safe" guys could be traded though I'd hate to see them go since they're vital cogs and the radio guys are already saying to trade Backstrom and Green because they have the most value and will reduce their cap number. I feel that's drastic talk out of emotion in the hours after a let down, though I'm sure on other blogs like Japer's Rink or Russian Machine Never Breaks fans have been reading that for months, definitely years, but with better analysis as to why.

Alas the season is over and for the next few days and week speculation will run rampant. You can't but feel that let down with so much left to play and with the talent this team has and has had for the past 5+ years and you can't help but wonder if or when it will be our time. As my favorite reporter (who I swear I'm in love with...if that's possible, though I'll always keep it professional between us, unless she doesn't want me to lol)  put it the way I've felt for years "a professional goal of mine to cover Stanley cup finals. Just may not happen here in DC" (say it ain't so..tho we'll chalk it up to the years of underachievement). For me the Caps are one reason I've stuck around this area, I love my team, I love going to games, there is no better atmosphere in sports. I still have the taste of success and the bitterness of defeat from the team's 1998 run that ended in a sweep in the Stanley Cup Finals. I do fear that I may never see them play another game in the Finals whether I'm still in the DMV or if I decide to call some other place home. I'll always know Caps fans are the best and if you live or lived here and grew up a Caps fan, you'll always be pulling for them no matter where you are. I'd love to bring myself far enough along in my writings to be able to cover this team one day but I won't deny this is just a hobby for me, one that I don't do nearly enough. Maybe this will light that fire inside me again to take my writing to the next level. At least for the time being I know that my blood pressure can now return to normal and my sports stress has been lessened...until football season.

What the Hell is Wrong with the Capitals?

Once the NHL lockout ended everyone knew it wouldn't be easy out of the gate for the Washington Capitals. While the majority of their players were returning from the prior season many of the players hadn't played in an actual professional game since last May. Add to it that the team was going to have 6 days before the season started to gain chemistry with their lines and learn and adjust to their 3rd Head Coach and offensive and defensive scheme in 14 months and one had to figure the team would need some time to adjust to everything while having to play games every other night.

We are now two weeks and 7 games into the 48 game season and Washington is a cellar dweller at a lackluster 1-5-1. Scoring has been hard to come by for the team as has the ability to avoid committing penalties. In turn the Capitals end up with no energy by the end of the game which has lead to consecutive late game losses on their two game road trip to Canada.

The season started sluggish with an ugly loss to Tampa Bay in which the team gave up 6 goals which primarily came at the fault of poor defensive positioning, lazy neutral zone turnovers, and a failure to kill penalties. Six games later that still seems to be the case. The Caps dropped their home opener in similar but even uglier fashion against Winnipeg and failed to set up any type of offensive strategy against Montreal. As if the team's performance wasn't bad enough the usually raucous Verizon Center crowd was not only dead but half empty by the start of the 3rd period of the Montreal game. In the games to follow the Capitals fell behind New Jersey 2-0 before mounting a valiant comeback in the final 5 minutes thanks to some power play execution, but ultimately losing with under a minute to go in overtime. The team's ability to battle back however left fans optimistic. The team no longer gives fans the impression that they can come back when down a goal let alone two or three goals but in the New Jersey game they strung together a solid 10 minutes to end the game against the Devils and then put forth a solid 40+ minutes against Buffalo which lead to the team's first win of the season. The Caps came out pretty strong against Ottawa with a solid first 40 minutes and a 2-0 lead before the wheels fell off and the team allowed the Senators to score 1 in the 2nd and 2 in the 3rd. Against Toronto the Caps held again held a 2-1 lead heading into the 3rd period, this despite 8 Toronto power plays in the first 40 minutes, before ultimately falling 3-2, the 4th straight game with a 3-2 final.   


Entering the Ottawa game the Caps were 94-0-9 when leading after two between February 24, 2009 and Tuesday,  now they've lost 2 straight. The refs definitely got to the Caps in the team's first two games especially the first home game where Mike Ribiero was high-sticked twice but no penalty was called and yet he got hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct for chirping at the refs. Last night the eight penalties just gassed the Caps by the time the 3rd period came around and they had nothing left in the tank, they couldn't skate with the Leafs and they couldn't muster a shot on the Leafs goalie for over 10 minutes in the final period.

Add to it the players that played during the lockout, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Perreault, Johansson, and Holtby among them, have done nothing of use this season. Ovechkin has two goals, both on the power play, Backstrom has 4 assists, Perreault and MoJo spend more time in the dog house than they do on the ice and Holtby has lost his spot to Michal Neuvirth. On the flip side Joel Ward leads the team in goals and will soon eclipse last year's total, Matt Hendricks has played hard and tough, Ribiero has shown flashes, Joey Crabb has been a huge surprise and the most consistent player, Neuvirth has kept the team in most of the games he's started, and on defense "the Lumberjack" John Erskine has been blocking shots, hitting players...he rocked Phil Kessel last night, and even scored a goal on a muffin shot but has also blasted some beauties on net. The rest of the team has been mediocre (Mike Green) to unfortunate (John Carlson who has been on the ice for most of the goals for and against).

Adam Oates isn't a coach that's going to motivate his players. He feels they have a job to do, they know it, and they need to do it. They're trying the experiment of Alex Ovechkin on the right wing, it isn't working. Until Ovechkin learns to evolve and adapt to the fact that the NHL opponents know he's going to use the same stupid moves as he enters the offensive zone he's not going to be the Ovechkin of old, in fact with the gray showing in his hair he's just becoming old Ovechkin. I read he did relatively well in the KHL, I guess teams over there don't watch game film and plan for facing him or he's such a superstar over there they let him do his stuff because they're in awe of him. Add to it the detractors of Ovi will be willing to point to the fact that his offensive production as well as Mike Green's have been on the decline since around the time a doctor was busted for steroids and records showed unnamed Capitals players were his clients. I don't believe they used them nor do I think it would have helped their performance but I do think Ovi may need to go to the Eye Doctors of Washington and get some Lasik since he seems to be missing the goal just a bit to the right...and why not its worked for Green right? Unfortunately unless Ovi is willing to grind and battle and even go so far as to stand in front of the net to try and deflect shots he's going to be stuck in his rut of shooting long shots with little traffic in front and an easy save for the goalie because he can't blow past defenses like he once did.

If the Caps are going to make a run they'll have to do it soon. The next two games are both at home but they're against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and with Caps fans growing so frustrated with the team's effort, record and play and there being more and more empty seats with each passing home game I would expect the Flyers and Penguins fans to pack the Verizon Center..tho with the tighter security at Verizon I'd expect some of those opposing fans to not get in because of weapons. 
 
So that goes back to the original question...What's wrong with the Capitals? Its a little bit of everything. I've stated for years that their window of opportunity would be closing by the end of this season or next and it could be upon us or it could just be the whole lockout situation. What seems to be a lack of offensive strategy definitely isn't helping this team and not having the time to install it prior to the season, or in game because of penalties, makes the learning curve that much more difficult. Having Brooks Laich out with a hip injury certainly doesn't help since he's a leader on and off the ice and a grinder that gets dirty. In the end penalties is a main culprit. Too many 5-on-3 shorthanded situations; chirping at the refs, which seems to get called more against Washington than their opponents even though both sides do it and we'll see how strict the refs are when Pittsburgh comes this Sunday because Crosby constantly chirps at the refs especially against Washington; many of the penalties are careless some are even questionable and it gets even more confusing when the opponents do it and nothing gets called. The Caps can't control that they can only control their actions and they're going to have to learn from it, stay under control and do their best to put together solid efforts. If not the season will fully be lost. While the team has been outscored more in the 2nd period than any other they are dead in the 3rd so every opponent knows if you work the Caps hard the first two periods they'll have nothing left to finish and that will be the time to strike. Its essentially Dale Hunter hockey but with less energy in the final stanza. Is coaching the problem? Its too early to tell but I don't think so. These players are veterans and they shouldn't need a lecture. They've been there before and they're better than they're playing. They can talk a good game with they know what they're supposed to do and how they can make things easier but they aren't executing. A trade won't fix the problems but with George McPhee's fingerprints all over this team there is a chance that before the season is out Leonsis may decide that GMGM needs to be too.

The Digital Age Takes a Bite Out of Sports Tickets

The day of the souvenir ticket stub may be a thing of the past. One thing that can be a cherished reminder of an experience one had at a sporting event is being pushed by the wayside by many a sports team and soon ticket stubs may be no more. Why this is being done can be argued but should it be done isn't even up for debate in my opinion.

For many years I used to keep the tickets from games that I went to in great condition. I'll admit over the past few years I've just jammed most of them into my pocket only to be disappointed when its all crumpled up by the time I get home. This last happened with the Nationals first home playoff game in team history, I still kick myself for not keeping that ticket in as mint condition as possible. It was a historic game for the franchise and while some may see it as less significant if not totally insignificant others share the same belief I do. Now while that ticket may not be in the best of condition it and the painful memories of that game will be something I'll still cherish for years to come.

You see a ticket stub is more than the cost of the ticket or the location of where one sat or even the two teams or certain players out there doing battle. Ticket stubs hold memories that one can share with their children and grandchildren down the line. For some its the first game a father takes a son to, for others its the first date a couple went on and for others its a historical moment in sports history. Stories decades old have been told of a young boy that went to a game with their father and at that game they saw Jackie Robinson become the 1st African American to play in Major League Baseball; of grandpa taking in the game where Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single game; Roger Maris hitting his 61st Home Run; The Ice Bowl; Gretzky's first game, Cal's 2161; whatever the case may be. Many of those stories are accompanied with the ticket stub from that game. Either its been kept in a safety box, in a top loader, a book, been signed or even framed. All those games are a piece of history. And while tickets can be bought after the fact on the secondary market it doesn't make them any less special to he who bought it, at least if they're a collector, because that game holds a special or significant meaning to that person or someone they know.

In fact my boss told me a story earlier this month about his son giving him a Christmas gift. That gift was a framed picture of the two of them at a Baltimore Ravens game and next to the picture was one of their tickets from the game. That is what a ticket stub means to some people. I myself purchased a ticket from the 2002 NCAA Championship Basketball game because Juan Dixon and the Maryland Terrapins not only played in that game but they won it. Its an item I've added to my collection and the closest I'll ever come to having attended the game. The ticket also looks better than some shitty black and white or color 8x10 sheet of paper with details of the game and ad that isn't as easy to store or as nice looking as that little rectangular one.
The decline in the original ticket began a few years back as more people went electronic and "green." You could order tickets online and have the option of having them mailed to you at your home or you could print them off from your computer. Sure that was an easy option and you didn't run the risk of them being lost or stolen by the postal service. My first time dealing with the "print it yourself" option not only was there a service charge for handling of like $18 but you also had to pay $3 to print your tickets. Yes that's right. Not only was I using my ink and paper which I had paid for but I also had to pay $3 for a "convenience fee." Any way for a company like TicketMaster to make a buck. Then when you printed the ticket there would be extra stuff on it, like an ad or offer that would eat up that ink and helped to take up the whole page.

Earlier this year my work received our package for our Georgetown Hoyas season tickets but all that was inside was a card, much like a savings or debit card. With the card you have the option of using it at the stadium to get in and take your seats or you can print them off from the Hoyas ticket site. Luckily printing them off or emailing them to someone else was a free option with these but I'm not so sure that's the case if you bought single game tickets.

A few months later the same thing happened with our Washington Wizards tickets, and then our Washington Capitals ticket. Monumental Sports and Entertainment was moving full fledged into this new and cheaper way of doing tickets, any why not they were the ones running or part owners of the TicketMaster company when the previous situation happened, at least I believe they still were at the time. Plus Ted Leonsis is a mogul and technology guy so he's going to go for online and cheap the best he can so as to continue to grow his empire. That's not to say there hasn't been a lot of bumps along the way.  Fans are complaining about it taking longer to get into Caps games and the cards taking longer to get people in. I went to one game and did not see the cards being the problem as much as the security measures but I also got there 30 minutes prior to the game and had a paper printed ticket in hand.

Today comes word that the Washington Nationals will also be going the online route with their tickets and this just saddens me. I knew it would most likely be a reality at some point but there are just so many people, especially baseball fans, that love the thicker stock ticket over a card or the personal computer printed ticket. I loved seeing the special ticket that the teams would use for the team's first home game and then seeing different players for each of the next 4 or 5 games that would then recycle over however many pages the ticket book went. Now that's going to be gone.

I will say the card can make it a tad more convenient if you have one per ticket compared to one per account as Washington Monumental has done. It is also something you can just keep in your wallet at all times but what if you lose your card or it breaks? Isn't it more of a hassle to have to report it stolen and have the tickets reassigned electronically? Also this is a real cost cutting measure. While programming the cards could cost a pretty penny, and I'd assume their is a computer program that is a huge time saver, its a lot cheaper for the sports teams to purchase the cards in bulk than it was to print season tickets in mass as they have for many years and then send them via FedEx, UPS or DHL to the season ticket holder. Now that the teams are saving money on the printing don't you think some of that savings should trickle down to the people who are buying the tickets? I mean depending on the sport and where one is sitting you're paying at minimum of $50 and up to a few hundred for every game. Sure a giveaway at a game is nice but just as the owners would like to save money so would Joe Schmo who makes a less in a month or even year than some players make in a game.

I'm sure another reason the ticket industry is changing is to cut down on scalpers outside of the stadium. Knowing that someone can print the tickets off of a computer like you can with these, the buyer will be more suspect to trust someone outside the stadium than they would if they had the rectangular ticket so more people are likely to go to the box office to try and purchase tickets than go to the homely looking dude shouting "TICKETS! TICKETS! WHICH ONE OF YOU CRAZY MOTHER F-KERS NEED A TICKET?"

What's even sadder is that the sports teams know that they can exploit the fans even further. Say you go to a game and see a perfect game thrown or someone breaks Kareem's all-time scoring record, or whatever other notable achievement that will cause resale of a used ticket to sell for more than a ticket normally would after the event. After the accomplishment has taken place you have to figure that the teams will see it as a perfect opportunity to capitalize on the fans that want to have a better looking piece of history by printing out 17,000 tickets that resemble the soon to be old school style and sell them for like $20-$50 per ticket. They know people will pay and those poor saps that already paid $50 to see the game may be paying another $50 on top of it. Don't believe me? They know we're all suckers and owners are all about the dollar. After all they need to have a profitable company or they'll just tell you that you're going to have to pay more while they still fail to improve their roster or upgrade the facility.

I really hope that fans voice their frustrations enough that the owners reconsider it but this reminds me of growing up and listening to Sony and Nintendo tell the consumers that the cartridge games cost more because of what they have to do in terms of making them and that once the games go to a disc the prices will drop. Well as the years have gone on and the systems have switched to the disc games the prices are still $50-$60 for most games. And why not...they know that we're addicts and we're going to pay exactly what they tell us to. Maybe not all of us but the majority.

A National(s) Nightmare: Post-Season Disappointment Is Nothing New in the DMV

Whether it’s the lack of winning season, pre-mature post-season exits, or injuries to star players, the Baltimore/Washington area has become all too commonplace for these unfortunate results from their sports teams.  For the past 20 years the area has not seen consistent success from its teams, be it professional or collegiate and when that little bit of success is reached and the expected impending doom is in the air, it still comes as pure shock when the wheels fall off. 

I’m a homer through and through. I love the teams in the DMV, all of them. I hate when people say you can’t root for a Baltimore team or a DC team because of where you are or are from. Why can’t I? Better than being a Cowboys, Yankees, Steelers or Penguins fan. I was an Orioles fan for over 20 years before the Nats arrived and finally got fully behind them 4 years ago while the Ravens I didn’t fully get behind until 2000, the year before the Super Bowl victory.

Since the Redskins won the Super Bowl back in 1992 we have seen about 4-5 good years of Orioles baseball back in the mid-90s which ended in 1997 when that jackass Jeffrey Maier interfered with the ball, a decade of Ravens winning in football, including a Super Bowl trophy; but they’re a team most in the DMV don’t embrace unless they’re from Baltimore; Joe Gibbs come back to try and bring his Midas touch to the Skins, the Terrapins Men and Women’s basketball teams each win one championship, the Capitals tease their fans for the past 5 years with mediocre, at best, playoff performances after great regular seasons, the Bullets/Wizards having about 3 good years in the late 90s and 3 in the mid-2000s and none of that was with Michael Jordan playing for the team. We did manage some wins with the CFL Baltimore Stallions and the indoor soccer Baltimore Warthogs so there’s that right?

Every time the fans start to show up and teams start to look like they could do something with the pieces it blows up. We’ve seen Gilbert Arenas go from the hero Agent Zero to just a zero. Serious knee injuries sidelined his career and guns in the locker room ended it. The Redskins have had as many head coaches, quarterbacks and kickers as the Orioles have had starting pitchers. Stephen Strasburg blew out his elbow and required Tommy John surgery, as did Jordan Zimmerman.

It’s been just over 36 hours and the fans of the Washington Nationals are still in shock over the team’s epic collapse at home against the St. Louis Cardinals. This team was something special, this team was different from every team the area has seen in decades outside of the 2008-09 Washington Capitals team and yet both teams have striking similarities. Both teams were young, energetic, led by star players, dealt with post-season controversy and were the best team in their league only to be eliminated by a team with a lesser record who was lucky to be facing them.

As I stated back when I did my season preview, this team was probably a year away from contending. Instead the team nearly finished with 100 victories. Bryce Harper was called up early in the season and despite some slumps and over-eagerness he brought a jolt to the team and his stellar arm won the team games with by throwing runners out at the plate or by holding them at 3^rd base for fear of being thrown out. The pitching was phenomenal and until the playoffs was the team’s strongest facet of their game, I mean the staff strikeouts rivaled the national debt. Stephen Strasburg was almost back to his 2009 form and has given hope to fans and the organization hope for only better days ahead.  Gio Gonzalez, my Cy Young winner this year, was dominant throughout the season, Jordan Zimmerman still didn’t get his run support yet kept the team in ballgames.  Ross Detwiler should have cemented himself as the team’s #4 starter but will probably remain the 5^th starter. Then there is Edwin Jackson, the guy that frustrated me most because he’s a really good pitcher but seeing him pitch in Game 3 of the playoffs, entering with a losing record, he just leaves too many balls over the plate. The pen was dominant till late in the season and I wonder if some of that was just the guys being warn down.  Tyler Clippard was amazing in the first half of the season filling in for Drew Storen as the team’s closer and then returned to the set-up role in September after he kept getting shelled for home runs and Storen proved to be back in pre-surgery form.

The hitters had their lulls but not like in year’s past. Ryan Zimmerman dealt with a lingering shoulder issue, which lead to some really bad throws and costly errors, but he still provided the offense you’d expect from him.  Adam LaRoche saved Zimm from quite a few errors and managed to stay healthy the whole season.  Roach ended up hitting .271 with 33 HRs and 100 RBIs and kinda putting the kibosh on my criticism of him in my earlier blog. Espinosa struggled at the plate, striking out way too much and pressing at the end of the season trying to reach the 20 HR plateau. Ian Desmond on the other hand, whom I said was expendable for an upgrade, not only played well defensively (by Ian Desmond standards) but really got it going at the plate with a career high in HRs and making the All-Star team. It’s not that I didn’t think Desi could do it, it’s that I felt the team was running out of patience waiting for him to do it. In the OF my boy Ankiel got cut, Mike Morse (The Beast) missed the first two months of the season and still ended up killing the ball, Bernadina (The Shark) saw his cult following grow, Jayson Werth missed a fair amount of time with a broken wrist but came back strong as a lead-off hitter, and Bryce Harper only reached the 20 HR mark and nearly as many steals to go along with 9 triples. Of course one of the main keys to a team is their catcher and the Nats used about 89 of them because they kept getting hit with season ending injuries so they went out and brought in a guy that I really like, Kurt Suzuki who called a good game and had some timely hits the last month of the season. 

Come the playoffs though what you did in the regular season goes out the window. The Nats entered the series against the Cardinals, who may have been there only because of a terrible Infield Fly Rule call vs the Braves, without Strasburg. Since Spring Training it was known that he wouldn’t be pitching late in the year as the team planned to limit his innings, they just never said what the limit would be. In early September they shut Stras down, despite the criticism by many. I was back and forth on the issue. The team is not guaranteed to be in this position again but long term its best to not overwork the repaired area right away and they want to keep him safe and healthy long term. In the end I became fine with the decision because this team was good enough to still win it all.

Game 1 the Nats win, Games 2 & 3 the Nats get rocked.  I was at Game 3 and the stadium got quiet way too early. The fans wanted to fault Morse for his effort, mind you he has a sore hamstring, but he was also being told to play the fielders incorrectly. You have to play a hitter to pull and the righties were pulling the ball but they had him closer to center and for lefties he was closer to the line. Maybe I’m wrong about it but that’s how I was always taught to play. Also in Game 3 you had EJax, a #3 starter on some teams, a #4 on this team, really is more suited for a 4 or 5 spot in my opinion, was going against a playoff tested former ace. Despite not being what he once was, the Nats were not supposed to beat Chris Carpenter. Game 4 the Nats tied the series in amazing fashion with Werth hitting a HR during a 13 pitch at bat. In Game 5 the team was up 6-0 early only to lose in a fashion that was unlike any disaster that has been witnessed in the area if not all of sports. One strike, all they needed was one strike from Drew Storen and they’re hosting the San Fransisco Giants beginning Sunday in the NLCS, instead they’re all headed back home. I’m not going to write out the whole thing that happened if you watched the game you saw it, if you’re like me it keeps replaying in your head, you don’t need to see ESPN to break it down for you. A 9-7 loss and the season, one that had fans finally filling the ballpark, is over and the second guessing can begin.

Throughout the series it was said they need Strasburg, but they didn’t. He was struggling late in the year, his arm needed the rest because of how hard he throws, and as great as the guy his, having him pitch once in the series most likely wouldn’t have changed much if anything. Their starting pitching as a whole wasn’t what it had been. Through the first 3 games the team had allowed 10 runs in the 2^nd inning, that doesn’t help you win ballgames. Gio had two bad innings of wildness, Detwiler had an inning, EJax left balls over the plate in one, Zimm had some struggles, Ryan Matheus hit batters, and their hitters weren’t hitting. Roach had two hits, both HRs in the first 4 games, Bryce and Werth couldn’t hit with guys in scoring position the first 2 games and in game three the Nats would get two guys on base but not until there were two outs. The only bright spot was Ian Desmond both offensively and defensively in the top of the 9^th of Game 4. Then in Game 5 it was nothing like the previous 4. They built off the Werth walk-off, everything was going right and then collapse just happened. It wasn’t meant to be. I had already been prepared to write “Welcome to the NLCS Washington” I just needed one more strike and…well…it never came. Before the 9^th inning collapse Britt McHenry (@BrittMcHenry) had said she had a bad feeling like the Caps game vs. the Rangers in Game 6…too true. The Caps become known as the Cardiac Caps because of how they play close games and most come down to the final moments or overtime, especially in the playoffs. I’ve dealt with their losses and felt the emptiness after each series. I don’t think any of those can compare to how I felt after the Nats lost.

Then again the Nats weren’t the only team from the area playing in the playoffs. The Orioles made their return for the first time in 15 years and they saw their post-season came to an end just minutes before the Nats game started. They were the team that overachieved more than anyone and they were facing the New York Yankees, they even had the Yankees on the ropes in Game 3 only to lose it and eventually the series. So for me maybe their loss helped in the emptiness but the way the Nats lost is what caused it to linger. Feeling you had it won and mentally reserving your tickets for the next round only to get gutted. Also the Wild Card team has this thing about going deep and even winning the World Series, the Orioles and Cardinals were Wild Card teams. Once the Orioles lost it kind of guaranteed the Cardinals would win right? Am I alone in this thought?

I took to Twitter, as did many, to share my disbelief and even today I see posts by fellow Nats fans and media still trying to get their minds around what happened, this may be because we haven’t reached the water cooler the next day so it could linger till Monday or Tuesday when you talk to people at your office. On Twitter though Morse (@Dc_BEAST38) and Bryce Harper (Bharper3407) mentioned their disappointment while thanking the fans for helping them with a great season, my new favorite announcer; who I hope returns next season and beyond; F.P. Santangelo (@FightinHydrant) tried to keep fans positive and optimistic for the future, the biggest Nats fan I’ve come to find, Tori Hill (@Toribelle4) tried to keep the NATITUDE and the fan base positive and shared her feelings as well as others to all of her followers, while the DC media including Britt, Dan Hellie (@DanHellie), Chick Hernandez (@ChickatCSN) and Eric Bickel (@EBJunkies) all were in shock having never recalled seeing such a spectacle before.

Sports can bring a group of people together but also tear many apart. Moments after the Nats lost Drew Storen began receiving death threats on Twitter. Really? Over a fucking baseball game? This reminded me of the Bruins fans or random assholes that went to Twitter calling Washington Capitals Joel Ward a “nigger” or threatening him with death or any number of other boneheaded comments that were sent his way. Its sports people! It sucks to lose! It’s unfortunate how the season ended but to threaten a man’s life, to not celebrate what was a great season, to understand that your team was just not good enough and to blame it all on one person is ridiculous. To me it just proves that evolution doesn’t exist because some people are too fucking stupid.

As I’ve believed every year with the Capitals I believe the Nats will be back, I doubt the Orioles will be though. Again I said next year would be their (Nats) year. They’ve gotten a taste of success and of failure and they’re going to want it even more next year and hopefully the stands will be fuller more too. I expect the Phillies to be better next year, I’m sure the Braves will be competitive, and who knows what to expect of the Mets or Marlins but hopefully nothing but bottom dwelling. So it won’t be easy, and it shouldn’t be. I want a team that is tested and capable of winning when they need to over a team that has an easy ride to the playoffs. Of course the team is in a tough situation in regards to a few players. Roach is due for a new deal and contract years are steroids to many players careers so will he be able to repeat this production once he has that new contract? He filled the role of Adam Dunn’s bat which is why they brought him in two years ago but the team needs to decide if it’s worth keeping him for another year or two and a few million dollars more or if it would be wiser to move Morse back to first and allow Tyler Moore or Roger Bernadina to full-time outfield.  Does the team keep or trade Store? He was on the block in 2011, which I didn’t believe to be necessary. I think he’s a good young pitcher and think having him and Clipp throwing in the 8^th & 9^th innings is exactly what this team needs. EJax is up for renewal too. I’d prefer to put Detwiler in his #4 spot and then maybe look for a veteran or if you resign EJax make him your #5.

Regardless of it all, as disappointing as the season finished, this team impressed me a lot. They won over a lot of people in DC. They beat the Redskins and RG3 for much of the opening sports news. They don’t need to do much tweaking. Maybe a new arm or two in the pen, decide on your first baseman and if you need to bring in an OFer; rumor is they’re looking at Michael Bourne but I don’t want him and I’d prefer Josh Hamilton but I know that ain’t happening. They also have to decide who they’re going with at catcher. Suzuki is probably certain to be here but Ramos and Flores are young and could be nice trade assets. I’d stake a lot on the team allowing this to burn within them and come back next year to not only prove it was no fluke but that they’re not this good but even better. How much so? I’ll say it now the Washington Nationals will be the 2013 World Series Champions.