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.

The Beast Leaves DC, Leading to Saditude

This day was bound to come. The writing has been on the wall for months, despite the feeling yesterday that the Nats could wait on making a move. Who knows who gets injured in the coming weeks or Spring Training. Many of us held out hope not wanting to accept facts or face the reality of the situation.

You see I became a Michael Morse fan in 2010 when he smacked 15 Home Runs for the Nats in 98 games. I had no idea who he was and at the time I was only really coming around to giving the Nationals a chance. I knew who most of the players were but like much of the DMV I didn't pay too much attention to the Nats because, well they sucked. This Morse fellow though, he had that something special to me as I looked over the box scores. The team boasted power from Adam Dunn, the seemingly oft-injured and "under performing" (to my expectations) Ryan Zimmerman, and the slow trotting and underrated Josh Willingham. Morse hit one less Home Run in nearly 160 at-bats less than Willingham, good enough for fourth on the team.

In 2011 Morse had a strong Spring Training but was kept in a platoon in Left Field with Laynce Nix. Because of this The Beast struggled mightily through May before being relegated to the bench. In late-May Morse was given a shot at first base when Adam LaRoche went down for the season due to injury and Beast Mode swept across NatsTown. The legacy began and, in my mind, Michael was the biggest character on the team. A team mired in a losing culture for so long had an identity. There was playfulness, there was excitement, and while winning can do that, you knew that Morse had a huge hand in that. By season's end Morse finished in the Top 10 in batting average, home runs and RBI, and fourth in Slugging Percentage.

After the season I came across this article regarding Ryan Braun's PED case and was surprised to read about Morse's situation from year's before. The story actually made me more of a fan. Here was an athlete that accepted the punishment handed too him. He didn't make an excuse, he didn't deny it or lie or go through some charade. Then to see that he was suspended three times for the same thing because of a technicality, I felt bad for the guy but knew I'd support him for the rest of his career. He was refreshing. Not a Lance Armstrong or a Barry Bonds.

Morse started 2012 on the disabled list and didn't return to the lineup until June. Once back Morse was the team's primary Left Fielder and added protection to a line-up that consisted of rookie phenom Bryce Harper, LaRoche, Zimmerman, and eventually Jayson Werth upon his return from injury. As Natitude soared throughout DC many a fan became accustomed to participating in Morse's late inning walk-up music A-Ha's "Take on Me."  Morse helped lead the Nats to the best record in baseball and had possibly the highlight of the year when he had to replay a grand slam after the umpires had to go to the video replay.

A season that saw a Morse bobblehead, females who loved him, and males who had man crushes on him didn't come without some hate.  Despite being a huge part of the team and being knowingly slower than most of the players Morse drew the ire of some fans, we'll go with intoxicated since they thought they could play it better, when he failed to get to some balls hit to Left Field in the team's first home post-season game in history. I sat their and listened to the negativity all the while going "hey dumb asses you realize he's playing with a sore hamstring AND they have him shaded too far towards center when a right handed batter is up?" But I digress.

For me I was lucky to attend the bobblehead game and I was lucky to attend that first home playoff game, a game in which I sat in Left Field right behind Morse. Loving The Beast like I did I started a card collection of him and was able to grab some very rare cards. My favorite, which started the collection was a card from Topps Tier One that he inscribed "BEAST MODE," I later picked up a Topps Tribute auto inscribed "The Beast." They are by far two of my favorite pieces in any of my collections. At the playoff game I also ended up picking up a game-used bat which is just amazing to look at and for Christmas I bought myself a Morse jersey.

Unfortunately the off-season came to early for the Nats and certain players would be staying and certain players would be going. Morse was a bubble player. It would depend on what transpired between the Nationals and LaRoche. Before the Nats and LaRoche contact talks got serious, the Nats added Denard Span to play CF. That move meant Harper would play LF and Werth would be in RF. Morse was now a option at First Base or a trade chip because you're not going to have a guy getting paid $7 million getting paid to come off the bench...this isn't the NBA and in baseball guys making that much tend to either start or spend time on the disabled list...I'm looking at you A-Rod.

For months the saga between LaRoche and the Nats played out with LaRoche wanting a 3 year contact and the Nats holding steady on a 2 year offer. The drama went on for so long because if LaRoche signed somewhere else then the team signing him would forfeit a 1st round draft pick to the Nats. Many fans, especially me, preferred the Nats save the money on a LaRoche deal and use it for help in the bullpen. This month however the Nats and LaRoche agreed to a contract and that set in motion the move that would eventually make Morse a member, once again, of the Seattle Mariners. There was talk of Seattle, Boston, New York (Yankees), Texas and Baltimore all being in on Morse. I'd have loved Baltimore since I'm a fan of theirs as well and they're still local so I could go to O's games, he'd be reunited with his pal Adam Jones and I could see him play over 100 games in the season.

The move is unfortunate since I feel that LaRoche will not only not duplicate his production from last season but I feel he's likely to get injured again. I didn't like the signing two years ago and I'm not too fond of it now. I love how well he produced last year and I get the team needed a left handed power option in the lineup but Morse is THE MAN, even if he is addicted to those Real Housewives shows. The team also has durability issues with Zimmerman and Werth so if either of them goes down the team will be missing more power from the line-up and Morse could fill in in the outfield. The team also could have rotated players allowing them to rest, of course not keeping a regular lineup or routine can hurt more than help.

As I mentioned the Nats decided it was in their best interest to stick with LaRoche as well as stick with younger options on the bench in Roger Bernadina and Tyler Moore who will most likely supplant LaRoche in a year or two. My preference would be to see the team trade LaRoche after the season and re-sign Morse since he'll be a free-agent at the end of the year. Injury riddled or not, which Morse admittedly has been, the kid has talent and power, he's hit some of the longest home runs I have ever seen and playing first base will limit his injury risk compared to being in the outfield. And while he's not as good defensively at first base as Roach he's not much of a dropoff.

You better believe the first thing I'll do when MLB The Show comes out is I'll be trading Roach for Beast the second it enters my PS3.  Yes I'm really gonna miss Michael. From his long flowing locks (man crush) to his running around the field and high-fiving fans when the team clinched a playoff spot to his laid back joking demeanor to his presence in the lineup I will miss Beast but will also cherish so many memories from his time here in DC. While I'll still be able to follow and interact with him on Twitter I'll always be saddened that he's no longer rocking the Natitude. Thank you Michael for all that you did for the team and the fans. Hopefully that ballpark doesn't stunt your numbers out there on the West Coast and hopefully you'll be back on a team in the DMV after the season. Keep BEAST MODE alive!

2013 Fearless Predictions

I started doing this last year on Twitter but didn't write down any of them so I could keep track of what did and didn't come true. I do remember some that did and figured I'd turn this into a yearly thing. While some of these I seriously believe will happen, many are to be taken as light-heartedly and as jokes...in case you couldn't figure that out. Hope you enjoy some of them. All of these were written before December 30, 2012.

Personal (myself or friends)

  - March 20^th, the night of our Circus event, will be my best day of the first half of year       

  - I will drop at least 40 lbs by Christmas

- I will drink soda no more than 3 times in 2013

- I will play in the 2013 Bethesda Big Train Celebrity Game this year, not as a celebrity obviously and I will hit a HR

  - I will average at least 1 blog post a week on www.laichitis.blogspot.com (shameless plug)

  - In turn if I keep up the writing and improve with each post I will achieve some form of validation, at least locally 

  - By the end of the year my cousin John will come to the decision it is time to retire but won’t do so until the end of 2014, right before closeout 

 - John will also get a new dog, but not a foo-foo dog. Chocolate Lab seems to be the best fit.

 - Britt McHenry will meet her future husband  

 - Britt McHenry will be staying in DC and will ascend within ABC 7, taking over full-time for Tim Brant who will move on by June 2014

 - Britt McHenry will receive an overture to co-host a DC Sports Talk radio show

 - I will complete the year without meeting my father…again though not necessarily by my choice

 - My cousin Pam finally graduates college

 - My cousin Kristin will get pregnant again. This time with twins. One will be Hispanic, one black, her  husband still white

 - Mark Cruz will finally get engaged. 50/50 shot that it will either be to his girlfriend or a transvestite masseuse in the Philippines

- 4 of my friends on Facebook will end up pregnant or getting someone pregnant during the year

-Tori Hill somehow finds her way into the Nats clubhouse while at a game next year, possibly sneaking in or flirting with Lombardozzi

- No matter how many blog posts I have in 2013, all combined will not accumulate to the 2 I wrote on Britt last spring (2600+)

- I will continue to use Twitter but more for sports, jokes and networking than for bitching about my job

Sports Cards & Memorabilia

- I will add one extremely rare Juan Dixon card to my collection, it will not be the triple logoman from Exquisite

- HobbyKings.com and Panini America will work on a basketball card set if JDC and some other HK guys get their shit together

- Upper Deck will go out of business

- Even when they do things right Panini will not get the respect its due from many members on the basketball side of the hobby

- I will open at least 50 boxes of cards this year and the money would still have better been spent on singles

- I will sell off some of my collection this year once I get my shit in order

- I still won’t pull a Michael Jordan autograph

Sports

- The Los Angeles Clippers win the NBA Championship (I’ve had OKC since the end of last season)   

- the NHL lockout will finally end…but it won’t be until July  - NHL ratings will fall on TV and arena’s will be down at least 20% 

- the Washington Nationals will win the 2013 World Series 

- Michael Morse will hit 40 HRs as a member of the Washington Nationals or Baltimore Orioles

- Angela Rypien will lead the Baltimore Charm Lingerie Football Team to the Championship

- Despite their offensive line and secondary woes the Redskins will not address the needs noting their strong record

- the new women’s soccer league will be a success

- the WNBA will continue to falter despite Candace Parker leading the Sparks to the championship

- Kevin Love, Josh Smith, Amar’e Stoudamire, and Dwight Howard will all be involved in big trades in the summer

- Chris Paul will re-sign with the Clippers and the Clippers will go to the WCF & unseat the Lakers as the team in LA

- Rex Ryan will be fired, Tim Tebow will end up in Jacksonville, Mark Sanchez will remain in NY

- Despite becoming favorites the Angels, Dodgers, and Blue Jays don’t make it out of the Divisional Series, one won’t make playoffs

- The Orioles will not see the same success as last year

- FP Santangelo and Bob Carpenter will be back next season for Nats broadcasts, just not on MASN

- LeBron James suffers a serious injury and misses much of the 2013-14 season

- Strasburg wins NL CY Young, Bryce Harper joins 40/40 Club

- the Washington Wizards will continue to suck

- the Washington Nationals will have more wins at the end of the NBA regular season than the Wizards

- A wrestler currently in WWE or TNA will die, possibly while performing

- Dwyane Wade misses a week with an ingrown toe nail

- The Rock will end CM Punk's title reign only to drop the title to Dolph Ziggler who cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase

- The New York Yankees will finish 4^th in the AL East

- Baseball finally does something to protect pitchers from batted balls after a scary incident in July

- Andray Blatche will glue his finger up his nose

- Brett Favre will attempt another NFL comeback, this time with the Oakland Raiders

- Speaking of the Silver & Black...so will Donovan McNabb (black guy, silver hair)

- A fat person will finally win the Nathan's hot dog eating contest..then will be disqualified when its found out its a pregnant woman and it was technically two people competing

- Manny Ramirez attempts a comeback in a Beer League Softball and is cut for being out of shape and unable to hit the ball

- Joe Flacco will be franchised by the Ravens and fans will call for him to be replaced by Tyron Taylor by Week 6

- RG3 will remain amazing while Romo and the Cowboys will still suck

- Despite deserving a chance, Juan Dixon will not be given one last shot to make it back into the NBA

- Andy Reid and Rex Ryan face off in a championship match...for pie eating

Movies/Music/Celebs
- John Travolta & Tom Cruise will finally admit they’re gay and are actually a couple (I think I did this one for 2012 too)

- Lindsay Lohan will manage to stay sober….for 20 minutes

- I’ll see maybe 6 of the following movies at the theatre the first half of the year: Gangster Squad, The Last Stand, Safe Haven, Snitch, The Heat, Jurassic Park 3D (AMAZING), 42, Pain & Gain, Fast & Furious 6, Olympus Has Fallen, Monsters University, White House Down

- the following movies will underperform: Oz The Great & Powerful, A Good Day to Die Hard, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Hangover Part III, Fast & Furious 6
- Oblivion’s lack of success will again cause people to question why Tom Cruise is put in movies

- Will Smith will give M Night Shyamalan his highest grossing movie since The Sixth Sense with After Earth tho we may not see another Will Smith movie or look at him the same again for at least 5 years.

- Sleeper Movies: Olympus Has Fallen, Now You See Me, Much Ado About Nothing, White House Down

- Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel will fail to impress me, though Amy Adams will help Superman

- A young blonde actress and candyland pop starlet (names removed for my safety) will have a photo scandals

- Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds will get divorced

- Kim Kardashian will marry Kanye West and Kanye will put out a sex tape with Kris, Humphries not Kardashian

- Justin Beiber will hit a girlfriend and get busted for drugs 

- Andy Roddick knocks up Brooklyn Decker

- Taylor Swift will get pregnant..it will not be Daren Hayes’

- Rihanna won't learn her lesson and will get smacked around by Chris Brown again

- Gabriel Iglesias will be recognized as the funniest comedian alive

- Katt Williams will continue his downward spiral until he kills himself at a Home Depot

- Psy will quickly be forgotten about but will end up going on a tour with MC Hammer and later joined by Vanilla Ice

- Gangnam Style will go the way of the Macarena and Tubthumping only being heard at sporting events

- Christine Lakin will make a (don't call it a) comeback with a new TV show

- Betty White and Zsa Zsa Gabor last another year
- While men would prefer a scandal involving Carrie Underwood we'll only get the announcement that she is with child

Politics/World News

- We will know less about what happened in Benghazi by December 31, 2013 than we do now

- Two former US Presidents will pass away..George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter

- someone will die in the penguin exhibit at a zoo and people will demand penguins be sent back to Antarctica and banned from zoos and aquariums across the US

- There will be at least one news story of someone going to the hospital because they got their penis stuck in one of those Chinese finger locks

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.