Shark Pride

As Halloween approached I thought of the various Nationals symbols that bring fear- Beast Mode, the Werewerth, Bryce Harper's eye black, Air Screech, but one of the things I fear the most are sharks not named Roger, so I thought a Shark themed pumpkin would be the way to go.

I could have done a little better on the details, but it's not a real pumpkin, rather a foam one from the craft store so I can embellish a bit and keep it for years to come in celebration of the flyball-hunting skills of #2 for your Washington Nationals. I sent a picture of it via Twitter to the guys at Sharkadina and the next day they made me one of the Fans of the Month for October. That kind of instant gratification made my day.

I have been a fan of Mr. Bernadina for a while- though before the shark thing I found myself singing “Mr. Bernadina, Mr. Roger Bernadina” to the tune of “Mr. Dobalina” by Del tha Funkee Homosapien. Yes, I'm old. Now, I take my stuffed sharks to the games and wave it when Roger's at bat and it was an honor to have the big guys at Sharkadina have my work on their site.

This Isn't Dead, I Swear

 It's a shock to look at the stats and see that I haven't posted anything to this blog in months, but the truth is I was starting up a small business and it has eaten up most of my time and all of my money. I have hundreds of pics from Nats games and plenty of thoughts on their magnificent playoff run, Tebow, NHL lockout, the Redskins, etc, but it's going to have to wait just a few days more.

Failure to Capitalize

Tonight, the Capitals lost Game 7 of their series against the New York Rangers. I don't want to be negative, I swear I don't, but hearing quotes of "Oh, it's just another game" tossed around beforehand, I shouldn't have been surprised to see another half-hearted, lackluster offense. The Rangers wanted it more, so they won. Rushing back to play defense doesn't score goals. There are no moral victories- it's a pretty objective, results-based activity. This should have been the RuPaul's Drag Race Lipsync for Your Life moment, leaving it all out there, ripping your wig off (figuratively), making an impression. Seeing the game go at the leisurely pace I've seen too often this year, I had little hope.

 I hope Dale heads back to London and honestly, I don't know who else on this team should stay. The few ones who do care, I don't know if I want to see their hard work go unrewarded anymore and maybe they should be where they are valued.

 We get promised every time that this is the one, this group of guys is committed, but it never pans out. It's all talk. Living in Washington (or close enough), hearing big talk and no action gets old.

Karl Alzner: "I’m gonna view it as an underachieved season, in my opinion. I know a lot of people don’t feel the same way."
-via Katie Carrera's Twitter feed

Natitude Weekend

Saturday, May 5th, was the second game of the three-game "Our Park" series. Friday's game had resulted in a dramatic late night 11th inning win for the Nationals so the wind was taken somewhat out of the sails of the (last place) Phillies fans who traveled down for the day game on Cinco de Mayo/Kentucky Derby/Caps playoff day. A 7-1 victory is just what the Nats needed to shut up the small but loud groups in the park, especially when the first three runs came off a beautiful home run by former Phil Jayson Werth. Gio Gonzalez was smoking the ball past the hitters and with his bat- coming up with his first career double and a few more that reached the wall.

 Screech made his contribution, appearing in a video on the big screen where he drives a few fans back to Citizens Bank Park and going into the stands to taunt and apparently strip them:  

Our Park
 

Gio Slo-Mo
 

Lombo and Bryce

Just forget that these at-bats led to a double play.

Jayson Werth
 

Congratulations All Around

I admit it. I was wrong. Not only did the Capitals make the playoffs, but they won the first round. It was a bit iffy there at times, not because of Braden Holtby- that man is still rocking, but a steady lack of urgency, which gave a sense of dread in overtimes where a determination to score is kind of the point. There didn't seem to be a change of pace or confidence in Game 1 of Round 2 which took place earlier today against the NY Rangers. I have to wonder if someone has told them there's a 3-second rule in the offensive zone, as eager as they are to swipe a single shot and scurry back to defend. They also haven't gotten the memo about there being no back-door on the net. Too much time standing behind the goal and not enough in front. Their minor league affiliate, the Hershey Bears have also come back from a 0-2 deficit to tie their best of 5 series against Wilkes-Barre Scranton (if I spelled that right, I'll be amazed) Penguins. Game 3 included DJ King's first Bears goal. That was enough to make me happy; still a fangirl for ole DJ. Congrats to the Washington Wizards for their end-of-season six game winning streak. Too many people are quick to dump on them for not being very good, but as professional athletes, they should go out every night expecting to win if they do their best and they did. I hope to see more of the same next season. I'm not going to act surprised about the excellent play of the Washington Nationals. I knew they had it in them, even with the continuing domino fall of injuries (pluswhatisupwTylerClippard?). Tonight is Bryce Harper's debut. I am saddened that it had to come at the expense of Ryan Zimmerman being injured enough to sit on the DL, but now we can see if this is his time.

Caps Playoffs, pre Game 4

The Caps play Game 4 tonight of the opening round of playoffs versus the Boston Bruins. They participated in a light skate this morning.

On the near goal, Holtby and Dany Sabourin were switching out fairly regularly facing shots.

Close-ups of Braden Holtby and his mask:

At the far end of the rink, Michal Neuvirth was taking shots as well.

Caps television announcer Joe Beninati was mixing in with the little people (not a short joke, I swear)outside the plexiglass, taking notes and interacting with fans.

Myself included.

The Swedes:

Dennis Wideman stretching out:

After the starters left the ice, Neuvy moved down to take some shots from the scratches.

OK, maybe he's not taking shots in these but I was so glad to see him out there, I just kept taking pictures.

Standing by me happened to be one of my dad's favorite players, Dennis Maruk. I didn't take any pictures so you're just going to have to take my word for it that he chatted with Joe B and some fans then went shopping in the team store including buying out their remaining stock of his player shirt. Seemed like a nice guy and smelled really good, by the way. Unfortunately I didn't know he was one of my dad's favorite players until I told him about it on my way home. I would have tried harder on the photo front then.

And we will close out with a shot of the most dangerous man in Washington. Do you feel menaced?