I'm having a tough time understanding the Nats fans these days. I guess a lot of people are upset that Strasburg was supposed to debut June 4th according to the press, and that date got moved back. So what? They still have tickets to a baseball game, what are you going to do not go? Apparently that is exactly what some people are doing. Is there really anything wrong with spending a Friday night at a baseball game watching an up and coming team that is only three games behind a struggling first place team as we approach Memorial Day? The adage is "if you are in it around Memorial Day, you are in it for the Summer," and that certainly seems like this may be what is happening at Nats Park. If we can get through this road trip at .500 the worst part of the schedule is over and done with as an armada of healthy pitching comes trickling in over the next month or so.
Ever since the league took away the Phillies' binoculars in the bullpen they have been 6-8, with 3 runs in their last 50 innings until last night when they scored their first run in 31 innings. The Nats are winning and they aren't even getting the calls their way. (Last night was infuriating. The whole game was under protest, so who knew if it would even count, Dunn tagged out a man who was called safe, and Zimmerman was called out in the 9th when he was clearly safe. Just when you didn't think there could be anyone blinder then the first base ump, the home plate ump calls both a high strike and a low strike balls on the same batter, leaving Capps nowhere to throw it but right down the middle, leading to the single that put the winning run on base in the bottom of the ninth. How Capps kept his cool to preserve the save is beyond me because I wanted to jump through the TV to wring the ump's neck, but that is just the way things are going for the Nationals when it would have gone wrong the last few years.) The NL East is the second toughest division in the league, but its baseball, and you get a champagne bath for winning the wild card, and the Nattos are contending.
I also don't think the Nats are behind some conspiracy misleading fans to sell out the 4th. Moneywise, it would have been in the Nats best interest to start Strasburg on the 4th, and then have him a second time during the home stand against the Pirates as well. Things happen, like player development and rain, and they were forced to move it back. There will be plenty of chances to see Strasburg, just not that particular day. I think the Nats even thought Strasburg was going on the fourth, and that is why they were holding back tickets. Until they made their announcement that Strasburg would debut against the Pirates (again, taking into consideration rain, injuries, rotation, and development) you couldn't buy more than one ticket in four different sections for the faux Strasburg debut. After it was announced he wouldn't be there, all types of tickets opened up. So essentially, the Nats were holding back lower priced tickets to sell the higher priced ones. That is where I have a problem similar to the one I still have over the opening day fiasco. Don't shortchange the fan base you are trying to build by trying to make a quick buck, be honest about it. The best part of the Strasburg mix-up was I thought the scalpers who bought up the tickets were going to get hosed the way they always hose the honest fans who just want to see a ballgame. It seems the Nats drove up that market for no good reason and that is just not fair to anyone. I want the Nats to be financially successful so they can sign other big-name guys to fill the place with fans and pennants, but they can't be underhanded about it in the meantime.
I know this is an event-driven town, that is why the Redskins are so successful; there are only eight games and everyone will brave through the drunks and hours of traffic to be there. But the Nats do not have the tradition of that team, or the hearts of the city that follows them yet, so they need to tread carefully. If you bought a ticket for the fourth from anyone but a scalper you have no reason to be mad at the Nationals, but happy at the chance to spend an evening with a major league team full of talent and youth that is contending now, and will in the future. And you can probably go see another game that week where Strasburg debuts against the Pirates if you want. Well, that is if all those die-hard Pittsburgh fans haven't bought up all of tickets to see their beloved Pirates like they try to do for the Steelers and the Pens.
Speaking of bandwagon fans, major events, and tinges of BS, the Winter Classic this year will be held at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. I understood having the first Winter Classic in Buffalo, a hockey town where the temperature is guaranteed to be cold on New Years day to get everything right on the first go around. Who wouldn't want it held in Wrigley or Fenway, both of which are iconic American buildings. And then Heinz Field? "If you look to your left you can see where Bradshaw threw zero passes and there was no immaculate receptions, over to your right there is some ketchup and stuff, down in front of you is a bar where all of the underage girls hang out, you can usually run into Big Ben there, and behind you are some shut down factories." Sweet. Look, the people of Pittsburgh are some of the nicest bandwagon fans you will ever met, as compared to Cowboy fans or Flyers fans who couldn't even fill their building for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, but Pittsburgh doesn't really have a whole lot going on. Caps fans need to do their best to be there but what a disappointment.
Fedex never should have been considered, it has a hard time hosting football games. But RFK has hosted world-class baseball games, boxing matches, NFL championship games, soccer teams, is tightly confined with a third of the seats covered and would have been perfect. Plus people would have had something to do New Year's Eve. Even better than that would have been on the National Mall. The Classic is a made for TV event, and if you are trying to make the game more appealing to Americans, why not host it with the Lincoln and Washington Monuments bookending the rinks. The reflecting pool is not even two feet deep so freeze it over, pull out the bleachers from the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade and have an out-door hockey game with the best player in the world as the centerpiece. Instead we have one last gasp for Crosby by his buddy Bettman, and Pittsburgh has to be included. Yes, DC was promised to host one in three years or so, but I will believe it when I see it. It is better than nothing, but the NHL really needs to scrap the four-year old, unfulfilled marketing plan built around Crosby. Everyone knows the guy is a fraud. If the NHL is on a "three years later" plan for DC does that mean they are going to hand us a Cup in 2012? Or could they just start letting us play fair hockey and we can go ahead and earn our own? I am pretty sure Ovechkin and the boys can handle it.
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