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Just to keep everybody up to date, I recently moved to Columbus, Ohio for what will essentially be the baseball offseason, as I am interning for the Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL). I’m working in the Public Relations department and so far it has been an absolute blast. I’ve even already had a story published on BlueJackets.com.

Unfortunatley I have not had Internet until today, which is the reason for the lack of updates. I truly apologize to all my readers, you guys are amazing.

This was sent in from Blythe, who runs a great blog on Bloguin called Guys Girl. Anyways, an aide to Representative Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) was on a trip through Israel when he was stopped by guards at an Israeli airport for wearing a Hamaas symbol on his hat.  This was the hat he was wearing:
 

 

Here’s the story on deadspin.com

 

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"He's a guy that we're going to say "he's done a nice job at Triple-A, he's got all the tools to be a big league player." We'll get him some games in the big leagues, but at the same time not sit anybody who has been going out there and given us a great effort all year."  -Riggleman.

Yep. Upper management said they don't want to sit the starters who rushed us to what appears to be a second 100 loss season. Past a diving Vidro does a great commentary on Riggleman's words yesterday. 

Well, despite the interview, SS stud Ian Desmond got the start today, and greatly impressed in his MLB Debut. He went 2 for 4 with 4rbis and a Homer. He looked right in his element and delivered with a 3 run blast in the 5th. An inning that also saw Adam Dunn hit his 36th, and the Nationals jump ahead of the Phillies 8-2.

Despite a brilliant offensive performance from the team and the youngsters, The Nationals got Natty in the 9th, and made it quite dicey. Errors from Desmond, and an interesting outing from rookie Zach Segovia, saw the Phillies pull to within one run, with the big guns Utley and Howard due up. Villone walked into a troubled situation, with one on, one out and the sluggers up. Thankfully, the lefty veteran yeilded only a single to Utley before getting Howard to ground into a game ending double play. 

All in all, the Nats looks impressive under the storied arm of Livan and the young bats of the lineup and squeeked a win out of a powerful Phillies team.

As Pedro Martinez takes the mound tonight against the Washington Nationals, he reminds us about what was once good about baseball, and what still is.

Throughout the 1990’s, an era when falsified sluggers roamed the ball-parks like oversized dinosaurs in a Jurassic period of long shots and syringes, Pedro dominated like few pitchers have before. At a slight five-foot eleven, 190 pounds, the Dominican was the most feared force in all of baseball.

Statistically he was impeccable. Between 1997 and 2003 Pedro led the league in ERA five times with marks of 1.90, 2.07, 1.74, 2.26 and 2.22. During that same period he won three Cy Young awards, and finished in the top five for Cy Young voting six times, as well as the top five for MVP twice. Pedro also recorded a 118-36 record during that stretch with 1761 strikeouts to only 315 walks.

However what made Pedro so special wasn’t just his numbers but the fact that he tallied them during an era when the league ERA skyrocketed, homers were hit at an alarmingly raised rate, and everywhere you looked, power and size was the name of the game.

Perhaps this is what made the feisty starter such a fan favorite throughout baseball. For many of us, Pedro was the embodiment of our own struggles in life and with baseball. Surrounded by titans, this average man had lifted himself above all the cheating and the unfairness, and became simply, ‘Pedro.’ He was a force to be reckoned with in a way that we all wish we could be, in a world that was stacked against him, much like ours is against us.

Pedro contained all the characteristics we wished to see in ourselves. Among them charisma, guts, fearlessness, excellence, confidence, and swagger.

Perhaps it was the perfect fit that he was the guiding hope for the game’s lovable losers, the Red Sox. The Sox were a team that despite their devotion to a single goal, despite their hard work and their paid dues, they never seemed to get their day. For seven years Pedro led the Red Sox charge to a World Series. Year in and year out they pounded on the door only to be turned away by the mighty Yankees seemingly every time, until 2004 when it finally all turned around.

In the end it may not have been Pedro’s arm that won the World Series for the Sox in 2004, but it was his heart and soul that paved their road to get there.

Now five years later Martinez has definitely reached his twilight years. Following 2004, the Red Sox ace left Boston to go to New York to try and give the Mets their shot at the crown. Despite solid pitching, Pedro struggled to stay healthy his final three years and inevitably was left as a free agent this season as the year started.

Pedro, once again, was in the place of the common man. Like so many in the last two years, a once fully able man he was left on the outside looking in at his profession, and his love. While Pedro was a millionaire he had fallen on hard times in baseball terms. He was a 36-year-old pitcher with a reconstructed arm and a depleted reputation.

The Philadelphia Phillies decided to give Pedro some brotherly love in August as they signed the former star in the middle of July to a $2 million deal. Finally given a chance, Pedro has excelled as a major league starter yet again, proving to us all that we should never give up on ourselves.

Through 23 innings pitched Pedro has gone 3-0 with a 3.52 ERA, and has struck out 23 while walking only 3 batters. It appears that at least for now he is pitching at a dominant level yet again and both the Phillies, and baseball fans everywhere are better off for it.

Once an inspiration competing against giants, now Pedro is an inspiration to us all to never give up our hopes, or on ourselves.

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It had been a hard month for the Nationals in September. The club had gone winless through in its first four games, which made up half of an eight game losing streak.

With the Nationals down 2-0 going into the bottom of the eight last night, it seemed more than eminent that the streak would go to nine games. Then, with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Wil Nieves earned a walk to load the bases.

Following Nieves came the first hero of the night, journeyman Mike Morse. Morse, only 3/13 on the year, provided a pinch hit single off of Marlins reliever Kiko Calero, driving in two runs and tying up the game.
  

The Nats entered the top of the ninth with a brand new ball game.

Nationals close Mike MacDougal took the mound to try and preserve the tie game so the Nationals could make a move in the bottom of the ninth. Things didn’t work according to plan. With two runners on former National Nick Johnson hit a single to drive in Cameron Maybin and Chris Coghlan. The closer had failed, the Nationals would now go into the 9^th inning down 4-2.

Entering the ninth with no one out Willie Harris led things off with a first pitch solo shot to right field, igniting the Nationals spirits and hopes.
  

On the very next pitch, Cristian Guzman legged out an infield single to second base, barley beating a Dan Uggla throw.
 

Then, with a 1-1 count, Ryan Zimmerman did what he has done his entire career, delivered in the clutch. The star third baseman rocketed a shot to center, leaving the park, giving the Nats the 5-4 victory, and a walk off bomb to remember.

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1.     Go to the park to be surrounded by real fans- Going to a baseball game is no longer the trendy thing to do in town. With football season starting up, and summer weather slowly ending, the park will no longer be clogged by twenty-something’s who are more interested in throwing down 8 bucks-a-beer at the Red Porch than seeing the home team’s starting pitcher throw a nine inning four hitter. Nope, the Yuppies are gone, and while it may be to the owners chagrin, the true baseball fans lightly fill the stands. This means you can turn to your neighbor and they will actually be educated on who fills up the team’s 40-man roster, or how Chris Marrero is doing in Harrisburg, or even when Stephen Strasburg’s first start in the Arizona Fall League is.

2.     Enjoy price reduced tickets- All the bad teams are doing it! In an effort to drag people out to the games, the owners give fans offers they can’t refuse. College night is great, as is ladies night, pooches at the park, and of course, Kids run the s how.

3.     Pick an underdog team who is in contention for the Wild Card and adopt them for September- This can be surprisingly fulfilling. While certainly you are being a bandwagoner, and certainly you are only in it for the rush, there simply isn’t anything as exciting as being attached to a team that is in a day in and day out race for the playoffs. If anything else, it will give you something to look forward to when your last place team is someday in that position.

4.     Educate yourself on the 40-man roster- The good news is, if your team is in last place, you’re going to have the opportunity to see a lot of young talent. One of the best parts of going to spring training in Viera is that you get to see all the future staples of the team your love playing alongside the current veterans. September is the same thing only in actual Major League competition. It can be great fun following these young player’s progress through the month of September, and it will actually give you something to look forward to.

5.     Bring your glove to the park, and go to batting practice- Make your goal for the day to catch a foul ball. While I have one to thousands of baseball games in my short life, I have never caught an in game foul ball. Roam the stands, find the best spot, and camp out and get what is rightfully yours. If this fails, the next time you are at the park go to batting practice. If you try hard enough you’re bound to get your hands on a piece of Major League Baseball property.

6.     Go to one of the last games of the season-While nothing compares to the atmosphere of a ballpark during a pennant race, a large amount of that atmosphere comes from the unmatchable feel of autumn air in a ballpark. There’s an indescribable feel of watching our nation’s pastime as the leaves and the seasons begin to change, it's truly incredible.