Fastball Fans

A day before the Washington Nationals officially start the 2008 season against the Atlanta Braves, a new chapter in the team and city’s sports history was written last night as Nationals Park opened for business.

After three seasons toiling at old Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Northeast Washington, 25,000 fans, almost all decked in red and blue, finally got to see the $611 million dollar stadium with their own eyes.

Instead of looking at renderings of Nationals Park, or seeing it from the outside looking in, fans got to finally see what the excitement was about.

Let’s just say the new park is a world away from their old home.

Fans gazed the entire concourse of the stadium, and looked at the team’s new home in amazement.

Between looking at the super huge scoreboard, a field with crisp green grass that will only be used for baseball with the curly “W�? engraved in it, and a great view of the action wherever you sat, Nationals Park was a winner with those in attendance.

>>> Read more at DC Sports Box

The Nationals open up their new stadium this weekend, and here’s a sneak peek…

There’s scary news that came out today, as Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Doug Davis has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

From ESPN: Davis is planning on making his scheduled start in an exhibition game Friday against the Colorado Rockies. He will address the media afterward.

Davis will make his first start of the regular season April 3 against Cincinnati and an April 8 start at Los Angeles. He will undergo surgery April 10 and is expected to miss about a month afterward, his father, Mike, told East Valley Tribune on Friday at Chase Field.

“Doug has beaten a lot of things in his life,” Mike Davis said.… “This is probably the worst, but he has come back.

“He has a great mind-set. He wants to start. He wants to do his job. He is very set on this.”

D-backs manager Bob Melvin confirmed the diagnosis and said, “Obviously our thoughts and our prayers are with him.”

“All of us are there with him in his corner,” reliever Brandon Lyon said. “We don’t really understand. We only got to talk to him last night a little bit about it at dinner.”

Doctors found a lump in Davis’ throat last week, and a biopsy disclosed cancer on Monday.

“The prognosis is very good,” Mike Davis said. “They’ll probably take out the thyroid.”

Mike Davis said the surgery was an outpatient procedure.

“They said if there is one kind of cancer to have, this is the one, if there is such a thing.”

Let’s pay for the fellow…

The Minnesota Twins optioned pitcher Francisco Liriano to Single-A Fort Myers on Friday, giving the starter a chance for at least one more warmup start before returning to the big league club.

Good move - give time for the guy to get healthy and back on track.

Major League Baseball and the Players Association have agreed to delay the 15-day suspensions handed to outfielder Jose Guillen of Kansas City and outfielder Jay Gibbons of Baltimore.

The stay of discipline will be for 10 days to allow for further negotiations over revisions of the commissioner’s drug agreement.

“Pretty surprising,” Gibbons said after Friday’s announcement. “Put it this way: I’m cautiously optimistic — at least they’re talking.”

Negotiators are close to an agreement that would call for more frequent drug testing and would strengthen the authority of the independent program administrator. If there is an agreement, the suspensions of Gibbons and Guillen would most likely be eliminated as part of an overall amnesty for players implicated in the Mitchell report.

Guillen said he is optimistic things are moving in the right direction.

“I think they are,” Guillen said before the Royals’ exhibition game in Milwaukee on Friday. “Again, we’ll see when that decision comes. We’ve just got to let those people make their own decision.”

The suspensions would start April 9 if an agreement isn’t reached and no other actions are taken.

“There’s no guarantees that they don’t stay it again after 10 days if they think they’re close and don’t have an agreement,” Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said.

Players and owners would be strengthening drug rules for the third time since their initial agreement in 2002. The sides also made changes in January 2005, when sanctions for first offenders began, and in November 2005, when the penalty for an initial positive test was increased from 10 days to 50 games.

I don’t like this all — if a guy was caught doing drugs and there’s a punishment in place — abide by it…

* The Los Angeles Dodgers released veteran pitcher Rudy Seanez on Tuesday.

* The Washington Nationals placed catcher Johnny Estrada on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday due to a right elbow injury.

* The San Diego Padres made a flurry of roster moves on Wednesday, including placing pitchers Mark Prior and Clay Hensley on the disabled list.

* Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Chris Capuano was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday with a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his left elbow. He’ll rehab the injury rather than surgery.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays claimed outfielder Nathan Haynes off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Friday.

* The Cleveland Indians released reliever Aaron Fultz on Friday, three days after designating the left-hander for assignment.

* The Atlanta Braves claimed infielder Ruben Gotay off waivers from the New York Mets on Friday.

Home is Where the Heart Is For The Nationals: The Team Checks Out Its New Digs; Nationals Park, Washington D.C., March 27th, 2008

With one the biggest days ever in Washington sports history ready to be ushered with the new ballpark opening on the Anacostia waterfront, the spotlight of the baseball world will be on the area Sunday night against the Atlanta Braves.

On Thursday night, the Nationals’ players along with manager Manny Acta and his staff finally got to see their new digs at the ballpark.

For many, it was the first time.

It was like Christmas for many, and for the players – all of whom are obviously grown men, acted like kids who had gotten a present that they ever-so-wished for.

They came immediately on two chartered buses from Dulles Airport en route to Nationals Park, where they rolled into their new home.

The team, flanked by Mark Lerner, principal owner, and Stan Kasten, team president, immediately walked to the playing field, and needless to say they were in awe.

Everyone’s attention immediately went to the super huge high-definition scoreboard which everyone gazed at, pointed and commented about to no end.

Players split up into packs, and just walked on the crisp, flowing, perfectly manicured green grass and just gazed in amazement seemingly forever.

General Manager Jim Bowden commented briefly when asked about the ballpark, “Amazing – 10 out 10, and you could not have asked for anything better.�?

Upon leaving the field, the players went directly to the large oval-shaped clubhouse and for many, it was like stepping into a newly purchased house — alas, only with the finest amenities and somewhere you can be at peace and as All-Star Dmitri Young simply quipped, “wow�?.

Read More >>>

Beleaguered trainer Brian McNamee came out of hinding to give a brief motivational speech to a small group of workout buffs on Thursday in Everett but refused to comment on the steroid scandal that landed him and his famous former client in front of Congress.

From Boston.com: EVERETT - Disgraced personal trainer Brian McNamee, fresh from testifying before Congress about plunging steroid-laden syringes into the rear end of Roger Clemens, yesterday kicked off his personal redemption tour at a nutrition supplement store Clemens once visited.

“Everyone knows who I am, and I wish it was for better reasons,” McNamee confided to a small crowd in a closed-door session as police stood watch outside the American Nutrition Center in busy Glendale Square. The event was billed as McNamee’s first public appearance since his congressional testimony.

An obscure fitness coach before he was swept up in a federal investigation into the distribution of illegal steroids in sports, McNamee has since developed a legacy as the government witness who helped expose Clemens to possible criminal charges in one of the worst scandals in baseball history.

Six weeks after McNamee told a House committee and national television audience, “I have helped to taint the national pastime,” he arrived in Everett with perhaps a richer understanding of his role in baseball’s steroid crisis. He testified under oath last month that he injected illegal performance-enhancing chemicals into Clemens and his former Yankee teammates, Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch, as well as Clemens’s wife, Debbie.

Audience members at the supplement store went home with certificates adorned with McNamee’s new credo: “A lifetime of achievements can be defined by a singular monumental mistake.”

Or a series of them. From 1998 to 2001, McNamee went from serving as Clemens’s trainer to also injecting him numerous times with illegal performance enhancers, he testified before Congress.

In 2001, McNamee injected Knoblauch seven to nine times with illegally obtained human growth hormone, he testified. He also admitted giving Pettitte two to four injections of HGH in 2002. McNamee was granted immunity from prosecution if he told the truth about his role in the scandal.

Now he wants to start over. Walled off from the public - store owner Steve Cardillo admitted only invited guests and a few handpicked news outlets to the event (the Globe was denied access) - McNamee expressed his hunger for atonement, according to a copy of an audio recording of his talk obtained by the Globe.

“I believe firmly that everyone deserves a second chance,” he said in his 12-minute talk. “For me personally, I have to earn my second chance. Every second chance starts with a first step. Now I’m taking my first step.”

Wow. Well, I think everyone should be given a second chance; however — you can never really steer away from infamy.

Please take note of the special time of 8 PM tonight. This is a one-time thing and we will be back at our normal time slot of 7 PM next week.

Tune in tonight as bloggers Ian of Sox and Dawgs and Jason of My Baseball Bias join me for our hour long baseball show called, “The Hits Keep Coming�? on Blog Talk Radio. Every week at 7PM Eastern Time (6PM Central/ 5PM Mountain/ 4PM Western/Pacific) we chat, analyze and comment about the world of Major League Baseball.

This week: NL West Preview

If you’d like to call in, the phone number is 718-664-6564 or you can send us an instant message if you use AOL IM at hitskeepcoming20.

Please join us at : http://blogtalkradio.com/oriolepost - 8 PM Eastern Time tonight!

Topics to be discussed this evening:

• AL West Preview
• A review of the Red Sox and A’s series in Japan.

As we all know, Jose Canseco’s foray into the literary world with the book, “Juiced”, was a mitigated success and perhaps changed the culture of baseball forever with subsequent Congressional Hearings, a so-called drug policy (needs to be a tad bit stronger), and the outing of several players, all of whom, except for Cal Ripken (who was never mentioned to have used drugs, Jose just hated him) have has their reputations tarred and feathered.

However, he’s coming out with a second book, “Vindicated”, and you’ve got to wonder why he’s coming out with a second book.

One, we already know baseball had a drug problem.

Two, I guess he needs the money and his name in lights.

Yes, he was credible and did help the game face a reality that it dug it’s head in the sand on; however, there’s no need for a second book.

As mentioned yesterday, He’s got his guns on A-Rod; however, he’s not biting.

Alex Rodriguez refused to address allegations by Jose Canseco, who claims he introduced the three-time MVP to a steroids dealer.

“It’s over as far as I’m concerned,” Rodriguez said Wednesday after his New York Yankees lost 4-0 to the Philadelphia Phillies. “No further comment on the matter. I’m just excited to be playing baseball.”

In the book, “Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball,” Canseco claimed he introduced Rodriguez to a steroids dealer named Max. Excerpts from the book, slated for publication on April 1, were posted on deadspin.com before being removed Wednesday.

Canseco wrote that Rodriguez approached him years ago and asked where “one” might acquire steroids. During an interview to be broadcast Friday on ABC’s “Nightline,” Canseco said he won’t produce evidence to back his claim.

“The timing’s not right,” Canseco said, according to excerpts released by ABC. “Let’s see how Alex reacts. Let’s see if they all call me a liar again. How’s that for you? Let’s see if all of a sudden they’re going to call me a liar again.”

During the ABC interview, Canseco refused to identify Max.

Sigh.

Jose, you have so little decorum. You did the job the first and made a few bucks — let it go.

Why could this all not have been mentioned the *first time*, if this is true…

Alex Rios and the Toronto Blue Jays are closing in on a six-year contract extension through 2014 that would guarantee him about $65 million.

A prudent, and necessary move by the Blue Jays as they need to lock up their core players for the future.

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