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MLB Network aired its Top 50 Blasts of 2012 Friday night, and three Nats bombs made the list. Up above, #14, a screen cap of Mike Morse's 465' blast on July 20.
And then there was Tyler Moore's 462 ft. bomb at Coors Field on June 26, #21:
And of course, another blast by Morse, #47 on the list: a 452 foot bomb in Philly on September 27 which sent the Nats bullpen into a frenzy (video here).
(Screencaps via MLB Network/TV)
Washington Nationals trade Alex Meyer to the Twins for Denard Span.
Up above, video (via MLB.com) of that time back in 2010 when Span hit his mom with a foul ball during a Twins Spring Training game. Ouch.
And so, Mike Rizzo finally got that leadoff hitter/center fielder he's been pining for all this time.
"I think he's going to bring a dimension to the club that we haven't had before. A fast-moving, exciting guy that makes contact and moves the ball around and can fly around the field."
(Mike Rizzo, via Nats Insider, 11/29/2012)
Welcome (back) to Washington, Denard Span (hey, he was born in D.C.!). Can't wait to see you fly around the field...and at the top of the lineup.
Braves sign B.J. Upton to 5-year, $75 million deal
So, does Mike Rizzo need to make a move?
"This time around, we don’t have any pressing needs. We’ll probably see where the landscape is after the winter meetings." (Mike Rizzo, via Washington Post, 11/25/2012)
(Image via MLB.com video)
In other Washington Nationals Hot Stove news, Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper were at last night's Notre Dame-USC game at the Coliseum in LA. Looks like Stras had better seats, judging from the photo above (via @stras37) and the photo of the view from Harper's seats below (via @BHarper3407).
Above: Just Bryce Harper with a USC fan before Saturday night's USC-Notre Dame game at the Coliseum (Photo by @TheJMac21).
Color Harper impressed with the tradition:
The last time we saw Bryce Harper in his his RGIII socks , it was Halloween, and Harper was dressed like a clown. And so, for Thanksgiving Bryce Harper the Cowboys fan wore his RGIII socks while watching his favorite football team get taken down by his new favorite football player:
Indeed, Thanksgiving does seem to belong to him...
(Pic via @BHarper3407)
Happy Thanksgiving, NatsTown...
In other Washington Nationals Hot Stove news, Stephen Strasburg posed for a picture with Rickey Henderson and Dave Winfield at the 45th Annual Sun-Times Sports Collectibles Convention on Sunday in Chicago. Photo via @stras37 himself. Here's to hoping Rickey convinced Stephen to begin referring to himself exclusively in the third person in all future interviews. This photo should keep you at bay for a few minutes while sitting around waiting for the Anibal Sanchez to the Nats rumors to get going, and/or reports of BJ Upton and/or Michael Bourn dining in Georgetown.
Also appearing at the convention: Shaq, Reggie Jackson, Evan Longoria, Brooks Robinson, and a bunch of famous Olympians (Nancy Kerrigan, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Carl Lewis, Bruce Jenner, Mark Spitz).
Nothing against Rickey and Dave, but we would've preferred a pic of Stras with Shaq.
Aww. Photo above Tweeted by @BHaper3407 on Saturday night.
And so, Bryce Harper's girlfriend, soccer playin' BYU sophomore Kayla Varner, scored the game winning goal on a penalty kick to allow the BYU Cougars women's soccer team to beat Marquette and punch thier ticket to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Women's tournament on Saturday.
Of course, the Harper-Varner thing was Here's Harper on his girl:
So Michael Morse got married on Saturday night. And nothing screams "Beast Mode wedding" like the photo above, poached from Morse's FB page, titled "Pops".
Photo below of Mr. and Mrs. Morse via @Dc_BEAST38 himself on Twitter. Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Morse:
And in the early morning hours, Morse Tweeted his appreciation to Davey and teammates for attending. None of whom, it should be noted, threw handfuls of bubblegum at him:
Well, if a voting member of the Baseball Writers Association of America was going to leave Gio Gonzalez off his Cy Young ballot, it might as well be a beat reporter covering the f--king Cardinals. That beat reporter would be Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This sort of thing seems to happen every year with one of these postseason awards - some voter goes rogue and leaves an obvious name off a ballot for some reason, fans of that player's team get offended and complain loudly - it's just the first time it's ever happened to the Nationals.
Now, Goold didn't leave Gio off his ballot simply because 199 1/3 innings pitched is not the same as 200 innings pitched. But those two missing outs apparently tipped him off to something only he could see. Here's Goold, via St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
One column for Gonzalez stood out.
He was the only one who didn’t throw 200 innings.
He threw 199 1/3.
Two outs were not enough to decide my vote. That would be silly. I think of dismissing a 199-inning season because it didn’t get those magical next three outs a lot like saying a batter with a .299 average is a .200 hitter, not a .300 hitter. I thought of that number – that 199 1/3 innings – a lot like I did his 21 wins. They were indicators. They were pointers. They offered a compass to journey deeper. (via St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11/14/2012)
And so, Goold's compass took him on a journey deeper than any of the other BBWAA members embarked on it seems. See also the breakdown of the 32 individual ballots on the BBWAA site.
(Screencap of Gio via MASN/TV)
