Nationals Notes




    Sunday April 11, 2010

    Nats v Mets

    Nats' Patsies

    The Nationals took two-out-of-three games from the New York Mets in New York with a 5-2 win, so the Nats have closed out the first week of the season with a 3-3 record. Last year, the Nats started the season 0-7 and didn't win their first game until April 16.

    Last year, the Nats' third win didn't come until April 21 and by that time the Nats' record was 3-10 which was the worst record in baseball, a position they would not relinquish the rest of the way.

    The last time the Nats were not in last place in the National League East was April 8, 2008. That's 733 days in, or tied for, last.

    The best part of this is, the Mets now have a 2-4 record for the first six games, so they are in last place in the NL East.

    Let's step into the Wayback Machine:

    I was a Yankee fan when I was growing up in New York. I was a Yankee fan because my dad was a Dodger fan (I am so old I remember when they were the Brooklyn Dodgers). My older brother was Yankee fan, too, but I was willing to let that go, so I could root for Yogi Berra catching Whitey Ford, Don Larson, and "Bullet" Bob Turley; Moose Skowron at first, Billy Martin at second, Phil Rizzuto at short, Andy Cary at third, Hank Bauer in right, Elston Howard in left and the sainted Mickey Mantle in center.

    After the Dodger and Giants left for the West Coast in 1957, my dad and all his pals started rooting for the Milwaukee Braves (nee' the Boston Braves, then to be the Atlanta Braves). I continued to be a Yankees fan until the Mets were organized and played their first game in 1962.

    I became a Mets fan for the same reason I became a New York Jets fan some years later: My older brother was a Yankee fan and a New York Football Giants fan. Sibling rivalry, I think it's called.

    The Mets began play on April 11, 1962 (in the Polo Grounds which was where the Baseball Giants had played) and proceeded to lose their first game and every game thereafter - nine straight - until they won their first on April 23.

    Jay Hook was the winning pitcher against the Pirates. Nearly 50 years ago and I remember that Jay Hook one that first game. Couldn't remember to go to the cleaners this weekend, but I remember Jay Hook.

    When the Mets won the World Series in 1969, I was "riding the board" at WMOA, Marietta Ohio, 45750 and we were carrying the game. This was during the time when World Series games were day games.

    I locked the control room door and played Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus." In its entirety. I don't remember now if that was one of the times I was suspended, but I should have been.

    So, the Nats losing seven straight last year was déjà vu to me. Been there. Seen that.

    The second and third game of the Mets series were unique in that in each of the games one member of the Nationals drove in all of the runs. And in neither game was the name of that player Adam Dunn nor Ryan Zimmerman.

    On Saturday, Willy Taveras drove in all four Nats runs, and on Sunday Josh Willingham drove in all five - including a grand slam in the first which required a peek at the replay by the umpires before they declared it a home run.

    The Nats are off to Philadelphia for another series against the Phillies (the Phillies took two of three from the Nats in DC) before a long 10-game home stand starting Friday.

    -- Rich Galen