A new baseball season, a larger bike station

[PotomacCyclist]

https://www.facebook.com/CapitalBikeshare

The Nats play their home opener tomorrow (Friday), weather permitting. Capital Bikeshare will have a CaBi bike corral at the 1st & N St SE station so that anyone can ride CaBi to the game without worrying about a lack of docks for the bike.

They have also expanded that station to 39 docks.

***
As for the Nationals, they are off to a good start, sweeping the Mets in NY to run off to a 3-0 record. The one problem is catcher Wilson Ramos and another injury, this time his hand.

Some members of the national media have already predicted the Nats to go to, and win, the World Series this year. But at least the coach doesn’t seem to have done the same thing this season. (Davey Johnson said “World Series or bust” last pre-season. That may have put unnecessary pressure on the young team. Maybe it was a form of the BikeArlington reverse psychology jinx, or something like that.)

At the very least, the Nats should be competitive, as they were in 2012. They had the best regular-season record in baseball that season, but lost in the 1st round of the playoffs. They have a very strong pitching rotation, among the best in the league. They have a very talented line-up. It’s early in the season but four of their starters currently have batting averages over .400. If that isn’t a fast start, I don’t know what is.

Topic

[nicefixie]

@cyclingfool 95618 wrote:

FTFY

Also, Jayson Stark has an ESPN column up “Why the Nationals will win it all”
I hope he’s not not jinxing us! [knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, etc., etc.]

Ha! This feeling is reminiscent of the one I used to have for the 08-11 caps every year before playoffs started

[PotomacCyclist]

@cyclingfool 95618 wrote:

FTFY

Also, Jayson Stark has an ESPN column up “Why the Nationals will win it all”
I hope he’s not not jinxing us! [knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, etc., etc.]

ESPN is incapable of jinxing any teams outside of the NYC or Boston metro areas. But at least they have one guy who knows what he’s talking about!

I was watching the replay of Sunday’s game (DVR recording). Even MASN doesn’t seem capable of jinxing the Nats. In the 2nd inning, they posted a chart of the Nats hitters with the most “there goes the no-hitter” hits this season, i.e., first Nat to get a hit in a game. (For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, F.P. Santangelo always says “There goes the no-hitter” after the 1st Nats hit of the day. He says that his former manager, Felipe Alou, would always say this in the dugout after the team got its 1st hit of the day.)

MASN was celebrating Nats hitters by showing the guys who have had the most “1st Nats hit of the game” this year. The usual suspects were listed: Span, Rendon, Werth, La Roche. The Nats didn’t have a hit in the 1st inning. Then shortly after the graphic, Desmond smashed a HR, which ended up being the only run of the game. It was important too. If Zimm’nn had pitched 9 innings but the score was still 0-0, he may not have returned for a 10th inning, or he might have given up a hit in that 10th inning.

[vern]

Oh, I thought this thread would be about the Kansas City Royals, but I see instead it is about teams that won’t win.

[DCLiz]

@Terpfan 95603 wrote:

Sadly it looks like a 12:07 or 3:07 start time .

I’m going, but annoyed that my extra tickets may be a pain to sell. The Saturday game is going to be tough for me too. Taking an older relative to MD v OSU football at noon then dropping her off and back down to DC for Nats at 5:30. I swear MLB sometimes hates Washington. Especially with the nonsense that the Nats couldn’t pay for Metro to stay open late because it may set a bad precedent for other MLB teams, ergo the AU sponsorship.

Those of the Jewish faith were praying for an early start time. I guess it paid off! We would have preferred the later game on Saturday, though.

[DCLiz]

Exciting news from Bikeshare: Bike corrals at every home playoffs game!

[PotomacCyclist]

The Presidents approve this decision

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6715[/ATTACH]

[Terpfan]

Ok, fess up, who found the Jayson Werth gnome on the 15th St Cycletrack this morning?

https://twitter.com/andrewjh/status/517638736083828736/photo/1

Looks like someone riding on the track given the bike behind it.

if only I wasn’t fighting a cold and not reliant upon my money-guzzling vehicular means of transportation. I watched so many of you riding and though, gosh, I wonder if I could pull it off congestion and all for the 34 miles roundtrip. Then I thought twice because of the hills. I hate being sick. So much.

[PotomacCyclist]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2014/10/02/watch-rare-footage-of-the-senators-beating-the-giants-in-the-1924-world-series/?tid=HP_sports

Footage of the Washington Senators winning the 1924 World Series, recently discovered in Massachusetts and restored by the Library of Congress. Must-see TV.

[cyclingfool]

A new baseball POSTseason, a larger –b-i-k-e–s-t-a-t-i-o-n– TROPHY CASE NEEDED (<-we hope) Thread title fixed.

[PotomacCyclist]

3:07 pm start time. Fox Sports 1 on TV, 106.7 FM on radio, CaBi corral at Nats Park. Oh, and Metro is open late for evening home playoff games, courtesy of American University.

[PotomacCyclist]

Facts about the Racing Presidents:

George Washington, Father of the Republic, capital named after him, Washington Monument built in his honor.

Abraham Lincoln, leader during the Civil War, Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln Memorial.

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, Univ. of Virginia, Jefferson Memorial.

Teddy Roosevelt, national parks, Mt. Rushmore, Roosevelt Island.

William Howard Taft, president and Supreme Court justice, 1st president to throw out a first pitch at a baseball game. Memorial on Constitution Ave. near the Capitol… oh wait, that’s a memorial for his son, Robert.

The Connecticut Ave. bridge over Rock Creek Park is named for Taft, but does anyone call it the Taft Bridge? Is Bill the new Teddy? (Teddy won the Presidents races title this year, edging out Abe. Another positive sign that something is different in 2014?)

[PotomacCyclist]

Dislike Game 1

[PotomacCyclist]

Baseball highlights, from the 1924 World Series between the New York Giants and the Washington Senators.

Same video footage as the Library of Congress video, except no title cards or piano accompaniment. Keith Olbermann (who has returned to sports broadcasting, mostly) provides a modern description of the highlights, as he would for highlights of any other recent baseball game. A bit easier to follow than the LOC version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6-aUJby_Jk

[Terpfan]

@PotomacCyclist 96129 wrote:

Dislike Game 1

Double dislike. I parked over in East Potomac Park and rode in from there since I had been battling a cold and my wife had a late meeting/had gone running when I wanted her to drop me at Metro. Anyway, I took my hybrid because I haven’t ridden it in a month or so. Great ride over, second time I had ever done the Long Bridge. And can’t beat free parking. After the depressing game, I waited with a gazillion other cyclists to leave. Got a whopping 10 feet out of the garage when I realized I had a horrible flat. No worries, I’ll go back in, pump it up and then hope I can make it back 2/3 of the way or so. By now almost everyone has left so no one to beg a spare tube from either. Guy working helps me with the pump (kind of fidgety and tough since i’m totally flat). We can hear leak, but it sounds slow. Ride off. This time I get one block before it’s totally flat. Can’t find the culprit to plug with a dollar bill. So I walked all the way back. The only bright side to this story is I got back literally as the skies opened up and it poured.

Note to self. When using a backup bike–bring a spare tube and pump. And/or park somewhere closer to your wife’s vehicle thus making it sensible for her to pick you up and drop you off at car rather than the opposite way a few miles. C’est le vie.

Hoping, 1) we have a Thursday game, 2) I can ride road bike to it, 3) we destroy them.

Now to try to buy NLCS tickets via insider link.

[PotomacCyclist]

Bummer.

’tain’t the end of the world, but I was hoping for a different outcome.

At least my quads are healing up and I should be able to start riding again. I did a short 15-minute ride last week, really my first ride in a month. That’ll help me to forget the series. Baseball isn’t a life or death situation though, so I’ll be bummed out for one day and that’s it.

[Author]

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