Larry Brown Sports

Earlier this week, a rumor surfaced that Washington Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty posed for Playgirl magazine in 1984. The folks at Baseball Prospectus later confirmed the speculation by digging up this photo and introducing it to the internet. As you might expect, it has been open season on McCatty in the Nationals’ clubhouse ever since.

On Wednesday, Twitter user @JackoBeam shared a photo (via Sarah Kogod of DC Sports Bog) of Washington starter Gio Gonzalez rocking a T-shirt with McCatty’s now infamous picture on it. The Nats players had the T-shirts made in order to heckle their coach, and the team has been having a blast with it.

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John Wall has been waiting nearly two years for this. During the Washington Nationals 2011 season, Wall threw out one of the worst ceremonial first pitches you will ever see. It was so embarrassing that it almost looked like he messed it up on purpose, but he didn’t. On Thursday night, the Washington Wizards star was given a chance for redemption.

He cashed in. Wall’s mechanics still may have looked like the guy’s in that hilarious Volkswagen commercial, but at least he reached the plate this time. As former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson learned earlier this week with this pathetic toss, reaching the plate is crucial. I wonder if Wall had to convince the Nationals he could really do it this time before they let him come back. Once would have been enough for me.

Mark DeRosa has played 14 seasons in the major leagues and worn the uniform of seven different MLB teams. On Tuesday, the outfielder signed a $775,000 contract to play with his eighth team, the Toronto Blue Jays. Apparently this upset Washington Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond.

By signing with Toronto, Desmond says DeRosa gave up his “Natitude card.”

OFFICIAL: Mark DeRosa just lost his #Natitudecard for $750,000. Can’t buy #natitude.

— Ian Desmond (@IanDesmond20) January 22, 2013

Such is the life of a 37-year-0ld journeyman. DeRosa hit a whopping .188 in 48 games for the Nationals last season, so I’m guessing teams weren’t lining up to make him an offer. When you get to the point in your career where you come down with an injury because of a high-five, teams tend to get skeptical. The Blue Jays probably made the best offer, not to mention they’ve assembled a pretty good team for the upcoming season and DeRosa could be playing for a contender. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions in your career — even if it means giving up your Natitude card.

H/T SbB Live

If you were lucky enough to have an opportunity to purchase ALCS or NLCS tickets for the Orioles or Nationals, it was disappointing that your team’s season came to an end in the divisional round. The only plus is that it saved Washington and Baltimore fans some money, as they received a full refund once their teams lost. Or did they? Not exactly.

The Baltimore Sun reported on Tuesday that Orioles fans were not given a refund for their $6 service fee that went along with purchasing ALCS playoff tickets through Ticketmaster. WTOP in Washington said on Wednesday that the same is true for Nationals fans. Some teams provide full refunds while others do not return the cost of shipping and processing.

In an email to the Sun, Orioles spokesman Greg Bader explained that there are “significant” costs that go along with printing and shipping tickets for games even if they aren’t played and that the $6 fee helps offset those costs. As Deadspin pointed out, a $6 service charge per ticket would net teams roughly $500,000 for a series of games that never existed.

In 2002, the Yankees were forced to refund 90% of the revenue they took in from service fees on tickets to unplayed games. The New York Office of the Attorney General determined that 10% of the money was sufficient to cover their costs.

While I don’t doubt there are fees associated with printing and distributing tickets, isn’t that part of a team’s basic operating costs as a business? Someone has to cover the cost of the team being eliminated, but why should it be fans who bought tickets to games that never took place? The product — or in this case the team — didn’t do what it was supposed to do. The consumer shouldn’t have to pay when that happens.

The Washington Nationals blew the biggest lead in a clinching game in MLB postseason history when they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 9-7 in Game 5 of the NLDS on Friday night. The Nats gave up a 6-0 lead after three innings, and a 7-5 lead in the ninth. Though some may say it’s unfair to pin the loss on manager Davey Johnson in light of the team’s regular-season success — they led MLB with a 98-64 record — I can’t see it any other way.

The Nats were up 7-5 entering the 9th inning when reliever Drew Storen was brought in for the save. Storen, who underwent elbow surgery in April, was pitching at least an inning for the third day in a row for the first time all season (he had pitched three days in a row two other times in the season, but never an inning each time). He gave up a lead off double to Carlos Beltran on a laser off the wall. He got Matt Holliday to ground out on a breaking ball, and Allen Craig to strike out.

The Nats were an out away from the NLCS when Storen fell apart.

Storen had a 2-2 count on Yadier Molina before throwing two balls to walk the catcher. Then he went 1-2 on David Freese before throwing three straight balls to load the bases. At that point you figure he had lost his stuff and it was time to pull him, but Johnson gave him another shot to close the game.

Daniel Descalso swung at the first pitch and roped a ball that went off shortstop Ian Desmond’s glove for a two-run single to tie the game at 7. By then, Storen had given up two walks and two lasers out of the six batters he faced. He clearly didn’t have his stuff, and Johnson should have gone to the pen to bring in someone to get the last out of the inning to preserve the tie. But no, Johnson stubbornly stuck with Storen, who went 2-2 on Pete Kozma before allowing another line drive hit. Kozma’s two-run single made it 9-7 and gave the Cardinals a lead they would not relinquish.

Let’s look at priorities for a second.

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Davey Johnson is getting it done. For those of you who haven’t been keeping track, the Nationals have not exactly enjoyed a great amount of success in recent years. Prior to Johnson taking over last season, the Nationals hadn’t made the playoffs since they were the Montreal Expos in 1981. In only his second year in the nation’s capital, Johnson has managed Washington to a postseason berth. They also currently hold the best record in baseball.

Johnson certainly didn’t get to where he is by listening to the media, which is why he recently made it perfectly clear to CSNWashington.com that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him resting players over the final week-plus of the season.

“I really don’t give a rat’s ass what somebody thinks about my club and who I put on the field to either help somebody else or I’m not supposed to rest my regulars after we clinch it, I’m resting my regulars,” Johnson said. “End of conversation.”

The Nationals currently hold a 4.5-game lead over the Braves in the NL East. Johnson has said that he will rest his starters if and when his team clinches the division title. Since the Nationals still have an upcoming series against the Cardinals and St. Louis is fighting to hold onto the second NL wild card spot, critics say it is wrong for Johnson to essentially give the Cardinals wins.

That’s not Washington’s problem. The Nats have already officially shut down their ace for the remainder of the year, so the last thing they need is a key player getting injured because they felt the need to play spoiler. If the media wants to question a manager’s approach, make it one with less than a .605 winning percentage.

H/T Chase Hughes on Twitter
Photo credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

When we get down to the final weeks of the MLB season, we hear a lot of talk about magic numbers. The magic number is the number of games a team either needs to win or needs the teams behind them to lose in order to make the playoffs. Prior to Thursday night’s win over the Dodgers, the Nationals had a magic number of one. Apparently this is not something Bryce Harper was aware of.

As CSNWashington.com pointed out, Harper had no idea what all the celebrating and fireworks were about following the 4-1 victory.

“Everyone started going crazy and I looked at the fireworks and said ‘I guess we just did something,’” Harper said. “Someone handed me a playoff hat and a playoff shirt and I said ‘I guess we are going to the playoffs.’

“I had no clue. I had no idea. When the guy handed me this shirt, he just handed it to me and I was wondering what it was and it said ‘playoffs.’ I was just wondering like, ‘what happened?’ I guess we clinched a playoff berth.”

The 19-year-old then proceeded to party in the locker room by drinking sparkling cider. Since he doesn’t drink and would be upset if you asked him about it, we’ll assume that Harper lost track of the magic number for reasons other than the fact that he couldn’t partake in the alcohol-filled celebration. Bryce is a competitor who smashes bats if he doesn’t produce, so he probably lost track of the situation because he plays every game like it’s his last regardless of the stakes. That’s the fairest guess I can make.

Photo credit: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE