Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader didn’t think for a moment while watching yesterday’s game between the Washington Nationals and St Louis Cardinals that his beloved Nats looked like they were going to break their now 5 game skid. They (the Nats that is) didn’t look very sharp offensively. While the game’s score was close (3-2) the game itself didn’t seem that close while watching. There were some sparks, but the Nats seem to be in a slump.

That is okay. Teams go through slumps. The season is long. So your Maximum Leader isn’t going crazy. He thinks that the team will likely play consistent, if not always winning ball. When the season began your Maximum Leader knew that the Nats were not going to have a third 100+ loss season. He still believes that. He thinks that the Nats are still a season away from being a contender for a wild card spot. But this season is a sign of things to come.

Of course, your Maximum Leader hopes that the Nats can pull out a win against the Mets tonight. Perhaps a home stand is what the Nats need to get themselves going again.

Go Nats!

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader didn’t stay up to watch all of the Washington Nationals at Colorado Rockies game last night. It was rain delayed and your Maximum Leader decided to just turn in and get a little extra shut-eye. Sadly he should have stayed up to watch the Nats put the 14-6 smackdown on the Rockies.

Last night’s win is one of those wins when you wish you could have a “run bank” and “bank” some of those runs you scored last night for a night when you can’t buy a run (and those nights happen in Baseball).

If the Nats continue to play well this season, and your Maximum Leader certainly hopes they will, will they still be called the “Natinals” by Neil Everett on SportsCenter? Your Maximum Leader wonders…

Your Maximum Leader has been getting some pressure from his offspring to become a “citizen of Natstown.” For those of you not in the area, “Natstown” is the fan-club component of the current Nationals marketing campaign. The team started to use the name last season when club VP Stan Kasten was referred to as the “Mayor of Natstown” during a press conference. The marketing campaign is working on the younger fans of the club apparently. The Wee Villain (aged 5) announced last year one time that he “wanted to go to Natstown” because “you can do whatever you want there.” To him Nats Park is a magical place where you can watch baseball, play video games, romp on a big playground, eat half-smokes, drink soda and eat ice-cream out of a little batting helmet. Obviously he doesn’t play close attention to his dad who shucks out all the money required to “do whatever” at Nats Park.

Anyhoo…

Villainette #2 sees the ads on TV during games entreating TV viewers to become a citizen of Natstown. She has asked many times that your Maximum Leader find out what it takes to be a citizen of Natstown. Your Maximum Leader’s exhortations that watching the team religiously and going to a number of games every year and buying t-shirts and stuff is certainly enough to be a citizen of Natstown. Villainette #2 wasn’t buying what he was selling however, so your Maximum Leader looked up what it actually takes to be a citizen. Here is the join Natstown page on the Nationals web page. As best your Maximum Leader can tell, to become a citizen of Natstown you give the team $19.95 and in return they give you some special web privleges, a single Thursday night game ticket, access to MLB Game Day (audio streaming of all MLB games to your PC) and some discounts at the team store. You also get a citizenship card.

No decoder ring? Harumph…

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t see how all that is worth $19.95. Sure the regular retail price of MLB Game Day by itself is $19.95, but your Maximum Leader already gets all the games on TV. He doesn’t get the games on radio.

(NB to Nationals management: What the hell is up with radio broadcast of the games by the way? You are on 1500AM and the signal strength of that station is crap. Your Maximum Leader can barely pick it up when he is in the Villainmobile and physically in DC! The signal starts to break up by the time on hits the Beltway! So down here in Fredericksburg your Maximum Leader is pretty much screwed in terms of picking up the games on radio. What makes this worse is that on some nights he can actually get a clear signal on the AM stations in New York City and Boston that broadcast the Yankees and Red Sawx games! That is pitiful. Please do something to get a better signal for the Nationals radio broadcasts. How about trying to do a deal with 106.7 FM. They are currently on an all sports-talk format - which really means all Redskins all the time. Perhaps putting some real games on the FM radio might be a good start.)

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t see the value of the Natstown membership. If he listened to more out-of-market games on the radio and knew that he could get away by himself to go to the Thursday night game it might be worth it. As it stands the $19.95 only gets you 1 ticket to the game (and a single ticket for a stadium tour). The game ticket value is $20 by the way.

Now… If the Nationals were to offer a “family” membership to Natstown your Maximum Leader might be more interested. He would be willing to pay up to $50 for a family membership with up to 4 tickets included. (Your Maximum Leader would still have to buy one more ticket to cover the whole family, but he understands that…)

So, your Maximum Leader will have to keep up the party line that as far as he’s concerned, we are already citizens of Natstown, even if we don’t have a laminated card…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader did something he shouldn’t have last night. He assumed the Washington Nationals could have held a 5 run lead over the New York Metropolitans and he went to the olde PC and started to blog the mess you will read below this post. When he was done writing (if you can call it that) he went back to watch the post-game show and see how it all ended.

It ended with the Mets scoring 6 runs in the 8th inning and beating the Nats 8-6!

Ack!

That is no fun at all.

At least the ESPN people are taking note that the Nationals are a much better team than they were last year.

If the Nats can keep up their play over the season then this will be a very (VERY) good year. Your Maximum Leader was tickled to hear Ray Knight say on the pre-game show before last night’s game that if the Nats can keep it up over the year the last series of the season will be great. Of course the last series of the year for the Nats is a 3 game stand against the Phillies. Your Maximum Leader thought Ray spoke a little too soon… But it would be fun…

Go Nats!

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wonders if thou hast seen the lastest standings in the National League East? Well, allow your Maximum Leader to say that they might surprise you.

NL East
Philadelphia 15-11
New York (Mets) 15-12 (.5 GB)
Washington 14-12 (1 GB)
Florida 13-13 (2 GB)
Atlanta 11-15 (4 GB)

Who’da thunk it was possible? Last nights game was well played. Livan Hernandez seems to be playing like he did a few years back (like during his first stint with the Nationals). Let us hope that the Nats continue to play like professionals. Your Maximum Leader is concerned about the teams -17 run differential. That number shows that they’ve been lucky more than once.

Your Maximum Leader reads that the Nationals are promoting (phenom) Steven Strasburg to AAA Syracuse yesterday. Your Maximum Leader is of two minds on Strasburg. The first tells him that they shouldn’t rush him up. Indeed, Strasburg shouldn’t even be thought of in the organization as a possiblity to play for the Nationals until after the All-Star break. And even then it might be best to wait until very late in the season and let him test the waters (and even start in AAA next season). The second mind says that (presuming one will still limit his appearances and pitches) he could help the team sooner if they continue as they have, so there might be a strong financial and on-the-field rationale to bringing him up. Your Maximum Leader still is concerned that the Nats might try too much to fast with him and blow out his arm…

Of course, one has yet to see if Strasburg is really the great hope that he is rumoured to be. We will not know, of course, until he has to stare down someone like Ryan Howard or Albert Pujols…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader may now pay full attention to baseball season.

After performances like this, your Maximum Leader wonders why he invests himself so much in some sports teams.

Right now he doesn’t even want to think about his beloved Caps…

That will, of course, change… There always next year afterall…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has a few random thoughts to throw out there for your reading pleasure. Reading pleasure might be overstating the cast. How about he’ll throw out the random thoughts for your perusal…

First off… A note to Robbo. What the heck man? Every time you blog about the Nats playing well, they come back and get slaughtered. To wit. This post over at the Llamas is followed by the drubbing of last night. Ack. The Nats seem as they could show significant improvement over last season if they can get their pitching under control…

Secondly… Your Maximum Leader was polled last night on the subject of Governor McDonnell’s Confederate History proclamation. Sadly, your Maximum Leader’s opinions were not very well captured by the questions asked. They pretty much boxed you into either the Sons of Confederate Veterans camp or the we must remove all evidence of the Civil War that we don’t like camp. One of the questions, for example, asked if you supported keeping all of the monuments along Monument Avenue in Richmond that glorify various Confederate leaders as heros or if you support their removal. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t support their removal, but he also thinks a little balance is in order… Perhaps the lesson here is that your Maximum Leader shouldn’t participate in polls.

Lastly… Your Maximum Leader got a text from Joan yesterday that read: Am I the only southerner who finds it a touch scary when people from Boston or Nevada buy antebellum homes to “renovate”? Your Maximum Leader, although born and bred in Virginia, isn’t sure his “southerner” credentials are particularly strong. But as someone who actually does know something about antebellum homes his opinions are these: If the people coming to renovate the house are gay you have nothing to fear; they will do a great and accurate restoration. If the people coming to renovate are middle-aged empty nesters who are looking to retire, again nothing to fear. Pretty much anyone else from out of the area with no idea of the history of the house should be viewed with a wary eye. This opinion is formed by years of observation…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has had a heck of a few days. The biggest event was Thursday when Villainette #2 sustained a rather nasty toe injury during Karate class. The injury required 9 stitches to her left big toe and nearly 5 hrs in the local ER. She’s been hobbling along now on crutches since then, but will likely be walking with a boot on the left foot for another 10 days or so.

So what happened you might ask? Well, your Maximum Leader’s version of the story involves the brave Villainette #2 taking on a room full of Ninja coming at her. She faught them off but as they retreated and dragged off their dead one was able to stab at her toe slicing the skin open and causing a nasty bleeding wound.

The truth of the matter is that while doing lunging exercises she got her toe caught in a gap between the mats on the floor and fell forward. The stuck toe combined with the falling body caused the skin to tear around her toe.

Your Maximum Leader prefers his version of the story…

Friday your Maximum Leader went to Richmond to visit for a bit with Smallholder who was there chaperoning some students from the school where he teaches. It was good to see him and to chat about all manner of things. A sample of topics included Tea Parties, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and the flap about Confederate History month, farming, King Lear, parenting, charcuterie, volcanoes, and how young girls seem to be dressing more slutty with every passing year…

The Saturday and Sunday were spent at your Maximum Leader’s in-laws on the Chesapeake Bay. Sadly there was no fishing involved - as the boat was out of the water and in need of a little scraping and painting of the hull. But your Maximum Leader was able to nap and relax and get some stuff straightened out with his in-law’s computer. He normally doesn’t attempt to blog (or use the internet) at his in-laws. This is because their house is for fun and relaxation. And until about a week ago they didn’t have high speed internet (but a 48k dial-up connection). They now have high-speed internet and that is what was the cause of some of the PC issues your Maximum Leader helped fix.

Your Maximum Leader has been watching a lot of hockey of late. As some of you may know the hockey playoffs are underway. Your Maximum Leader, out of some silly supertitition he supposes, is not going to comment on his team, the Capitals. But if you are a hockey fan you know what is going on…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader will share with you a number of thoughts he had over the weekend and actually wrote on a little scrap of paper in anticipation of making a blog post out of them. Sadly, they aren’t too pithy…

‘Tween girls (your Maximum Leader’s daughters for example) appear to only have two modulations for their voice. Inaudible whisper and wailing banshee.

Your Maximum Leader’s 10 year old daughter (Villainette #2) throws a tighter spiral with a football than he does.

Your Maximum Leader’s 5 year old son (the Wee Villain) throws a football at least as well, if not as far, as your Maximum Leader does.

Those last two observations hurt.

Pollen is a pain to clean off every friggin thing it touches.

Your Maximum Leader feels badly for the people of Poland. He wonders if the late President ordered the pilot to land the plane or if the pilot did it on his own authority. It is hard to imagine that the pilot of the ill-fated flight would make that call on his own.

The Washington Capitals lost their last regular season game to Boston on Sunday. It looks like the Caps have drawn the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the NHL playoffs; which begin Thursday for the Caps.

Your Maximum Leader wonders if there is a special sub-set of screenplay writers in California who’s job it is to adapt hit hollywood movies into catchy porn films?

Your Maximum Leader is glad he doesn’t have to go to DC this week. Traffic and protests will render the city unbearable.

Your Maximum Leader forgot to mention last week that he went and saw “Clash of the Titans.” The fact that he took nearly a week to mention this event should tell you all you need to know. RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!!

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader notes that his beloved Washington Nationals hung on to win their first game of the season yesterday. They beat Philly 6-5.

That means that the Nationals win percentage is .333. .333 is a great batting average but not too much as a team win percentage. Let us hope for some good work in New York against the Mets.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader didn’t get a chance to actually watch his beloved Washington Nationals go down to ignominious defeat to the Phillies. He watched the game track on ESPN and listened on the radio when he could catch the signal.

Well… The season is long…

You know, the dearth of sporting event broadcasting on radio in the DC area is sad. You can’t get a Nationals or Capitals regular season game on the regular radio unless you are in downtown DC. The pathetic AM broadcast station (which your Maximum Leader will not even deign to name here) must be powered by the treadmills of 1000 hamsters and can’t be heard anywhere in DC. (But on cloudy nights your Maximum Leader can barely pick up the signal from WFAN in New York City…)

Your Maximum Leader wished that the Nats and Caps could get broadcast on an FM station - like the new format 106.7 which is a sports-talk format station now. Wouldn’t it be great if a sports-talk station actually could broadcast a few games too?

Sadly, it is probably more profitable for 106.7 to talk about the Redskins all year round than attempt to broadcast baseball games.

While your Maximum Leader is staking a shot at the Washington area’s Redskins fetish… He was a bit miffed that the biggest sports story of the day was Donovan McNabb coming to DC and not Opening Day for Baseball. It actually got under his skin all day yesterday. He knows that if the Nats were better they might have had a higher profile… But Washington loves to talk about the Redskins to the exclusion of other sports…

By the way Redskins fans… Bringing Donovan McNabb to DC to start for the Skins might win you two more games (count ‘em 2) over last year. Without the draft picks you need to build an offensive line worth a crap your QB will only make a difference if he is a superman. Which McNabb is by the way. But a great QB with no protection still can’t carry your team.

Sad…

FYI, your Maximum Leader, while following his Washington Capitals very carefully, is not going to blog much about them. He fears his comments will upset their Karma… He hopes you understand…

Go CAPS! (And get your act together Nationals!)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wishes you all a very happy day. A very happy opening day for baseball in fact. Your Maximum Leader knows that the Yanks and Sawx played last night so one could argue that opening day is at least already underway. Your Maximum Leader believes this is really opening day. Teams going all over the country in glorious day games. Every team is excited, every fan is filled with anticipation and for a short while every prediction is the right one.

Your Maximum Leader will not be able to head out to Nationals Park to catch his beloved Nationals take on the Phillies this afternoon. President Obama will be throwing out that first pitch to much fanfare. Your Maximum Leader read a tweet (which was later sent to him in an email from a friend) that wondered how many innings the Nats were going to get out of Obama before they had to go to the bullpen.

Heh. That’s funny…

Your Maximum Leader figures that the President could go on star power alone for 1 inning, then would have to rely on the Secret Service to disrupt batter for another 2 innings… So Obama could go for three before the Nats hit the pen.

Your Maximum Leader has been mumm on making predictions for the Nats this pre-season. This has been because he’s been following the Capitals very closely and because he can’t tell what type of team the Nats will be this year. They should improve noticeably. But from where they were, they don’t have anywhere to go but up. They should be able to win at least 70 games. Your Maximum Leader hopes that they could win near 80 games. But they will end up at the bottom of the NL East regardless. Your Maximum Leader hopes the Nats can be spoilers for other NL East teams (like the Phillies, Braves, and Mets) who all seek playoff berths.

Happy baseball America! Enjoy another great summer at the ballpark.

Go Nats!

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is going to the Capitals v. Ottowa Senators hockey game tonight.

He isn’t sure what type of a game he’ll see. The Caps have locked up the number 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. They can afford to rest a little before the playoffs.

Your Maximum Leader is worried. If the Caps rest, will they be rusty in the playoffs? If they don’t will they be too beat up to go the distance? He is glad that he isn’t Coach Boudreau right now… Hard balance to maintain…

He will say that if the Caps are feeling a little embarassed about their dreadful loss a few days back they might want to play hard tonight…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is returned from a few days down in beautiful Key West. You want to know something? Your Maximum Leader might be the only normal person to go to Key West for 4 days, experience beautiful sunny 80 degree weather; and return home just as pasty and fish-belly white as he left.

Your Maximum Leader might recount more of his trip in a later post. Let us give a quick summary for you if you are so inclinded…

High points: friends’ wedding, “Little White House” visit, Hemmingway house visit, eating fish caught by friends at Eat it Raw (fish was cooked), drinking so many cuba libres that your Maximum Leader figured he might just go and try to libre the island of Cuba.

(NB to all: Your Maximum Leader takes his cuba libres in his own form. He likes white rum, coke, splash of lime juice, crushed lime wedge, and a float of 151 proof rum. He found that the bartenders at Eat It Raw thought his variation on the popular drink was particularly good.)

Low points: listening to a mediocre piano bar singer at hotel for longer than he wanted, waking up early due to cruise ship horns sounding at dawn, blister on heel from shoes

Regrets: not going deep sea fishing when friends did go with Captain Keith on the Lucky Strike.

There might be a photo of your Maximum Leader and a more detailed post coming… Or not…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader hopes that last night’s defeat of Team USA by Team Canada in Olympic Women’s Hockey isn’t a foreshadowing of how the men’s side will turn out.

What can one say to the Canadian Women’s Hockey team except, congrats. You played the better game and are the better team.

Of course the champagne, beer and cigars on the ice to celebrate is a little much.

Congratulations on Gold ladies!

Of course, I hope the Canadian men fizzle and leave the gold to Team USA.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is amazed at how Olympic hockey is turning out. We’ve got USA/Finland and Canada/Slovakia going at each other.

And did you happen to see the Canadian dismantling of Russia last night? Damn. Your Maximum Leader feels embarassed for the Russians today. The Canadians just layed the wood to the Russians. Your Maximum Leader figures that Vladislav Tretiak is going out of his mind wondering what happened to his team. Your Maximum Leader has watched a lot of hockey in his life, and he doesn’t recall seeing a team with as much depth and power as these Canadians have.

Your Maximum Leader should also note that he is fond of the Russian style of play. Namely he is fond of a controlled entry into the offensive zone and short fast passes to set up shots. The Canadians (and USA frankly) play a dump & chase style when it comes to getting into the offensive zone. The Canadians effectively kept up a grinding offensive and defensive style of play that just unhinged the Russians. In the second and third periods Russian players were often just standing on the ice with a bewildered look on their faces.

Congratulations Canada.

Your Maximum Leader wants the gold medal game to be USA/Canada… But the way teams are playing, he can’t make any more (bad) predicitions…

Carry on.