58 Comments
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Greg Rosendahl's avatar

Look I’m a huge baseball fan and I appreciate any player greatness but is anyone else tired of Ohtani slurp fest? I wish the Nats pitcher would make him as uncomfortable as possible and throw one past his head.

is1human's avatar

Speaking of making the batter uncomfortable- I just read Pedro Martinez’ autobiography and it’s a great read.

Adam Gerard's avatar

Woah big thumbs down to this comment. That attitude isn’t welcome here.

baseball-birthdays's avatar

I agree with your first sentence, but the second? you've named yourself the attitude police?

Max Patkin's avatar

To Greg I would say that throwing at someone's head is reckless and unprofessional. It also puts a pitcher's own teammates at risk.

You think James Wood or Daylen Lile aren't getting their own towers buzzed if a Nats pitcher throws at the Dodgers' best player? C'mon.

In ST this year, Ohtani had a fastball get away from him and it cruised past the head of the A's Mark Canha. Canha was understandably incensed. Benches emptied. You know what Ohtani did? He owned it. He patted his own chest in the classic "my bad" gesture. Ohtani is the only pitcher left in MLB, thanks to the universal DH, who would be subject to direct retaliation... so he knows when to tip his cap and show regret to an opponent. He also took his own teammates off the hook for retaliation.

No, throwing a baseball at 95+ near someone's head ain't cool. It puts too many people at risk.

Max Patkin's avatar

Tired of Ohtani? Not even a little. More than 100 years after he played we still revere Babe Ruth, for good reason.

We're seeing the next Ruth in real time. Through their first 674 games, Ruth hit 159 HRs and his record on the hill was 35-18; in the same span Ohtani hit 160 HRs and is 35-19 on the hill. The equivalence through this part of their early careers is astonishing.

I'm old but Ruth was long gone from this earth before I was born; as a fan of this game, I think I'm pretty fortunate to watch this once-in-a hundred-years player perform. Tired of Ohtani?

Not even close.

CBinDC's avatar

Funny when we had players that warranted that type of treatment they were getting hit all the time

Brian A.'s avatar

Fun fact, kyle tuckers luxury tax number is $15 million more then the Nats entire 26 man roster. The nats highest paid player (garcia), would be the 13th highest paid player on the Dodgers. Isn't baseball fun!!!

Bonus fact, Ohtani's is $4 million more...

cipherlockinexile's avatar

Sounds like it could be a slugfest with today's starting pitchers. Which means, of course, it will be a 1-0 game.

Let Teddy Win (fmrly Noodles&)'s avatar

It's 11:45 and the park is buzzing already.

A few new concessions include Fuzzie's Burgers and Stuggy's Crab Mac& Cheese Dogs, plus several "Electric Kool-Aid" beverage stands.

Geology of Wine's avatar

Finally out the front door and off to Nats Park! Feeling like a 66 year old kid.

Steven Pinkham's avatar

This 73 year old kid wishes he could be there with you. Unfortunately I'm in Arizona so I'll have to be content to watch it on MLB Extra Innings. Have a great time and go Nats!

CBinDC's avatar

Has anyone been able to do streaming using cable as the authorization so far I found it a no go

Hondo's avatar

Watching the pre-game with Alexa Datt. She continues to impress me. She is genuine, she knows baseball. She does not seem rote and scripted. She is having a conversation with Toboni that feels like she is sitting down having a beer with him. She is enthusiastic and you can feel her positive energy through the tv screen. This “hometown girl”(Derwood, MD) is a keeper.

Ohfer's avatar

Freddie Freeman usually hammered us when with the Barves. Suggest walking him frequently.

MacMom54's avatar

Enough about the other team. I’m such a weirdo- opening day festivities get me in the feels every time.

MacMom54's avatar

And… just exactly what does an integration coach do? 😳

Mark Zuckerman's avatar

The loudest cheers for player intros: James Wood, CJ Abrams and ... Joey Wiemer.

BassMan's avatar

Brooks Robinson had a theory about pitching to certain power hitters. He played a slow pitch charity softball game with Rod Carew, a terrific hitter. Brooks noticed Carew struk out 3 times. He told Earl Weaver about it, and Earl tried it. Carew went 0-4 that game.

We might want to try that with Othani, just to see what happens.

Jacob A.'s avatar

Man, I don’t know about starting Mikolas against this lineup but…I honestly don’t know who would fare better. Here we go, Nats fans!!!

Mark Zuckerman's avatar

The sun has come out, everyone's been introduced, and we're underway on a 62-degree Home Opening Day at Nationals Park.