The Half-Assed Fan

• So its 1-0 Nats with Lannan looking good. Not fantastic, but good. #
• Willie Harris’ first HR as a Nat makes it 2-0 #

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• Zimmerman…2 run homer. Niiiiice. #
• Now 2-1 off a Berkman homer #
• 2 runs score off of a base hit. 3-2 Houston. #
• Zimmerman’s second HR of the night ties the game. Man, he crushed that sucker, too. #
• Zimmermans HR ties the game #
• O’Conner…barely pitching himself out of two in scoring position after a stupid fielding mistake #
• Lo Duca hurt again. Doesn’t look good. Nieves in. #
• Bah. Game ends in the bottom of the 9th 4-3. #

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Chico’s been moved to the bullpen as of today. While no one’s surprised, it is disappointing, considering Chico had a pretty good year last time ’round. But an 0-5 season so far this year signals…well, who knows. Could be anything. Let’s wish Chico luck in settling down and figuring it out, and getting back into the starting rotation.

Define: ironic

• Its 2-0 nats, and Redding’s having the best game I’ve ever seen him pitch. #
• Boone’s solo homer makes it a 3-0 game. #
• Loroche answers with a solo #
• Rivera looked great pitching out of a 2-on 1-out situation. Now that’s a bullpen. #
• The promising inning ended, but not before Lopez drove in one. #
• Run tacked on by the end of 8th, off a Wily Mo-smoked hit that missed the otherside of the fence by about a foot. 5-1. #
• Excellent. Game ends at 5-2. Excellent game for the Nats…we looked pretty darn good. #
• Oh! Go check out http://www.TheHalfAssedFan.com for other Nats news! #

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Ok, I’ve been hard on Lo Duca lately, but I gotta say, this interview over at We’ve Got Heart is really good, and he displays a different attitude than I’m used to reading about:

Lo Duca interview at We’ve Got Heart.

• We may have just avoiding an embarrasing loss. Three runs scored, one on, no one out. Thank you, Lopez! #
• Pirates just scored in the top of the 9th to make it 8 to 9. Argh. #
• Well, we won, but through no fault of our own. #

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• Nats win 3-2 and go 7 for their last 9. Wawawewa! (It is the Pirates, however) #

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Part of the reason I started this blog is to get more familiar with the Nats–writing about a subject pretty much forces you to become knowledgeable about it. So, searching for Nationals-related blog has been an interesting experience, but a bit frustrating because so few have RSS feeds available or prominently displayed. I consume probably about 90% of my web info via RSS, and with nearly 100 subscriptions, the format cuts many hours a day off of reading. (For those of you who aren’t familiar, that basically means I check nearly 100 web sites a day for information.)

So, RSS is important to me. If you’re unfamiliar with the format, don’t be scared…just visit RSSDay.org! Also, if you’re weirded out or confused about the whole thing, fellow bloggers, please feel free to use the nifty contact form on the “Contact Me!” page to send me questions. Since designing online media strategies is actually part of my daily life, I’m pretty sure I can help out.

Take a look!

On my recent hiatus involving a couple 5 hour+ plane rides, I decided it was high time to pick up Frank Deford’s recently-in-paperback The Entitled. The bottom line is that I’m glad I did, though it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Here’s a quick overview:

Synopsis

Written from the perspective of Howie, a classic old fart of baseball who never quite made it in the majors but revels in his “grizzled” status, the book revolves around a “right and wrong” decision he must make in regards to his star player, a model which Deford uses as an excellent foil to dissect the personality of this particular star. (No spoilers here…I don’t believe in that.)

The Good

• It’s written by Frank Deford. I can read it and hear his NPR commentary.
• There’s a surprising end…truly didn’t see it coming.
• The heros aren’t all heros and the villians aren’t all villian…well, most of them.
• Deford’s pace and timing are excellent–I found it very difficult to put the book down because there is always a bit of suspense about to be resolved.

The Bad

• Deford’s writing style is choppy. That’s ok, it just bugs me a little bit. Works much better when it’s accompianed by his voice.
• There’s a surprising end. I’m still not sure I agree that the characters he constructed would make those particular decisions.
• Only two of the characters are really well developed (and that’s very well done), but, ultimately, the character the story hinges on hasn’t been as closely considered. I found this troubling.

Other notes

• This is no family book. The tough questions are very adult ones, so don’t expect to have happy time reading this to your kids after tucking them in. Rated R.