MLB

When you are called the Washington Nationals, you represent not only Washington D.C., but every national in this country, and with that comes a lot of pressure.

With the nation goes the Nationals and vice versa, so do not blame the Nationals for their awful play, but rather the nationals of this country for the state we and the team are in. There, I said it.

Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman are trying to get the DOW up, but you people keep spending idiotically which sends Elijah Dukes and Jesus Flores to the DL and even worse, Joel Hanrahan to the mound.

Troy Tulowitzki comes up to the plate in the eighth inning in last night's game against the Atlanta Braves.

Down 8-1 already, Tulo swings at a high strike, and grounds into a double play.

What does manager Clint Hurdle decide to do?  Bench one of the only bright spots on the team.

News flash Clint, if the city of Denver could fire you as easily as you benched Tulo, we would've done it earlier.  

The Rockies are 15-23, and 11.5 games out of the first-place Dodgers' grasp. 

Guys, this is going to be short. I just really feel like BR needs to say something after the death of Scott Schoeneweis's wife today. Not many pepole noticed this before the game, but there was one man not in the bullpen for the D-Backs.

As a Met fan, I have got to see Scott pitch and now I feel a bit closer to him and a bit sorrier for him after his big lose.

This will look like a letter to Scott from me and hopefully the rest of BR, but this is more a way for me to connect to Scott and the rest of his family.

In the baseball world, we like to get out of hand with debates about the games and the players, and sometimes we definitely go a bit too far. Then there are tragic events that happen that seem to make us realize that it is just a game, and unfortunately, one of those events happened today.

The wife of former Mets’ reliever Scott Schoeneweis, Gabrielle, was found dead in their home today. She was only 39-years old.

Even though the fans of New York liked to get on Schoeneweis when times weren’t so good for him, everyone is behind the family today.

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Two weeks ago, Citi Field was christened with its first fist fight. Last week it was christened with its first streaker. Well, the ballpark’s officially open now, since the first Mets fan got trapped in the toilet.

Craig Breslow might have been the best move for the Minnesota Twins last season; Bill Smith gave up nothing for the lefty when he claimed him off waivers, and the Twins received 42 outings and a 1.92 ERA to help stabilize a tremendously inconsistent bullpen.

With the strong numbers, the Twins were comfortable enough to move forward without lefty Dennys Reyes, and the Twins allowed him to move on this past off-season. Breslow had put up solid numbers, and if everything would have gone according to plan, he would have been the lefty specialist in '09 and possibly beyond.

Perhaps it was that the AL East leading Blue Jays were in town. Perhaps it was that a rather tough West Coast trip had just ended and it was nice to have the guys back in the friendly confines. Or maybe it had something to do with the need to keep warm with a first pitch temperature around 60 degrees.

Whatever it was, the fans at Fenway park were in a good mood on Tuesday evening.  They were active, animated, and involved in a game that was, for the most part, a real yawner. But nowhere was their mood more evident than in their services performed on behalf of David Ortiz.

Opened as Jacobs Field in 1994, the Indians moved from the massive Cleveland Municipal stadium (you might remember it from such movies as Major League and Major League II).

After 13 years of being named Jacobs Field, the stadium officially changed its name to Progressive Field in 2008 (and yes, pretty much everyone hates it). It was an immediate success and until recently, as it held the major league record for sellouts at 455 (the listed capacity for the stadium is 43,345).

The Giants sent Kevin Frandsen down to Triple-A Fresno before the start of the season as one of the final roster cuts. He played like he belonged, but Emmanuel Burriss earned the starting second base job with a .345 spring batting average and some good defense.