Wednesday, October 17, 2007

And The Check Is In The Mail, Too

Thanks to the always invaluable JDLand, WTOP sez that the Nationals might be willing to pay for the costs associated with changing the name of the Navy Yard Metro stop to make reference to the ol' ballyard.

The snippets are typical Kasten. They're "considering" it and "talking about" it, likely about as much as I've "considered" and "talked about" winning the lottery, quitting my job, and lounging on a beach like a drunken whale for the rest of my life. In both cases, it ain't gonna happen.

Unless...

There's a mention that they're also sorta waiting to see what the new place is going to be called. If it becomes Summer's Eve Field, would they ask the Summer's Eve corp to bankroll the signage changes (plus a little extra for the extra pub they'd get)? Would Metro let them 'advertise' a company like that, instead of something generic like "ballpark."

As always, I have no answers. Just stupid questions. Why are you reading again?

  • Tucked into the bottom was this ol' nugget:
    For baseball fans, there is nothing better than taking the day off of work and heading to a ball game. Well, WTOP has learned the Nationals first season in their new ballpark will have only a handful of day games.

    Nationals President Stan Kasten says there'll only be three or four day games on weekdays this season.

    Interesting in that the day games seemed to have drawn slightly larger crowds than some of the night ones. I guess they scaled them back, despite the appeal, because of the uncertain parking situation, but also because of traffic going home, where getting in and out of the new place is going to be significantly more difficult than the old one. (Wonder if Metro had any input on this one as well?)

    Part of me loved the day games; it is nice to bail out. but then there are days where you just couldn't do it. I've been on the T/Th/Su ticket plan and the majority of them fell on Thursdays... there've been quite a few over the last two years where something's come up at work (dammit!).

    Maybe I should do more of that "considering" winning the lottery thing?

    • posted by Chris Needham at 9:43 PM

    15 Comments:

    • Chris-
      I'm pretty sure they won't have a problem giving the station a double name.(Ballpark-Navy Yard?)
      Not when we already have:
      1.Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan
      2.U St./African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo
      3.Archives-Navy Mem'l-Penn Quarter

      Most of the stations downtown can't be labeled with just one name, and with all the government funding I don't know if they would even be allowed to put a private corporation's name on one of the stops.

      By Blogger Rob B, at 10/17/2007 10:52 PM  

    • It's not the double name that I was worried about, it was the question of wondering if they'd be able to put the corporate name of the ballpark on the signs? If so, then the Nats can/should pay for it. If not, then I wouldn't bet on the team ponying up the bucks.

      By Blogger Chris Needham, at 10/17/2007 10:53 PM  

    • I don't think they could put a corporate name; it would create a conflict of interest, especially in our over-regulated town.
      But stop the presses: my boy Ladson reports than Torii Hunter wants to come to D.C.!!! He wants to play with his friend Dmitri, and to generate more interest in baseball among our large Afro-American population.....
      I couldn't agree more; our team should reflect our city, and an established Black all-star would provide an immediate boost in attendance, not to mention performance on the field.
      Open up the checkbook and bring him here!!! Get 'er done, Stan!!!

      By Blogger Rob B, at 10/17/2007 11:11 PM  

    • I'm with you.

      I just wish we could find one that was:

      1) not declining

      2) not injury prone

      3) not willing to throw teammates under the bus when he thinks it makes him look good

      By Blogger Chris Needham, at 10/17/2007 11:13 PM  

    • Those are good points, but he's only 32 (I think), and injury-prone is a relative term.....on our team he's a stalwart!
      As far as his attitude; I think Acta, Guzman, and Dmitri could definitely keep him chilled out, especially given his stated desire to come here.
      P.S. Santana's contract is up after next season, and there's no doubt in my mind we will be in the market.

      By Blogger Rob B, at 10/17/2007 11:31 PM  

    • Day games at the new park are going to be miserable unless you're in an air conditioned suite. RFK had plenty plenty of shade to escape the sun. The new park has almost none. It's one of the many things I'll miss about RFK.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10/18/2007 6:40 AM  

    • OLD NAVY YARD !!!

      Get it done Gap, Inc. !!

      By Blogger Scott M. Collins, at 10/18/2007 8:22 AM  

    • C'mon, Rob! You've been around here long enough. You've forgotten the caveat at the end of Hunter's statement: "...if they're the highest bidder."

      It's the same thing Soriano said. It's the same thing that AJ Burnett said. In the end, it comes down to money.

      He's not ancient, but he'll be 33 and is coming off 2/3 seasons with leg/hammy problems. That's problematic for a player who has so much value tied up in his running.

      DH -- exactly right. I'm really not looking forward to it. The 'only' bright side I can think of is that with the stadium not being enclosed, maybe there's a hope of a little bit of a breeze, instead of that stagnant, heavy air that filled RFK.

      By Blogger Chris Needham, at 10/18/2007 8:38 AM  

    • DH -- exactly right. I'm really not looking forward to it. The 'only' bright side I can think of is that with the stadium not being enclosed, maybe there's a hope of a little bit of a breeze, instead of that stagnant, heavy air that filled RFK.

      The Build it Bigger show on the stadium construction last night said the wind study they did showed that there would be a breeze, coming off the river . . . blowing in from centerfield! Cools fans and bats.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10/18/2007 9:11 AM  

    • re Metro and signage - note that the new Morgan Blvd stop on the blue line makes no mention of nearby Fedex field, either by name or even just a "stadium" designation.

      it IS important as tons of people still don't know you can now take metro and walk to Fedex field (as compared to the shuttles required previously from addison rd and new carrollton).

      By Blogger DCPowerGator, at 10/18/2007 9:42 AM  

    • Chris -- I, too, am on the Plan B (Tu-Th-Sun) package and all I can say is that it totally SUCKED! As you mentioned, most of the day games were scheduled on Thursday (tough to get out of work for all of them). All the Sunday games were of course day games. In the sun. At RFK. No wind whatsoever. In Summer. So uncomfortable.


      Plus, we didn't get any O's, Dodgers or Cleveland games this year even though all three series contained at least one Tu-Th-Sun game.

      I only hope that next year they do away with the 20-game Plans being divvied up by days of the week and instead parse those games by Opponent. I will NOT be happy if I have to sit through half of my package in the blaring sun.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10/18/2007 10:21 AM  

    • Summers Eve Park. Nice ring to it.

      Why is it a negative for a player to want to make more money?

      Why is it a negative for an owner to want to pay less?

      By Blogger Ray Firsching, at 10/18/2007 10:42 AM  

    • I think some of those Thursday day games are (essentially) required by the MLBPA travel time requirements. If the Thursday is a getaway day and the Nats are flying to anywhere other than the east coast, they couldn't get it done within the rules on a 7 pm start.

      By Blogger Unknown, at 10/18/2007 11:43 AM  

    • the Nats had three Thursday day games at home this season. Here are the teams they played and where they played the next day:

      4/19 vs Philly
      4/20 at Florida (Philly at Cincy)

      5/17 vs Atlanta
      5/18 vs Baltimore (Atl at Boston)

      6/7 vs Pittsburgh
      6/8 at Minnesota (Pitt at Yankees)

      None of these instances necessitated a travel day to occur (each team's next game was, at best, a two-hour plane or train ride from RFK). It's not as if the next game was out west where an afternoon flight would have made sense.

      And there were numerous times throughout the season where the Nats played evening games on Thursday and made the same trip to another park (Florida, NY, etc) for a Friday evening game, so I don't see why these particular games were day games.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10/18/2007 2:05 PM  

    • RE: Thursday day games.

      Blah- I had the Tu/Th/Sun plan too, and I just took advantage of the Season Ticket exchange program and traded them all in. Problem solved.

      By Blogger Brandon, at 10/18/2007 9:25 PM  

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