2019 WS - Nationals vs. Astros - Gamethread

loshjott

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Per Wa Post, first pitch Friday will be 2005 closer Chad Cordero to catcher Brian Schneider, the end-of-game battery for the Nationals team that brought baseball back to Washington in 2005.

I think Tom Boswell deserves the honor for game 4 but the Post probably wouldn't allow it. Boswell is one of the major players who brought baseball back to DC. I moved here in 1987 and started reading him at that time, and he was pushing baseball back to DC then (and for years before then).
 

Plympton91

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Fuck, this really is 1986 redux isn't it?

* Scrappy upstart team that really wasn't expected to make it to the World Series.
* A powerhouse at its peak

Road team wins the first game by one run.
Road team wins game two by a blowout.

FUUUUUUUUUCK.
That scrappy team has Patrick Corbin starting game 4 on full rest. The Red Sox started Al Nipper.
 

Norm Siebern

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Bre5gman hasn't received enough grief from the national media for his game losing fielding Thursday. George Springer was pilloried for his base running, but "Bregs?" Not so much.
 

B H Kim

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The Nationals announced this morning that Jose Andres will be throwing out their first pitch for game five. I don’t think that Trump will want any part of that.
 

loshjott

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Edit: BHK beat me to it....

Expert trolling by the Nats, or coincidence...Jose Andres picked to throw out first pitch at game 5. Andres, of course, pulled his planned restaurant out of the DC Trump hotel before the election when Trump started his anti immigrant tirades. Trump sued but dropped it. And Andres is a vocal critic of the Trump policies toward Puerto Rico.
 

B H Kim

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Aside from the tremendous Trump trolling, I’m very happy to see that they have decided not to have anyone from the Redskins involved (Chad Cordero is throwing on the first pitch tonight with a Nationals youth baseball academy kid tomorrow). As a general rule, I never listen to DC sports talk radio, given that it’s about 80% Redskins talk year round, but I’ve listened a bit this week and it seemed like every time I turned it on I had to listen to a debate over which Redskins great should throw out one of the first pitches this weekend.
 

moondog80

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The Nationals announced this morning that Jose Andres will be throwing out their first pitch for game five. I don’t think that Trump will want any part of that.
Nothing against him, but I've never heard of him and from what I can tell via Google, he's just an Ernie Boch-level local celeb in Washington. Seems like an odd choice when you have Joe Gibbs, Joe Thiesmann, Darrell Green, John Thompson, Wes Unseld, someone with connections to the old Washington Senators...am I understating his significance?
 

canderson

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Nothing against him, but I've never heard of him and from what I can tell via Google, he's just an Ernie Boch-level local celeb in Washington. Seems like an odd choice when you have Joe Gibbs, Joe Thiesmann, Darrell Green, John Thompson, Wes Unseld, someone with connections to the old Washington Senators...am I understating his significance?
Yeah, you're wrong about Andres.
 

Van Everyman

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Nothing against him, but I've never heard of him and from what I can tell via Google, he's just an Ernie Boch-level local celeb in Washington. Seems like an odd choice when you have Joe Gibbs, Joe Thiesmann, Darrell Green, John Thompson, Wes Unseld, someone with connections to the old Washington Senators...am I understating his significance?
Yeah, you're wrong about Andres.
Andres is a fucking hero and also a brilliant chef and businessman. Great decision on many levels.
 

nolasoxfan

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Nothing against him, but I've never heard of him and from what I can tell via Google, he's just an Ernie Boch-level local celeb in Washington. Seems like an odd choice when you have Joe Gibbs, Joe Thiesmann, Darrell Green, John Thompson, Wes Unseld, someone with connections to the old Washington Senators...am I understating his significance?
Andres is far more relevant to the current Nats team than anyone you mentioned.
 

moondog80

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Andres is far more relevant to the current Nats team than anyone you mentioned.
I'm happy to say I'm underestimating him, but he can't possibly be more relevant to the city than Joe Gibbs. Can he?

Is there a good analogy for someone in Boston?
 

blueline

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I'm happy to say I'm underestimating him, but he can't possibly be more relevant to the city than Joe Gibbs. Can he?

Is there a good analogy for someone in Boston?
The Redskins just have a really toxic brand in the city right now so I don't think there's a big push to attach them to the event. Not that anyone has negative feelings for Joe Gibbs, but the last time he was a "winner" was over 25 years ago.

It's certainly a more regional thing but Jose Andres is very popular and very visible throughout the city.
 

moondog80

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The Redskins just have a really toxic brand in the city right now so I don't think there's a big push to attach them to the event. Not that anyone has negative feelings for Joe Gibbs, but the last time he was a "winner" was over 25 years ago.

It's certainly a more regional thing but Jose Andres is very popular and very visible throughout the city.
I'll take you at your word about Andres, but I think you're being dismissive of Gibbs. I mean, it's been 50+ years since Bill Russell was a "winner", I think I'd still prefer him over Todd English.
 

B H Kim

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Nothing against him, but I've never heard of him and from what I can tell via Google, he's just an Ernie Boch-level local celeb in Washington. Seems like an odd choice when you have Joe Gibbs, Joe Thiesmann, Darrell Green, John Thompson, Wes Unseld, someone with connections to the old Washington Senators...am I understating his significance?
The frightening thing is that, with minor tweaks, you could convince me that this was either a quote from a typical caller to a DC sports talk show or a tweet from the President of the United States
 

moondog80

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The frightening thing is that, with minor tweaks, you could convince me that this was either a quote from a typical caller to a DC sports talk show or a tweet from the President of the United States
So instead of being insulting, tell me why I'm wrong.
 

B H Kim

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So instead of being insulting, tell me why I'm wrong.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to be insulting. I assumed you were being sarcastic. Andres is a local guy (lives here and opened his first restaurants here), and he’s an incredible humanitarian, having organized a huge operation to feed millions of people in Puerto Rico after Maria, and having supported numerous programs to feed the poor and homeless in the DC area. And, as pointed out above, the Redskins brand is garbage in DC these days. I don’t think it would be wise for the Nationals to promote any association with one of the worst run franchises in all of professional sports.
 

moondog80

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Sorry, I didn’t mean to be insulting. I assumed you were being sarcastic. Andres is a local guy (lives here and opened his first restaurants here), and he’s an incredible humanitarian, having organized a huge operation to feed millions of people in Puerto Rico after Maria, and having supported numerous programs to feed the poor and homeless in the DC area. And, as pointed out above, the Redskins brand is garbage in DC these days. I don’t think it would be wise for the Nationals to promote any association with one of the worst run franchises in all of professional sports.
Thanks -- Andres seems like a great guy, and the humanitarian stuff is awesome. I'd still prefer more of a sports connection given that it's the Word Series, but I can buy that he has a higher local profile than I realized.
 

B H Kim

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Thanks -- Andres seems like a great guy, and the humanitarian stuff is awesome. I'd still prefer more of a sports connection given that it's the Word Series, but I can buy that he has a higher local profile than I realized.
I did not mean to suggest that he’s just a local celebrity. He’s probably one of the the most famous restaurateurs in the world. Ernie Boch is a totally inapt comparison.

https://www.eater.com/2017/11/10/16623204/world-central-kitchen-jose-andres-bahamas-puerto-rico-haiti-houston
 

nolasoxfan

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I'm happy to say I'm underestimating him, but he can't possibly be more relevant to the city than Joe Gibbs. Can he?

Is there a good analogy for someone in Boston?
I honestly don't now what a comparison would be for Boston.
Gibb's last coaching stint in DC (2004-2007, IIRC) was sub .500, right? Hardly noteworthy.
And since 2007, not only have the city's demographics trended younger, but the football franchise has been largely viewed as a train-wreck. I could be wrong, but to me that all adds up as Gibbs being a not-so relevant figure--certainly not a first pitch 'A-lister.'
Nothing against Gibbs or his coaching accomplishments, but I think the Nats franchise is seeing this weekend as a more forward looking opportunity. Thus, the selection of Andres.

Edited because the first draft was sh**.
 

canderson

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If Gordon Ramsey was a nice man, who gave untold amount of energy and money to humanitarian efforts, all while have some of the best restaurants in the world. you might have a similar tale.

But Ramsey can't compare, so no.
 

sean1562

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the Nats have scored 87 runs after the 6th inning in the playoffs . that is one way to neutralize your shitty bullpen haha
 

sean1562

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DC is rich af and they havent had anything to be excited about in awhile. Everyone loves hockey when the caps are winning but its not like many people in the DC area played the game as kids.
 

singaporesoxfan

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Thanks -- Andres seems like a great guy, and the humanitarian stuff is awesome. I'd still prefer more of a sports connection given that it's the Word Series, but I can buy that he has a higher local profile than I realized.
Huge local profile but also arguably responsible for the spread of tapas restaurants across America. Also DC loves when it gets known for stuff outside of politics
I honestly don't now what a comparison would be for Boston.
Gibb's last coaching stint in DC (2004-2007, IIRC) was sub .500, right? Hardly noteworthy.
And since 2007, not only have the city's demographics trended younger, but the football franchise has been largely viewed as a train-wreck. I could be wrong, but to me that all adds up as Gibbs being a not-so relevant figure--certainly not a first pitch 'A-lister.'
Nothing against Gibbs or his coaching accomplishments, but I think the Nats franchise is seeing this weekend as a more forward looking opportunity. Thus, the selection of Andres.

Edited because the first draft was sh**.
Yeah Gibbs was in the Washington Post’s list of who could be invited, but so was Andres and there wasn’t any suggestion that Gibbs would be head and shoulders a more obvious pick. List here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/10/18/who-should-throw-ceremonial-first-pitches-nats-world-series-games/

The Washington football team is seen as a train wreck, and not only has the city gotten younger it’s gotten a lot of transplants who’ve been happy to adopt the Nats as a second team but not the Skins.

If they had wanted to nod to history, the Post’s suggestions of Frank Robinson’s widow, Walter Johnson’s grandson, or Josh Gibson’s great grandson would’ve been better choices IMO
 

sean1562

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my older brother worked at one his restaurants for awhile. he is all about self promotion and is working really hard to turn himself into a chef celebrity. wouldnt be surprised if he asked to do it
 

Marciano490

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They could have Jack Kent Cooke’s antisemitic granddaughter. She’s good at throwing stuff.

Next time she tries to break into my apartebt at 430 AM, I’ll as her.
 

Al Zarilla

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The Nats are tied at 8 for most playoff wins in a row with the Red Sox and a couple of other teams. That 2004 run should stay in the books. Go Astros tonight.