Photo by Dan Rowinski

If you set up a script for how to win a baseball game, it would go something like this:

Get good starting pitching that gives you at least six innings and allows less than three runs. Make good defensive plays that keep the other team off the board and line up three quality relievers to shut the other team out at the end of the game.

Oh, and score enough runs to make it all stand up.

The Nats got three out of the four pieces of the equation on Saturday against the Padres. Jordan Zimmermann was solid through six innings, allowing two runs on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts. He threw 100 pitchers to 24 batters and left the game down 2-0. For fielding, Rick Ankiel made two great plays in centerfield to finish both the first and second innings. Jerry Hairston made a great diving stab-and-throw in the third. Zimmermann picked off would-be base runner Eric Patterson (who had just stole second) to end that inning.

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Metro is hard at work this holiday weekend to conduct some serious repairs on the Orange and Blue lines.  They’re replacing almost 5,000 track fasteners, adding 5 miles of communications cable for cell phone access, repairing 21 escalators and 8 elevators, and replacing four track switches as part of the work.

Capitol South, Eastern Market, Potomac Ave and Stadium-Armory are closed all weekend while the work gets done. Metro’s running shuttle buses through the area, so if you need to get to those areas covered by those stations, you can still get there, but plan for a lot of extra time to do it.

‘6TH’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

Friday night’s Nationals game versus the San Diego Padres can best be summed up by the father-daughter duo I encountered on the Metro last night after all was said and done: “It was perfectly awesome.”

Without a strong heart of the order and Ryan Zimmerman out of the lineup, the Nats have struggled to get their offense cooking this season. They snapped a 1-7 losing skid in grand fashion Friday at the Navy Yard, though, in a 2-1 victory thanks to a lead-off, first pitch, walk-off homerun from Michael Morse. Continue reading →

courtesy of ‘Official U.S. Navy Imagery’

Two years ago Congress enacted the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and created the Social Innovation Fund.  The fund aims to improve the lives of people in low-income communities by mobilizing public and private resources to grow promising, innovative community-based solutions that have evidence of compelling impact in three areas of priority need: economic opportunity, healthy futures, and youth development.

However, although the Act may have been signed in to law in Washington, DC, its national focus has left room for improvement in the District itself.  The DC Social Innovation Project (DCSIP) hopes to bridge this gap.

Co-founded by former Akin Gump attorney Darius Graham and attorney Omar Hashmi, DCSIP fosters social innovation through two different initiatives.  The first, the Community Lab, grants program provides $1,500 grants to neighborhood associations, community groups, and schools in DC to implement a small scale, high-impact community project.  The second, the Bright Idea Challenge, enlists 18-35 year olds in the DC area to propose creative social ventures that address a local issue, with the two best ideas receiving up to $10,000 in funding and other pro bono services to help them launch their venture.

This comes to us by friend-of-the-blog Nathan Martin. Matt Hill, pictured above, went missing on Tuesday morning after leaving the Verizon Center in his black 1996 Honda Civic with DC plate DT2747.  He hasn’t been seen since, nor has his car.  There’s a Facebook group going for coordinating the search for Mr. Hill started by his friends.  They have opened up cases with MPD and ACPD.  If you’ve seen Matt, or his missing car, please let the police or his friends know.  Details after the jump.

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‘Cartoon <3’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

Ah Screen on the Green, we’re happy to see you back.  This year’s event will take place between 8th and 14th streets on the Mall, and will be underwritten by HBO and Comcast. The set of films in this year’s batch are all classics, so you’d be silly to miss them.  I’m betting that some of the city’s finest mobile purveyors of tasty picnic fare will be nearby, so plan on heading down to the Mall this summer for a wonderful evening watching a great classic film.

July 25 – In the Heat of the Night

August 1 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

August 8 – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

August 15 – Cool Hand Luke

‘Rock the Red Light’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

The Lead Item: Last night in double OT, the Vancouver Canucks punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals. With a win tonight in Tampa, the Boston Bruins can join in that tango as the Eastern Conference representative.

And this I say to you: it wasn’t supposed to be this way.

As we now face the doldrums of mid-season, National League baseball as the only marginal sports entertainment in town, it’s tough not to be reminded that there was so much hope in March and April for the Stanley Cup Finals to make an appearance down at the Verizon Center. The Caps had a much better recipe for postseason success this time around. The one-seed, but this time fought for and earned through the last week of the season, not gifted thanks to a weak division. Smart moves at the deadline to bring in leadership and blue line talent. Momentum from the “We are Louder” rivalry and series with the Rangers.

Then the Tampa Bay buzzsaw struck, and as quickly as a flash of lightning, the Caps were swept away and into golf season.

Watch Vancouver celebrate. It still stings. Either tonight or on Friday, someone else will be lifting the Prince of Wales trophy for winning the Eastern Conference. That’ll sting, too.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

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Comic by Emily

Some days on the Metro have gotten so bad lately that this set of beautifully done comics by local artist Emily are both hilarious and too close to home, especially the one above about the Red Line. I’m sure you’ve got your own, leave them here in the comments (or on Emily’s, there are some hysterical ones there, especially the one about the Green Line) so we can all laugh and lament together.

If I had to make one, I think I’d choose the 38 Bus: A shaker with a little of everything, but frozen close to solid, served in a sippy cup.

‘Changing of the Guard, Heel Clicking’
courtesy of ‘CathyLovesDC’

If you happen to hear the crack of rifles tomorrow morning coming from Arlington Cemetery, it’s not a zombie invasion, nor is it the first part of Red Dawn. The Old Guard will be practicing firing drills from 7a to 8a in the morning tomorrow, part of the rituals that mark the final honors rendered to our fallen.  Don’t panic.

‘Bridging ward boundaries’
courtesy of ‘Payton Chung’

This morning Councilman Harry Thomas released a timeline of events for the coming redistricting of the eight wards, with the first votes coming as early as Thursday. The 2010 Census revealed an imbalance in the size of wards 2, 7 and 8 that will need to be corrected to comply with the city’s charter. Ward 2 will need to shave off approximately 1,000 residents, while Wards 7 and 8 will need to grow by approximately the same amount.

The City Paper’s Lydia DePillis took on the contentious issue a few weeks back, and this shapes up to be one of the more difficult processes that the city faces, especially in the wake of the Mayor’s successful “One City” slogan. The logical expansion targets for Wards 7 and 8 are in prosperous Ward 6, and some of the residents there aren’t at all thrilled at the idea of being represented by Councilmembers Marion Barry (D-8) or Yvette Alexander (D-7).

The schedule released today is after the cut.

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