‘Morgan for the out’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

The Lead Item: What a perfect week for this story. In Jayson Werth’s first game as a National against his old club from Philadelphia, he had his best night of the young season, going 2 for 3 at the plate with a home run and a steal. Not too shabby, and a great sign of maybe more to come from the outfielder. And when Werth and Co. get done with the NL rivals from the north, they’ll get a chance to square off with another familiar face comes to town in the series to follow: Nyjer Morgan’s Brewers.

What’s that you say NBC Washington? There may be an interesting back story between the two title characters of the last paragraph?

“After he was taken out of a game against the Tigers at Space Coast Stadium in mid-March, outfielder Nyjer Morgan — since traded to the Brewers — performed three of the six sprints on the outfield warning track and called it a day. Werth told Morgan to do the rest of the sprints. Morgan declined, figuring he arrived at the ballpark at 5:30 a.m. ET and didn’t need to do any more work. They went into the locker room a few minutes later, Werth and Morgan got into a verbal argument, with Werth telling Morgan that he needed to continue to do his work. Jerry Hairston Jr. got involved and was able to calm Morgan down. According to a baseball source, Morgan believes the incident is the No. 1 reason he is no longer a member of the Nationals.”

Pause for dramatic rhythm: It. Just. Got. Interesting. I’m hopeful for some fireworks over a nice weekend at Nationals Park. Now, the Ticker.

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Twitpic from @megadue, used with permission

So, you saw Rachel’s post about Das Bullpen like I did and got excited: a biergarten before a baseball game? Sounds awesome. The logical follow-up question, of course, is what kinds of beers are we looking at and how much are they going to run me? After all – part of grabbing a beverage or two before heading into a baseball game is trying to save on the concession price.

A quick search led me to Twitter user @Megadue, who was at Das Bullpen last night, and gave us a shot of the above list. (Nothing says “Biergarten” like Bud Light, amiright?) Cost wise, you’re looking at $7 for imports, $6 for Bud and Meg noted that size is probably 16 oz. Inside the park, Bud Light isn’t to be found (Miller and Coors products are your options for domestic pours), but you’re still looking at $8 to $8.50 for a 16 oz, so the price difference nets out at $2 at the end of the day if you stay domestic and aren’t exceptionally finicky about the difference between Lites and Lights. Of the others, only Bass (I believe) is available inside the park at $1 more.

My initial verdict: I wouldn’t mind me a Leffe or Czechvar before the game, but only one, especially on Thursday/Friday/Saturday when the Scoreboard Walk’s tempting pre-game $5 special may trump a nice beer house style draught.

‘FedEx seats’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

You know how we’ve talked about the whole unlikelihood of the Redskins having a 2011 season thanks to a lockout? Well, members of the NFLPA or not, the league is going forward with the idea that the season is going to happen. The first step? Releasing the schedule for the exhibition games that will occur before the season.

In the event things get patched up, the preseason schedule for the Skins is as follows:

Aug. 13 – Pittsburgh
Aug. 20 – @ Indianapolis
Aug. 25 – @ Baltimore, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Sept. 1 – Tampa Bay

Not to read really too much into things, but is the proposed schedule for a  four-game preseason a sign that the owners will back off the request for an 18-game regular season?

SBNation has a full breakdown on the entire schedule for all teams if you’re interested.

‘2011 04 11 – 7869 – Washington DC – DC Rights Protest’
courtesy of ‘thisisbossi’

The protestors who were arrested on Constitution Avenue late yesterday, who are becoming known as the “DC 41” or the “DC 41 for 51,” were released late last night after a lengthy processing by the US Capitol Police.  While several chose to pay the $50 fine (some paying $51 as a symbolic gesture), others will appear in Superior Court on May 5th to fight the charge.

The protest yesterday drew hundreds of District Residents angry that the city’s financial process is hamstrung and bargained with by a federal government that the city has no say in.  As the Mayor and Council called for budget autonomy for the District, and the crowd cheered their approval, the USCP one by one arrested the protestors, councilmembers and council chair and finally the Mayor.

Included among those arrested were: CM Bowser, CM Alexander, CM Wells, CM Biddle, CM Michael Brown, Council Chair Kwame Brown, and Mayor Vincent Gray.  Pictured above is Ward 5 activist Robert Vinson Brannum, being arrested.

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‘VOTE’
courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’

The early absentee-in-person voting for the April 26th special election has begun. If you need to vote early (or just want to get your civic duty done early) you can visit the Board of Elections and Ethics office at One Judiciary Square to vote between 8:30 AM and 8:00 PM Monday-Saturday, and 12:30 PM 5:30 PM on Sunday, April 17th.

Note that due to budget constraints, this isn’t like the early voting from the regular election and primary. Those were standard votes, counted more or less with everything else, but these are absentee votes that will be counted later.

The first brewery to open in the District since the 1950s shipped their first bar order this afternoon, a number of kegs bound for an area bar, as pictures above.  In addition, the brewery this weekend announced a launch party at Meridian Pint this Friday afternoon, with pints of The Public running just $4.  There will also be awesome DC Brau swag for the public, too.  If you missed our profile of Brandon Skall and Jeff Hancock, it’s not too late to get caught up in preparation for Friday.

‘Andray Blatche’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

The Atlanta Hawks did a great job of making the Washington Wizards look real good on their home court Saturday night. Seven Wizards players posted double-digit point margins, breaking a 12 game losing streak against Atlanta. Washington last victory over Atlanta was Jan. 11, 2008.

“Rarely do you see four games in five nights, four different cities, you come out with that kind of energy but our guys had great energy,” Coach Flip Saunders said.

It was a true team effort, combined with a failure of an Atlanta defense, that allowed ample room for the Washington offense to dominate in a 115-83 victory over a fifth seed playoff team. Continue reading →

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

On Thursday, Tom and Tiff Bridge, editors of this fine publication, hosted a tacos-beers-margaritas fest at their lovely Brookland home. We ate and drank and Patrick asked me for advice on buying a tuxedo. A lovely coworker get-together.

After the party wrapped up and the Bridges were about ready to kick the last of us out, I drove fellow drinks team member William back to his house in Arlington. William is moving to California in a few weeks and has spent woefully little time at what I think is one of the best bars in the Washington metropolitan area, Galaxy Hut, in spite of living mere blocks away. We decided to do something about that.
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