Raising Nats Fans: Say (Day 8)

The word of the day is:
SAY

Last night the Nationals' playoff journey ended. As a fan, it was heartbreaking. As a mom of fans, it hurt all over again today when I had to explain to the girls that the ride for this season was over. There have been a lot of people with a whole lot to say after the game / series. Lots of armchair managing and even, much to my dismay, a significant amount of player bashing. (TERRIBLE).

So with my five minutes today, I will exceed the time limit and give you my thoughts on not only the end of the season for my Nats.

I am a fan. An avid fan. A long time fan. But I don't know a lickety-split-bit about how to manage a baseball team and/or a game. I don't. I do know that we didn't hit well (.300 is good. .200 is icky. I think we hit .164-ish for the series. That's not good.) Without hitting - and therefore run scoring (hits do not always lead to runs, but no hits definitely means no runs...) it's going to be very, very hard to win games. Despite the "dead bats" we *STILL* almost won this thing. 3 one-run games. So *blah-blah-blah* criticize the manager for pitching matchups (or lack thereof) or whathaveyou - you will not hear that from me. This team played their hearts out. They did NOT WANT to lose. Today they are sad. They have finished a LONG, LONG season - and sooner than they wanted - so I won't second guess what happened. Instead, I will say thanks for the ride, guys. You have brought me amazing baseball this year.

I got to see a 10 game win streak. I got to see walk-off after walk-off, never the same way twice. I saw my first ever no hitter in person. I may never see that again. In my whole life.

I was lucky enough to get playoff tickets and to take my girls to a playoff game. I took my dad and my brother to the next game and sat through all 18 innings ...6 hours and 23 minutes.. of a 2-1 game. In the cold. In the wind. In all the crazy. Because that is baseball and I love it. It was a record-breaking game and I was there. I will always have those stories.

And then I stayed up late to watch. To see us scrape out runs on errors by the Giants. And then I stayed up to watch last night. When it didn't go how we wanted. But to the very last man - to the very last out, this team fought, and fought hard, to keep the season alive. They came back from all sorts of deficits all season long. They overcame injuries to the regular guys. They welcomed new guys mid season and they fit right in and kept playing. For 166 games this team gave me everything and I am so thankful to have been there and to have shared it with my kids.

THANK YOU, NATS, FOR GIVING ME YOUR ALL. Thank you for being a team of good guys - who my kids can follow. Thank you for taking the time to meet the fans. Thank you for stopping, for shaking hands a million times. Thank you for smiling for one more picture, even when it feels like your cheeks might explode - the way you make us all feel like we are your number one fan.

Many of you give of your free time to help others. And while the fans don't always see what you do, the people you help see it every single day. For them, you make the difference between a good day and a bad day - between a day with a smile and a day without. You support the community, the military, kids in need, single moms, and so many more groups.

To the Nationals organization - the front office and the behind the scenes folks - thank you for memories we never even could have imagined. Teddy delivering a cake ... scoreboard messages ... adding new slogans to the walls and new content to the in-game Nats HD screen (rally Elmo; walkup songs; Happy Gio; etc). To all the folks at Nats Park who make the games happen every single day all summer long. To every one of you who answered a question, waved to my girls, helped us in a concession line, kept the bathrooms clean and the paper towels full. For those who helped when we needed to get more tickets or change things around. To Maribel who brought A her birthday surprise sack. You all make our appreciation of baseball, and our game-day experience what it is. And I am proud to say that at Nats park, you are top notch.

Thank you especially for honoring our troops - my favorite part of every single Nats game is the cap-wave when we can welcome home our military. I stand, I clap, I cheer, and I cry. I watch our players stop and clap, too. Thank you for doing that. Every single game. Please don't ever stop.

To the Nationals players, the staff, and the organization: Thank you for another unforgettable season. Enjoy the time off ... and let's start the countdown to pitchers and catchers :-)

That's all I have to say about that.

I will save my amazing-baseball-summer-journey that goes beyond the Nats for another post.

A few pictures from throughout the season below. Not in any particular order.

PS read all 31 days here