Author Topic: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!  (Read 415117 times)

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Offline tomterp

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #400: April 07, 2008, 05:26:37 PM »
I registered I think a week before the season started, under a different username, but after several days of waiting, the admin turned my registration down.  :( So I tried to register again, using the same username, but again after about a week of waiting (by this time we were getting clobbered by the Cards) the admin turned me down again.  :(  So in a last-ditch effort I decided to be "houston-nat", since living a thousand miles away from the home team will probably get me a lot of sympathy here ... and now I can post!  :)

Congratulations on beating the system.  The admin here is mean* as a snake, but once you're in it usually takes quite an offense to catch his attention.  (some of you out there know from which I speak, LOL).




* just kidding, although qualifying a comment with smileys doesn't carry the same authority it used too.   :roll:

Offline houston-nat

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #401: April 07, 2008, 05:29:12 PM »
Relax, houston-nat is not going to be any competition for you in this area.  In fact, Metssuck had better start honing his game lest he be surpassed.
Uhoh, gotta start working on my mispelilgns! Thanks for the welcome sir :)

natsfan1a

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #402: April 07, 2008, 05:29:49 PM »
Welcome to both of you.

Offline nats2playoffs

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #403: April 07, 2008, 05:44:11 PM »
Hi I've been on for 3 days and have probably took the most critisizem for,spelling, grammar, and personal opinions lol.
Misspallinks an some proper names appear on the Post Reply screen underlined in red dots.  So if you see red underlines, fix the spallingz.  Butt att thiz poinnt, peoples wull knot realisse itz u , iff everyting iz spelt corexly ands grammered ups gud-n-gud.


Expos2k4

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #404: April 07, 2008, 07:27:14 PM »
Hey guys, im new to this board. Been reading it since the beginning of the season but just finally decided to register lol. Im a huge nats fan and i live in montreal, use to follow the expos for many years and stuck with them when they moved.

I love the team nats have going, very young and looks like to going to be a great team for years to come. Get to watch ever game on mlb tv which is nice.

Not much of a poster but i read the boards everyday and this board looks great!!

Hopefully nats have a good year and gonna be good speaking to you guys on these boards.

Go Nats!!

Offline The Chief

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #405: April 07, 2008, 08:05:26 PM »
Congratulations on beating the system.  The admin here is mean* as a snake, but once you're in it usually takes quite an offense to catch his attention.  (some of you out there know from which I speak, LOL).




* just kidding, although qualifying a comment with smileys doesn't carry the same authority it used too.   :roll:

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE!!! WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?!?!?!?! :evil:

Seriously though, welcome houston-nat, and my apologies for apparently rejecting your registration twice! :-[

Offline spidernat

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #406: April 07, 2008, 11:39:22 PM »
This explains why my nephew tried to sign up a couple of months ago and never got in.

Offline The Chief

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #407: April 08, 2008, 10:23:00 AM »
This explains why my nephew tried to sign up a couple of months ago and never got in.

If he still wants to join, tell him to try again and make sure to PM me his email address so I can make sure he doesn't get thrown out with the spammers.

I also enabled the board's default spam filter, so hopefully there will be fewer slip-ups on my part now since I'll only have to check a handful of new registrants per day instead of dozens (which is why I was somewhat careless reviewing them before...  just didn't have time to do an IP trace on everyone)

Offline The Chief

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #408: April 09, 2008, 03:51:48 PM »
All pot, kettle, and bbq discussion may continue here - http://www.wnff.net/index.php/topic,7677.0.html

MrMadison

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #409: April 09, 2008, 04:11:20 PM »
All pot, kettle, and bbq discussion may continue here - http://www.wnff.net/index.php/topic,7677.0.html

good move.

Offline BerkeleyNat

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #410: April 10, 2008, 04:04:37 PM »
Hello everyone. My name is Brendan and I live in Martinsburg. I've followed the board since last season, but have not registered until now. Looking forward to talking about the Nationals. I was originally an Expos fan (since around '82) and was thrilled to see them move so close by and become the Nationals. Anyways..hoping to get into some good discussions about the Nats. :)

Offline tomterp

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #411: April 10, 2008, 05:34:45 PM »
Welcome Berkeley, we are having an influx of WV'ers lately.  Well, 2, but on this forum that qualifies.  Don't be shy about jumping in.

Offline blue911

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #412: April 10, 2008, 05:39:38 PM »
Welcome Brendan


Offline Senators2005

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #413: April 10, 2008, 05:43:10 PM »
Welcome to the Forum Brendan!

Offline tomterp

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #414: April 10, 2008, 05:43:10 PM »
So is that Berkeley as in Springs or as in California? Just wondering as someone who grew up in the SFO Bay Area. Anyway, welcome.

Martinsburg WV is in Berkeley County, WV.  Oddly enough, Berkeley Springs is in Morgan County.

natsfan1a

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #415: April 10, 2008, 05:50:47 PM »
Thanks, Tom.

Offline tomterp

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #416: April 10, 2008, 05:52:18 PM »
Thanks, Tom.

That doesn't preclude the possibility that he is from Berkeley Cal, but perhaps reduces the probability substantially.

natsfan1a

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #417: April 10, 2008, 05:53:48 PM »
Elementary, my dear Watson. :) Seriously, good use of logic. :thumbs:

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #418: April 10, 2008, 06:25:58 PM »
Welcome Brendan!  :icon_mrgreen:

Offline BerkeleyNat

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #419: April 10, 2008, 09:19:48 PM »
Martinsburg WV is in Berkeley County, WV.  Oddly enough, Berkeley Springs is in Morgan County.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I am, however, not from California. :)

Thanks for the welcome.

Offline EmpireNat

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #420: April 14, 2008, 04:33:51 PM »
Hi everyone, I'm Josh from Bolton, near Manchester in England. I started to watch baseball just last season, but now I'm hooked! I'm a Washington sports fan in general, and sort of followed them through the city interest, and became a lifelong fan when Zim hit the walk off homer on opening day!!

So far in my (albeit limited and not useful) opinion, the performance of the team isn't great, but not worrying so early on and with so many injuries. Guzman and Milledge are doing what they need to do at the top of the order, but we need more production from 3,4,5,6. At the moment, the starting rotation seems to show potential for 5 innings, and then meltdown through lack of concentration, tiredness or poor pitching. Lannan, Redding and Chico have looked good, I shut my eyes when Bergmann pitches and Perez seems to be serviceable. I cannot wait to see Hill back in the rotation, and I've been hearing great things about Balester.

But, as I am a relative newcomer to the sport and the Nationals, I have a few questions, would be greatly appreciated if I could find some answers,

Who, if anyone, is the Nationals 'ace'?
Who is the Nationals biggest rivalry?
What are the teams expectations this and next year, when can we expect success?
How good is Zimmerman when compared to the rest of the league's 3B?

Thanks alot, Josh.

Offline spidernat

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #421: April 14, 2008, 05:11:06 PM »

Who, if anyone, is the Nationals 'ace'?
Who is the Nationals biggest rivalry?
What are the teams expectations this and next year, when can we expect success?
How good is Zimmerman when compared to the rest of the league's 3B?

Thanks alot, Josh.


Welcome Josh and you will get a variety of answers to your questions. My answers are:

The Nats don't have an 'ace' as of right now (although one poster here would insist that we had an 'ace' in Patterson and another one thinks the same about Bergmann :?). Some people think that Hill could be an 'ace' but I don't believe that at all. Even when he is healthy he doesn't quite match up with the best pitchers in the league, IMO.

The rivalry thing is tricky. We tend to have levels of rivalry with the teams in our division but the Mets and Phillies are at the top of our hatred. However, even though Baltimore is not in our league a lot of people (but not all) will tell you that they are a hated rival due to their geographical proximity and our hatred for their owner.

Some of us expected the Nats to compete and flirt with .500 and maybe even slightly above (one poster here expected them to compete for the wild card :shock:). There are some around MLB who think the Nationals will barely be improved from last season. Although it's not looking good right now I'm still hoping we can win 83 games and maybe end up 3rd in our division.

Zimmerman is probably the best glove at 3rd (although he can use a little polish on some of his throws). As for offensive production, he has shown ability and promise but only time will tell if he will ultimately live up to it and be the best in the league. Right now he's struggling. Some people outside of Washington believe he is overrated. Some people here think he is the best in baseball. The answer is probably somewhere in the middle.

Offline tomterp

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #422: April 14, 2008, 05:36:05 PM »
Hi Josh, welcome!  :uk:

I'm going to take a quick stab at your questions, limited by time.

Who, if anyone, is the Nationals 'ace'?    :rofl:

I'm not laughing at your question, I'm laughing to keep from crying.  The Nats don't seem to believe in aces.  "All for one, and one for all!"  Uh, er, "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs".  How about, we're working on it, but there's a lot more work to do?  I give up.

Who is the Nationals biggest rivalry?  Typically this would be a team in our division, but since we've been at or near bottom in all three years in DC, hard to say we've really got one.  The Orioles, in the American League, are loathed by many for their efforts to prevent DC from getting a team.  Plus, they marketed to the DC area for many years, and thus have a fan base in the area, which generates a lot of heated discussions among those who might otherwise be friends or co-workers.  We play the Orioles 6 times a season, for regional bragging rights.  Nats took 4 of 6 last year, including a sweep of 3 straight in Camden Yards, SWEET!


What are the teams expectations this and next year, when can we expect success?  Nearly all of us picked the team to be above .500, but most "professionals" picked the Nats to win somewhere around 70-73 games.  Most of us feel the team improved from 2007 in the offseason, but our confidence has been shaken by the recent 9 game losing streak.  Realistically, we expect to contend (for the divisional title) in 1-2 years from now, but our division is not very solid at the moment and if we get our act together the season is still very much in play.

How good is Zimmerman when compared to the rest of the league's 3B?  Almost certainly the best fielder in the NL, and an improving hitter.  He did not win the "gold glove" award last season, a travesty of justice once one compares to the winner (David Wright) objectively.  Zimmerman has dramatically better range and athletic ability, gets to far more balls than Wright could ever hope to field.   It is projected that he will improve his hitting significantly this season, as he matures physically and has gained vital experience, and also has some better hitters around him.

Offline EmpireNat

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #423: April 15, 2008, 07:45:51 AM »
Thanks for the responses guys, I feel like I know the team like I should do now!

I don't want to get annoying, but I do have one FINAL question..

What the hell is the difference between OBP and the batting average?

The way I see it, the average is how many hits to at bats, and the OBP is how on base time, but surely they should be the same? Because hits get you onto base?

Thanks in advance, Josh

Offline tomterp

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Re: Welcome New Members, Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #424: April 15, 2008, 08:02:09 AM »
What the hell is the difference between OBP and the batting average?

The way I see it, the average is how many hits to at bats, and the OBP is how on base time, but surely they should be the same? Because hits get you onto base?

Thanks in advance, Josh

There are a number of differences, but most importantly, OBP includes walks and hit-by-pitch in the numerator AND demoninator, while simple averages excludes them from the calculation.

Imagine a batter who comes to the plate 10 times, and gets 3 hits and a walk.

His batting average is .333   (3 divided by 9), as the walk is excluded from batting average, as if it never happened.  Thus while he had 10 plate appearances, he only had 9 "at-bats" for purposes of computing average.

The hitters OBP is .400, 4 divided by 10.  3 hits + a walk = 4, divided by plate appearances.

Wikipedia has a more expansive discussion here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_base_percentage