We won on a walk of walk

[HalfSmokes]

With this free swinging team, this may be the most satisfying way to win. 

[wpa2629]

Zimmy did the same thing two years ago -- gotta LOVE Duke's plate presence ...

[Air Zimmerman]

With this free swinging team, this may be the most satisfying way to win. 

Dukes sure isn't a free swinger, his plate patience and ability to recognize balls/strikes is phenomenal. Dukes resisted some tempting pitches that made Milledge look like a fool.

IT WAS PRICELESS TO SEE DUKES POUND HIS CHEST IN TRIUMPH AFTER THE WALK! his intensity is unmatched. he was fired up after that amazing ab and rightfully so!

[Air Zimmerman]

Zimmy did the same thing two years ago -- gotta LOVE Duke's plate presence ...

yep. soon Dukes will be one of the most feared hitters in baseball. he's the complete package.

[Air Zimmerman]

DUKES EMPHATICALLY POUNDING HIS CHEST IN TRIUMPH!!!!!!!! Dukes is INTENSE, he's got a fierce football mentality!

DUKES IS THE DEFINITION OF A BEAST!

[shoeshineboy]

Great picture there. I love the chest thump he gives himself. It's his thing, just as it was something that Usain Bolt did at the Olympics. It just goes to show that when that idiot ump Eddings complained that Dukes was showing him up by chest thumping on his walk off HR, he was completely clueless. The kid just plays the game with intensity. It's his way of giving himself a congratulatory gesture for staying focused and getting the job done.

I also loved how duke thumped his helmet with his bat when the count when 3-2. You could tell he was really concentrating on staying within himself and not make a stupid swing. This is not the first time that Dukes's patience and ability to draw a walk has been directly responsible for a win, and it won't be the last (knock on wood.)

[wpa2629]

Great picture there. I love the chest thump he gives himself. It's his thing, just as it was something that Usain Bolt did at the Olympics. It just goes to show that when that idiot ump Eddings complained that Dukes was showing him up by chest thumping on his walk off HR, he was completely clueless. The kid just plays the game with intensity. It's his way of giving himself a congratulatory gesture for staying focused and getting the job done.

I also loved how duke thumped his helmet with his bat when the count when 3-2. You could tell he was really concentrating on staying within himself and not make a stupid swing. This is not the first time that Dukes's patience and ability to draw a walk has been directly responsible for a win, and it won't be the last (knock on wood.)

Yeah ... I noticed that -- he stepped off, did the helmet bump -- took a deep breath and when he stepped back in he was totally focused == he's got all the potential in the world -- I'm not even worried about the off field stuff anymore at all -- if he can stay healthy - he can be an absolute force on this team ...

[Coladar]

I remember the one two years ago... Have the Nat's had any other walk off walks in their history? We get a cycle and a relative rarity in a walk off walk all in three games. It *almost* makes up for the ****ty six games I and many others sat through every minute of a couple weeks ago. Another stat I'm curious in... I wonder if a team has ever blown an entire six game home-stand, losing six straight, and then come back to win the next six in a row... Or at least five at this point. I find it hard to believe that's *ever* happened. What a week, and what a game tonight. Dukes is God.

[Evolution33]

I still can't help but say, "You dead dawg." After anything good Elijah does. I have started to call him the Prophet though.

[Minty Fresh]

It's official.  I am an Elijah Dukes fan.  I found myself the past two days cheering for Dukes more than any other player.  I also felt confident with Dukes at the plate in any situation. 

I still think he's a dog for what he did in Tampa, but this is a country of second chances and clearly, Dukes is taking advantage right now. 

Please God, please let Elijah stay healthy and strong willed here in Washington because he is BY FAR our most talented player.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

I am certainly loving what he has started to do at the plate, but I'm not about to go AZ all over him. It's not like he really did much other than take a "walk." That certainly shows confidence, patience, and presence which is terrific. But I'm not chucking being a Washington Nationals fan to be a Elijah Dukes fan based off a walk that chances are, another player in that position could of taken as well.

But a win is a win and F the Braves. I hope that jackass with the "I Love Chipper Jones" glitter sign was there again last night. Putz.

[UMDNats]

Dukes is probably our most feared hitter right now. Really happy to see him doing well, it makes our team that much better.

[shoeshineboy]

But a win is a win and F the Braves. I hope that jackass with the "I Love Chipper Jones" glitter sign was there again last night. Putz.

Was the guy down the left field line on Friday night? It was hard to tell from he 1st base side what was going on, but it looked like a guys with a sign was standing up a lot trying to get Braves fans to cheer and then some kind of skurmish broke out with other fans and somebody ripped his sign in half. It looked like the Nats fan that confronted the Braves fan was then ejected to cheers and high fives. That's all speculation, because I had no binoculars. But it appeared something like that unfolded. The guy with the sign was a complete ass, because he was clearly standing up blocking people's view of the game alot.

[hammondsnats]

My guy milledge had a terrible at bat there, hernandez i thought - and i'm not alone - should've scored on the belliard fly ... but it was great to see dukes work the count and get the run in.

Honestly, the celebration is fine by me.  You see other teams guys like Kevin Youkilis go nuts after an RBI single in the second inning of a game, why not let Dukes show his emotion after a homer or something, just as long as it's not showing up the other team.

[Minty Fresh]

Was the guy down the left field line on Friday night? It was hard to tell from he 1st base side what was going on, but it looked like a guys with a sign was standing up a lot trying to get Braves fans to cheer and then some kind of skurmish broke out with other fans and somebody ripped his sign in half. It looked like the Nats fan that confronted the Braves fan was then ejected to cheers and high fives. That's all speculation, because I had no binoculars. But it appeared something like that unfolded. The guy with the sign was a complete ass, because he was clearly standing up blocking people's view of the game alot.

Being only two sections over from the fracus I got a good view.  Yes, that's exactly what happened. 

The Nats fans deserved to get tossed because they were confrontational, but the guy with the sign should've been tossed as well.

[Minty Fresh]

My guy milledge had a terrible at bat there, hernandez i thought - and i'm not alone - should've scored on the belliard fly ... but it was great to see dukes work the count and get the run in.

Honestly, the celebration is fine by me.  You see other teams guys like Kevin Youkilis go nuts after an RBI single in the second inning of a game, why not let Dukes show his emotion after a homer or something, just as long as it's not showing up the other team.

From section 105 it looked like Hernandez would've been a dead duck.  I think Hernandez made the right choice.

[blue911]

From section 105 it looked like Hernandez would've been a dead duck.  I think Hernandez made the right choice.

It would have been stupid to sent Hernandez. Anderson started the play in his throwing range and came in to make the catch.

[hammondsnats]

It would have been stupid to sent Hernandez. Anderson started the play in his throwing range and came in to make the catch.

well sutton said on the broadcast he probably should've scored ... i had a few friends at the game text me said he most likely would've made it ... but the bottom line is we won!  and i'm still ticked milledge didn't drive in that run.

[houston-nat]

Incidentally, Dukes is now Mr. Walk-Off, having driven in the winner in three of our nine walk-off wins this year (we have twelve last-at-bat wins btw).

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Was the guy down the left field line on Friday night? It was hard to tell from he 1st base side what was going on, but it looked like a guys with a sign was standing up a lot trying to get Braves fans to cheer and then some kind of skurmish broke out with other fans and somebody ripped his sign in half. It looked like the Nats fan that confronted the Braves fan was then ejected to cheers and high fives. That's all speculation, because I had no binoculars. But it appeared something like that unfolded. The guy with the sign was a complete ass, because he was clearly standing up blocking people's view of the game alot.

Minty confirms this and through my binoculars I watched the same "drama" play out. I guess every team has their own AZ. I counted at least five times that security or an usher came down the steps to tell this "older kid" to get out of the aisle and put down the sign because it had to be blocking the view.

While the Nats fans who tore up the sign were confrontational, I admit I cheered them on. No one should be pulling this glitteriffic, Chipper-man love in our own house. F Chipper Jones. The only way he could get more on my bad side is if he went and joined the Mets.

It felt good to send that glitter kid home with a loss.

[blue911]

well sutton said on the broadcast he probably should've scored ... i had a few friends at the game text me said he most likely would've made it ... but the bottom line is we won!  and i'm still ticked milledge didn't drive in that run.

I wonder about Sutton at times.

[shoeshineboy]

Incidentally, Dukes is now Mr. Walk-Off, having driven in the winner in three of our nine walk-off wins this year (we have twelve last-at-bat wins btw).

And those are the RBI walk offs. He also manufactured a walk-off winning run by walking on, hustling over to 3B, and then scoring the walk-off run on a wild pitch. (This was the May 25th 7-6 win over the Brewers.)

[houston-nat]

And those are the RBI walk offs. He also manufactured a walk-off winning run by walking on, stealing over to 3B, and then scoring the walk-off run on a wild pitch.

Oooh yeah, I remember that!

[ronnynat]

I was going to ask if the first walk-off was a walk-off walk, but then I found this:

The first known usage of the word in print appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 21, 1988, Section D, Page 1. Chronicle writer Lowell Cohn wrote an article headlined "What the Eck?" about Oakland reliever Dennis Eckersley's unusual way of speaking: "For a translation, I go in search of Eckersley. I also want to know why he calls short home runs 'street pieces,' and home runs that come in the last at-bat of a game 'walkoff pieces'. . . ." Although the term originally was coined with a negative connotation, in reference to the pitcher (who must walk off the field with his head hung in shame), it has come to acquire a more celebratory connotation, for the batter who walks off with pride with the adulation of the home crowd). The term attained widespread use in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk-off_home_run

I never knew Eckersley had his own language.

[tomterp]

I hope that jackass with the "I Love Chipper Jones" glitter sign was there again last night. Putz.

DaveBinMd and I were sitting in his area the last 3 innings of game 1.  We were not sure who he was really rooting for, Nats or Braves.  On the one hand, he could have been a Nats fan, who was making fun of Braves fans love of Chipper, in a parody, and was really trying to distract Jones.  He was getting Jones' attention, no doubt.  And he had the mostly Nats crowd in his area yelling "Chip-per Jones" with him.

On the other hand, and this was my initial assumption, he was just an @sshole Braves fan acting up.  Dave was convinced he was really a Nats fan.  He had no team gear on to indicate what the deal was.  An Atlanta version of "AZ"?   

Anyway, around the 9th inning or so, a Nats fan came down and ripped the sign out of his hands, tore it in two pieces, and flung them away.  Immediately, a really large Braves fan jumped up and ran over looking to start trouble.     The Nats fan called in backup, and pretty soon there were a half dozen or more medium to large Nats and Braves fans in each others' faces arguing about the incident, and it was getting very heated.   

Ultimately, 3 or 4 wiry (tomterp sized) ushers came down and got in between everyone, and things mostly calmed down, except the Nats fan sign tearer was beating his chest in triumph, and the sign waver collected the pieces and kept up his nonsense.