Nationals Arm Race

"… the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same – pitching.” — Earl Weaver

Nats Blog & RSS Feed Overview

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I read all my sports news via RSS Feeds, which I’ve read into Google Reader for years.  If you’re like me, you were probably highly irritated when finding out that Google is summarily ending the Reader service.   I’ve done a bit of research on where to transfer my RSS feeds and “Feedly” seems to be the way to go.  (Tangent: if you’re a big RSS reader, where are you moving your RSS feeds to, or what do you use as an alternative to Google Reader?  I’m leading towards Feedly)

Anyway, while thinking about my Google RSS feed future, I happened to take a look at the two categories of Nationals RSS feeds that I have listed and was astonished to see the number of Nationals links I now have.  I count at least Eighty (80) Nationals related blogs and another Thirty (30) Nationals “Official” feed links (official meaning Team sites, beat reporters, or Masn feeds).

Can you believe there are (or were) eighty blogs out there about the Washington Nationals??  And in reality that number may be a bit low, because I’m always finding out about new Nationals blogs that pop up.  A great number of these blogs are now dormant (read onwards), but there’s still quite a few near daily blogs pumping out nearly as much content as the paid Beat Reporters.

Anyway; I thought it would be of great service to list all these various Blog links for the general Nats readership.  And of course if you see a blog out there that I don’t have, I’d love to grab it.  I also took this opportunity to clean up my own links section along the right-hand side to prune away obsoleted blogs and add in the currently active blogs.   Lastly: if your site doesn’t have an Nats-specific RSS feed, then I don’t have it here.

I’ll divide these blogs into various categories.  The links for each Blog are the RSS feeds, not the actual blog site.  But if you want to go to the blog site it is usually straight forward enough to figure out from the URL or from a bit of google work.

Highly Active Nats Blogs (Daily posts or close)

Less Active but not Dormant Nats Blogs (sporadic posts)

  • 2011 Nationals Draft Info: Sean Hogan‘s 2011 Draft blog; listed here since its part of a series (see next).
  • 2012 Nationals Draft Info: Sean Hogan’s 2012 Draft blog
  • Bang! Zoom!: last post 2/11/2013. before that Nov 2012.  Not sure what’s happened to Kirk Raymond but I hope he returns.
  • Center Field Gate: last post 1/20/13: was highly active in-season so we’ll hope for a return.
  • DC is for Baseball: last post 1/31/13: Sean Hogan‘s main site; his interest lays more in prospects and the draft, so he gets busier around the Rule 4 draft and has the per-year detailed Draft blogs (see below).
  • First Ladies of Baseball: last post Oct 11, 2012, may not actually be dormant; we’ll see if the authors Ashley Warlick and Maggie Keller pop back up when the 2013 starts.
  • For Love of the Nationals: Last post Jan 2013: despite posting recently, Dave Lint only has posted a handful of times in the last 3 years, so we’re calling this site dormant for now.
  • Internet Baseball Writers Association: Washington, D.C. Chapter;  home site for Dave Nichols-led DC-IBWA where Nats bloggers emulate the BBWAA and vote on things.  Coincidentally the membership rolls of DC-IBWA mirror this blog posting in terms of listing Nats bloggers.
  • Nats Noodles; last post 1/15/13: author “Nat Anacostia” has been sporadic this off-season.
  • Nats Triple Play: last post 1/29/13: only a handful of posts in the last year; may be dormant.
  • Natsfangirl; last post 10/4/12: author Jenn Jenson posts beautiful photography on this blog, which seems to have taken the off-season off.  I hope she’s back for opening day 2013.
  • Natstradamus last post 3/7/13: periodic intelligent pieces with heavy Sabre-lants from author Luigi De Guzman (aka “Ouij”).
  • Dick Heller: last post 2/21/13 by namesake author Dick Heller.
  • Win for Teddy: last post Sept 2012: very active last season, hope to see them come back.

Dormant, Obsolete or Abandoned Nats Blogs

  • Ball-Wonk: last post Dec 2010
  • Capitol Baseball: last post July 2012: not sure what happened here; the author was posting nearly daily in-season 2012.
  • Capitol Punishment: Last post Sept 2012.  Chris Needham‘s infamous Nats blog, one of the first and one of the most vociferious about the state of the early Nats, which he “quit” a couple years ago but to which he continues to post sporadically.
  • DC Double Play: last post Jan 2012.
  • DC Sports Plus: last post Nov 2012.  Sean Hogan’s previous blog, essentially ended May 2011.
  • De civitate sabermetricarum: last post 5/29/12: was doing near daily posts and then suddenly stopped.
  • Distinguished Senators: Last post May 2011.
  • FJB: last post Apr 2012: like Needham, Steven Biel sometimes pops back up on this blog and posts about the team, despite the title of the blog (Fire Jim Bowden) long since being obsoleted.
  • F*ck Yeah Stephen Strasburg: last post Jan 2012: yes indeed there’s a site with this title.
  • Half Street Blues; last post May 2010
  • I Miss RFK; last post July 2009.
  • Just A Nats Fan; last post July 2011.
  • Life is Better With Baseball; signed off Aug 2011.
  • National Record; last post Feb 2012.
  • Nationals 360: last real post Jan 2011, now taken over by an Electronic Cigarette company?
  • Nationals Daily News: last post Dec 2011, this was Mark Hornbaker’s former site before starting the DC Baseball History site above.
  • Nationals Fangirls moved to just Nationals FanGirl (singular), but www.nationalsfangirl.com currently says that its “Account is Suspended.”  Oh well.
  • Nationals Farm Authority: Brian Oliver‘s fantastic farm system tracking site, who signed off Sept 1 2010 to start a new career.  NationalsProspects.com has picked up where Oliver left off.
  • NATIONALS NEWS NETWORK: Dave Nichols closed this to join it with the larger District Sports Page, which reports on all Washington Sports in one location.  Unfortunately he has no Nats-specific RSS feed, so I don’t regular read the site (I don’t really care about random Redskins, Wizards or Capitals stories).
  • NATIONALS NEWS NETWORK: Off The Field; last post Sept 2011.  Cheryl Nichols also moved to the District Sports page.
  • Nationals Review; last post May 2012.
  • NationalsDailyNews.com Teamwire: last post July 2010
  • NationalsFanboyLooser: last post June 2011.  Former blog by Mike Harris, who then took over as Sports Editor of The Washington Times after they re-introduced Sports to the paper after a 2 year hiatus.
  • NationalsPride.com: last post: April 2010.  Authors Bergin and Henderson suddenly stopped writing.
  • Nats Doggerel last post Mar 2010: short lived blog that posted quick poems about the Nats.  I’m not kidding.
  • Nats320 — A Washington Nationals Blog: Jeff Saffelle‘s photography-heavy blog which suddenly went off the air in July 2011.  There’s a story there but last time I saw Jeff we didn’t get into it.  I think the loss of this blog, one of the absolute first Nats blogs, is a real shame.  Jeff took a lot of heat on the blogosphere/twitter for being “too friendly” to the Nats cause; to that I say “this is a free country; you’re free not to read what you don’t like.”  Too many haters in this world.
  • NatsStats: last post Aug 2010.
  • Nats of the Round Table: last post Oct 2008, may have morphed into Nationals Baseball above.
  • NBTN: last post July 2009, now the page renders in Japanese.  Weird.
  • Passing Time Between Wil Nieves’ Bombs… last post March 2012.
  • Past a Diving Vidro: last post May 2011.
  • Planetary Nats Blog: last post Dec 2010
  • Pulp Nationals: last post Mar 2010.
  • Senators Fans Unite: Will Bentzel signed off Jan 1 2010.
  • StephenJWalker.com: last post Oct 2011.
  • Swatting Nats; last post Oct 2010.
  • The Half Street Highrise: last post Apr 2010, author Banneker moved to The Nats Blog.
  • The Nats Report: last post Nov 2010.
  • Washington Nationals; last post Nov 2010, domain now gone.
  • We’ve Got Heart; last post Apr 2010.
  • YOU DEAD DAWG: last post Nov 2011.

Not entirely about the Nats but of Interest to Nats Fans

Nats Beat Reporters

  • All Nats All the Time: official blog feed of MLB.com Nats beat reporter Bill Ladson.
  • Byron Kerr: MASN Nats beat reporter Byron Kerr‘s official blog feed.
  • Latest entries for Nationals Watch: from Washington Times beat reporter Amanda Comak.
  • MASNsports.com‘s Nats Beat Reporter Pete Kerzel‘s blog feed.
  • Nationals Journal; Washington Post Nats Beat reporters Adam Kilgore and James Wagner‘s official blog.  The NatsJournal is one of the longest running blogs out there and is very widely read.
  • NATS INSIDER; Comcast Sports Net’s Mark Zuckerman‘s blog, probably which has the widest readership of any link on this page.

Other links for Members of the Press

  • Bob Carpenter: MASN TV broadcaster Bob Carpenter‘s official blog feed.
  • Examiner Beanballs RSS: Washington Examiner Beanballs feed, Nats specific but very sporadic.
  • Examiner MLB RSS: Washington Examiner MLB feed, but seems Nats specific.  Sometimes picks up Tom Loverro‘s stuff.
  • Washington Nationals News: official MLB feed for the team, mostly written by Ladson as well.
  • Thomas Boswell (washingtonpost.com): Washington Post National writer Tom Boswell‘s rss feed.  He doesn’t write exclusively on the Nats, but there’s plenty of baseball content.

Nats “Official” Blogs; these are from the team, from players, etc.

Obsolete “Official” Nats blogs and links

Known Nats News items on the Net not listed above

  • Mr Irrelevant: Jamie & Chris Mottram has a DC-sports heavy blog, but not Nats specific.
  • I’m not entirely sure i’m getting all the content The Washington Examiner offers via the above links (which is a shame if true, because I like the writing of Thom Loverro)
  • District Sports Page, what grew out of Nationals News Network and Dave Nichols, doesn’t have a Nats-specific feed, just an all-Washington sports feed, and (frankly) I can’t stand the overexposure the Washington Redskins get in this town.
  • DC Sports Bog features the always-entertaining writing of Dan Steinberg but isn’t entirely Nats focused.
  • William World News from William Yurasko is in the same boat; some Nats posts, not entirely Nats related.  Lots of DC-area items of interest though.
  • We Love DC; as with others in this section, lots about DC, some about the Nats.  Editor: Tom Bridge with Nats specialist Rachel Levitin.
  • DC Pro Sports Report: like with District Sports Page; all DC sports, no Nats-specific feed that I can find.  Update: Nichols provided this link: districtsportspage.com/category/nationalsmlb
  • Baseball News Hound: authored by Ryan Kelley, who also contributes to Bleacher Report.  Lots of Nats stuff but not exclusively so.
  • Seamheads.com: more of a generic baseball blog but does have some DC-centric guys like Ted Leavengood who guest-blogs for MASN.

If you have updates, corrections or additions to anything above, please comment and let me know.  I know I may have some of the names for these blogs wrong, or am missing major contributors to sites whose author rolls change quickly.  I apologize in advance for any errors or mistakes.

Written by Todd Boss

March 26th, 2013 at 10:15 am

Posted in Nats in General

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12 Responses to 'Nats Blog & RSS Feed Overview'

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  1. I appreciate my 4 mentions on the list, Todd! This is an excellent rundown of sites. I am dreading having to move away from Google Reader, but will give Feedly a shot. I found this article with some alternatives to check out as well http://www.extremetech.com/computing/101011-6-google-reader-replacements

    I have 2 sites to add if you’d be willing –
    http://www.CitizensofNatstown.com
    http://www.NationalsObsession.com (launches on Opening Day)

    Sean

    26 Mar 13 at 10:43 am

  2. I think the more research i’ve done, the more Feedly looks like the way to go. I havn’t made the switch yet myself but will start testing soon.

    Will stick these sites in a quick edit soon.

    Todd Boss

    26 Mar 13 at 10:49 am

  3. Great compendium (just wanted to use that word) of sites. You should create a Nats Blog Graveyard or something.

    Feedly does look like the winner of the Google Reader slow march to death. But, like a lot of DC area based people, I work somewhere that has pretty tough security on the internet and it seems like The Old Reader is my only viable option. I’m sadly the 11520th person in queue to get my Reader feeds imported, so it may take twelve years for me to be able to use it.

    ckstevenson

    26 Mar 13 at 11:37 am

  4. Yeah I’m in the same boat apparently; was screwing around with Feedly today on my secure computer and I guess it depends on a plug-in to the browser? I’ll do some testing at home. This could be, well, bad.

    Todd Boss

    26 Mar 13 at 3:37 pm

  5. Thanks for this list, it is incredibly useful. I’ll be subscribing to all these and quickly dropping those I find annoying or repetitive. I’m looking forward to finding alternatives to nats insider and nats journal, which seem like a flood of half-baked crap that isn’t even properly published on the RSS. Clickwhores.

    FWIW, if you want to follow WAPO, you can just use http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/rss/sports/nationals

    This picks up all of the nats journal, and only the RELEVANT posts from boz, bog, and the dead tree. So you don’t have to read about RGIII, March Madness, or the NFL combine.

    I read only on one computer, an apple, and for me the simplest solution to the google reader shutdown is netnewswire, which is elegant and fast, but not web-based.

    I would love to hear your opinion on some of the (irrational) expectations. The main questions that occur to me concern uncertainty in these predictions.

    We know what happened last year. The consensus, overwhelmingly, was that it would be a good division that the Phillies would absolutely dominate. The Marlins would give them a run for their money, but probably end up in the wildcard hunt ultimately, with the Braves and Nats each having a realistic shot if the dominos fell just right. The mets would be the mets.

    This was wildly inaccurate. The Phillies were injured. Their supposedly untouchable pitchers were surprisingly mortal. The nats got extremely lucky with a healthy pitching staff, and two positions that were very big questionmarks at this time of 2012 (shortstop and first base) turned in out-of-nowhere career year offensive production, which offset the nats own injury woes. The marlins imploded for reasons that remain unclear to me. And the Braves did what they always seem to do, no matter what the predictions: play really good baseball. So the only prediction anywhere close to right was that the mets would be the mets.

    How did things go incredibly wrong? Three possibilities seem feasible to me: 1) Uncertainty in baseball outcomes is extremely high, and predictions like this are never really worth much more than toilet paper, and the prognosticators are absurdly overconfident in their guesses for no clear reason. In football, for example, this seems to be true. 2) This happened to be a flukey year in the division, and predictions are usually very good. OR 3) Something between these two extremes, where there are maybe a couple well understood sources of uncertainty (like injury, or breakout seasons) that just happened to play a large role in last year’s divisional competition.

    Which is it?

    jj

    26 Mar 13 at 4:18 pm

  6. Thanks for that feed; i’ll take a look. I’m less critical of Kilgore and Zuckerman than you are; I think they’re the two best beat reporters for the team out there and they do good work.

    I think i’ll need an alternative to feedly, which seems to depend on a plug-in.

    I did a war-analysis of the team’s 2013 outlook and came up with a best-case scenario of a 105 win team. Irrational? Yes probably so, since it assumes that everyone plays to their potential and nobody gets injured. In reality I think this team can repeat its success in 2012 and build on it. No reason not to expect another 95-100win season. I was assuming the Nats were an 85-88 win team in 2012; Gonzalez over produced, some players had career years and the team really jelled. For 2013 they’ve made good signings, great trades, and can expect increases in production from big names.

    Meanwhile I think the Marlins are easily a 105 loss team and the Mets are close to it. The Phillies are aging, and aging badly, Halladay looks awful this spring and their off-season signings inarguably make them worse, not better. I like the chances of both the Braves and the Nats to be 95 win teams in 2013.

    Todd Boss

    26 Mar 13 at 5:03 pm

  7. Thanks for including me but I haven’t written for Federal Baseball since 2011 and now write for Citizens of Natstown which is a good Nats blog in its own right.

    David Huzzard

    26 Mar 13 at 7:29 pm

  8. Thanks Dave, Sean told me about your new venture and i’ve updated the blog posting with that site. Sorry for the bad attribution; I knew you were at Federal Baseball and i’m glad you found a new home.

    Todd Boss

    26 Mar 13 at 9:53 pm

  9. I also miss Nats320. Jeff was a Homer! But he offered excellent game summaries for those of us who missed the actual game, especially day games. He also knew the mechanics of “playing the game.” He was an excellent counterbalance to Needham’s bitter, yet also excellent, blog

    Sec314

    27 Mar 13 at 1:03 pm

  10. Thanks for the new sites Sean; sorry for delaying the approval of your comment; i didn’t think I had that functionality turned on. I couldn’t figure out why your comment was shaded differently in the admin screen of WordPress. Weird. Anyway; i’ve updated the post with these two sites.

    Todd Boss

    28 Mar 13 at 12:19 pm

  11. What happened to Nats320 ?

    Dave

    3 May 13 at 1:25 am

  12. You’d probably have to ask Saffelle that. Last time I saw him I brought it up, and I got kind of a “well I don’t really want to talk about it” impression.

    I have no idea, even on speculation. I know there was a lot of hate towards him and his blog from other Nats bloggers of the day. Accused him of being too pro-team at a time when the Nats were just god-awful. I never thought that was warranted; every blog has a different place and a different feel. We have Nats blogs that are 100% pro team, 100% anti team, that try to just be pure beat reporters, that do entirely opinion pieces. Safelle’s journalistic and photography background lent itself to his interest in taking a lot of pictures and posting them. He also goes to a ton of games and takes pictures there too.

    That’s the thing I don’t get; Every one of these blogs is free. Its a free country. You don’t HAVE to read my blog or his blog or whoever’s. So if you disagree or didn’t like it … just stop reading it! That’s one aspect of blogging that I just don’t get.

    Todd Boss

    3 May 13 at 9:21 am

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