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Off-The-Field Recap: You’ve Got a Friend in Me

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This week, the Nats off-field endeavors attempted to quell the stress that is once again beginning to associate itself with the late innings. Tanner Roark, Bob Carpenter and Shawn Kelley read to kids at a local library, Ben Revere was on a mission to catch a circulating virus, and all the Harpers in America came together to create the cutest, Nats-jersey based video of all time.

1. Jonathan Papelbon didn’t have the best week he’s ever had, and he probably should focus on cardiology the next time he makes a big donation based on the number of hearts that suffered during the ninth inning at his hands. Nonetheless, he took the blood pressure down a notch by doing his best Max Scherzer impersonation, lobbying for an at bat.

2. Friends are important if for no other reason than to have a companion in braving 97 degree heat for hours at a time. While there’s no definitive proof that Jose Lobaton’s son and Wilson Ramos’ daughter have found that kind of a friend in each other, this instagram picture posted by Ramos’ wife is pretty close to it. Little Loby and Buffalita both seemed to do perfectly fine in the heat together, while also rocking some killer shades.

Mis enanos ❤️ un abrazo Manuel… 👫 @nina_lobaton

A photo posted by Yely Escalona de Ramos⚾️💞Anto💞 (@yelyescalona) on


3. One of Bryce Harper’s favorite talking points besides baseball (and maybe his hair) is family — stories of when he was younger, how much it’s shaped him, and the esteem with which he holds them. Many of his stories center on his father (I’ve heard “in the blazing heat or the freezing cold,” significantly more than once from Harper in reference to his father’s job.) In Harper’s recent instagram post, he shone the spotlight on all of his family members. The photo included his sister Brittany Harper-Peterson and his parents, as well as his brother and Nationals minor leaguer Bryan Harper, and his fiancee Kayla Varner.


4. Bryce Harper with babies is probably one of the cutest things in the world, likely because Harper is basically a kid himself. The Nationals marketing team combined the two on Harper Kids Jersey day, by compiling a video of kids nationwide sporting their Bryce jerseys. It includes a baby attempting to eat a baseball, so I do highly recommend it.

5. Though Ben Revere has struggled to find his footing this season, he has given some important things to the fanbase, namely tiny-ness. After hitting in the tying run for the Nats on Saturday against the San Diego Padres, he also blessed the beat writers with a look into the rigid, science based managerial decisions of Dusty Baker and a look in at how he gets into peak hitting form.

6. Max Scherzer (and I choose to believe it’s Max and not some PR person he’s hired), has continued his upward trend in instagram use. He’s posted almost once a day this week, and has been promoting his two different charities as well as his love of baseball. Scherzer has been focused on his and his wife’s (Erika May-Scherzer) fight against human trafficking and the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy.

Let’s go win a baseball game! #GoNats

A photo posted by Max Scherzer (@maxscherzer31) on

Thanks for the birthday love @nationals! We got that W today, best birthday present I could have asked for!

A photo posted by Max Scherzer (@maxscherzer31) on


7. Following in Stephen Strasburg’s footsteps, Bob Carpenter, Tanner Roark and Shawn Kelley fine tuned their storytelling abilities. All three made their way to libraries around DC to get their daily reading in and learn some things about talking trains and faraway lands.

8. Shawn Kelley can not only read aloud to children with the best of them (a skill not easily refined,) but he can also pitch his way out of a bases loaded save situation. The latter talent landed him a postgame interview with MASN’s Dan Kolko, and while the save that got him there was no big deal to Kelley, the interview itself was. Shawn owned up to being nervous in a charming way that only a closer who had just rescued his team from defeat could pull off. Kelley even throws in a Johnny Jonathan reference for those who have been following Kolko’s interviews with relievers.

Last and least, the Tweets of the Week:

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Mina Dunn

I watched the Orioles until I was ten when I realized that (most) fans at RFK didn’t shout letters during the National Anthem. I’m a Public Relations and Economics major at VCU, the associate managing editor at TNB, and a sports columnist for a student newspaper. Be my friend on Twitter dot com: @maddc8.

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