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Off-The-Field Recap: A Pigeon in the On-Deck Circle is Worth Two in the Bush

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The Washington Nationals gave Max Scherzer a whole lot of offense for his birthday on Thursday, outdoing any birthday present you’ve ever given or gotten. There might even have to be a rewrite on the Twelve Days of Christmas to change the lyrics to “eight home runs… and a pigeon with a great seat.” Knowing that this is the off-field content we live for, the Nationals didn’t stop there.

  1. The Nationals and MLB revealed the All-Star Game logo for the 2018 All-Star Game on Wednesday. It is oriented around a DC landmark. Florals for spring–groundbreaking. Bryce Harper, finally giving the people what they want, spiced things up by confirming that he will participate in the Home Run Derby if given the chance. Dusty Baker, Max Scherzer, and Daniel Murphy joined Harper for the press conference, but, the thing is, the cameras caught shots of them that might imply none were too thrilled to be there.

 


The Nationals have yet to extend Baker’s contract past 2017, so who can really blame  any malcontent he may or may not be feeling. Who would enjoy talking about an exciting vacation they might not be invited to?

2. During a week in which Fangraphs and The Ringer decried MLB for ignoring Anthony Rendon’s stardom, Rendon made sure that he reiterated some other traits that he is totally underrated for. He helped kids pick sunglasses at the second annual free eye care clinic for the Nats Youth Baseball Acadamy, which he also helped organize. The event is sponsored by the Nationals director of visual performance Keith Smithson and provides free eye exams and perscription glasses to scholar-athletes. Come on, look at that picture and tell me it doesn’t ooze star power. 

3. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If Jude Oz, Jayson Werth’s One True Protector, had tried to imitate anyone in the bullpen before Mike Rizzo acquired Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle, her stance might have looked a little more akin to flailing or combusting. So, thank the baseball gods for that trade because here she is doing her best impression of Doolittle’s glove chin-table.


4. Bryce Harper loves chance the rapper. We know because he often wears the signiture Chance “3” hat, both in postgame interviews and in the background of his wife Kayla’s Instagram story. Love makes a person do crazy things. Sometimes those crazy things are screaming at an umpire. Right, Bryce?

5. Max Scherzer has two different colored eyes. Max has two dogs. Max’s two dogs have two different colored eyes. You’ve probably heard the facts before, but here are some new ones about Max and his wife Erica’s relationship with dogs, courtesy of NOVADog Magazine.

6. You know him. You love him. He’s the pigeon we all love to adore. It’s Rufus, the friendly neighborhood pigeon. Rufus, named by the Washington Post’s Clinton Yates, earned himself a spot in the Nationals Twitter header after occupying a spot behind home plate during all eight homers hit by the Nationals on Thursday and the seven other runs scored, plus even a little time while the Nationals were on something called “defense.” DC has a high pigeon population, maybe Rufus should be on the All-Star logo instead.

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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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