Ate at Island Seafood Grill on Melbourne Beach and Island Pasta in Olde Town Melbourne so far this week. Both were very good.
Been to Chowder's a couple of times over the past four years. It is now off my list.
I also recommend Tuscany Grille in the shopping center on Wickham Rd were the Carrabas is. Much better than chain food.
Also the locals recommend a place called Fish Lips. Finally, if you like Japanese Steakhouses, there is a good one called Fujiamas. It is new and is a couple of miles down Wickham in front of a new Home Depot. Great for a group.
Unforetunately, tomorrow is a night game and ballpark food will have to do. (nothing open late) By the way the best food at the Space Coast Stadium is located behind the left field stands.

how about food and drink around Nats' Park? Should I bring a lunch pail to go with that hard hat at Metro?

Thanks for the dining review and the great chat, Barry. Looking forward to future chat answers for some of the potential cage match winner questions.

I ate at the Oh Shucks oyster bar/restaurant closest to the street at the Cocoa Beach pier and it wasnt very good. I wanted some clams and they were rubber. Bunch of other restaurants on the pier though...and real close if you stay at the Four Points Sheraton.

The wasabi encrusted tuna at Bonefish Willy's was decent. Their deck is great.

I'm a fan of the Slow and Low Bar-B-Que in Cocoa Beach. Good food and drink. Especially if you sit outside with a rum and coke in nice weather.

Dakine Diego's on A1A in Satellite Beach! Mmm, burritos, beer, and surf flicks. Plan on stopping by there myself before the game on Monday.

Sorry if this was picked up in the comments to a prior thread and I missed it, but this article pays off Barry's comment about whether the Dodgers would use a DH today.

http://tinyurl.com/3bqhux

This refers to the last post:

Ocho, you and your ilk really crack me up on this coverage topic. I mean seriously, all I can do is laugh about how you revel in the Post's sub-standard Nats coverage! Your logic on this makes so much sense: for crying out loud, who *wouldn't* want coverage to be worse than it should be? How could anyone even *think* about wrecking things by daring to say that the Post's coverage should improve?

And it is just so cute how you make little witty comments calling people "whiners" because they irrationally want more. It seems to me like you're the one who is whining, muchacho. Anyway, please keep it coming, you make things so much more entertaining around here.

It's just a jump to the left....

With pitching and hitting like today, I think I could grow to like this alternate universe.

122335MAR08

I don't know if this counts as saying hello, but my very lucky twin bro will be down there early next week. I'm not sure if he'll take your advice, as it didn't include where dem single girls are at.

Thanks for the coverage, Mr. NJ

Barry, You have to try DaKine Diego's on A1A, local shack restaurant, completely outdoors so wait for a nice day. I always have the Chicken Gringo, but you can't go wrong! Their burritos are supposed to be pretty good too. Hope you have time to make it there before you head north.

You've mentioned this several times in the past. Again, I choose to use this board as a baseball reference, not a source to continually complain about the Post's coverage.

In fact, I'm an Angels fan, raised in the DC area with season tickets to see the Nationals. And guess what, the LA Times (and Los Angeles in general), with two teams in town, also has poor baseball coverage. And they don't even have a football team.

Am I content with the Post's coverage of the Nationals? No. Do I want more beat writers/winter coverage/columns/in-depth interviews/analysis? Of course. I will want more print coverage than any newspaper will ever be able to provide.

Do I direct my complaints directly to the sports editor and Post's ombudsman? Yes.

Will there ever be changes at the Post? Who knows.

How long have you and your "ilk" been complaining on this board about coverage? Has it changed a thing other than the rare acknowledgement by a writer?

How about chiming in every now and then with your thoughts on the active roster or what you think about Felipe or your thoughts on the new players or something actually related to the game of baseball.

When you consistently argue about the Post's poor baseball coverage, I feel you have an agenda. By singling out a specific issue on a constant basis, one which is barely relative to the Nationals Journal as a whole, your point loses merit, regardless of its validity.

Or maybe you are Richard Justice and just want to come back to the Post. Or maybe you're the one time Times intern from Minneapolis looking for an upgrade to the Post.

Please recall this post when you single me out again. I will continue to respond to your incessant posts about coverage directed to the board as a whole, but hopefully this will be the last response I form when you directly respond to me.

Boz's 6th Nats column since ST began is up.

Still only 1 about the 0s in the same time period.

"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

may i suggest Dixie Crossroads in titusville. amazing ribs, about 30 minutes from space coast stadium. pick up some bbq and head over for a tailgate by the pond/drainage ditch outside the stadium. its like being in heaven

Make that score 7-1, rather.

Ocho, you lost me at "Angels fan". But please continue whining about what I choose to post and please continue trying to dictate what you believe are the appropriate topics of discussion here. You are setting a shining example of how to engage in reasoned discourse and encourage discussion.

Speaking of coverage, the Nats are on 3WT tonight. No Gameday lockups necessary around here tonight.

The intriguing Belliard trade rumor came out several days ago, now. Numerous other trade rumors have popped up for other teams' players, as well. No trades actually occur.

When do ST trades usually happen? Near the end, when roster rules force teams' hands? I'm in no rush to get rid of Ronnie, but I would at least enjoy some speculation about who we are considering trading him for.

I hate trade talk. I get so attached to players I hate it when they go. Ronnie is definitely one of them.

A blogger talked about this the other day. I've thought about it since. If the two teams would be willing to deal, the Nats and Orioles could be naturals.
The Nats have players such as Lopez, Maxwell, a reliever, possibly DY(dh)or Whitney(if something could be worked out with Cleveland). Maybe a Chico.
Baltimore has Roberts who would look great in a Nat's uniform, leading off.
Say three of the nats or whatever for Roberts.

Can we get the number of Panera visits to this point? Over or under last year's total?

Was Boz' column in the business section?

CIL wrote:

"Ocho, you and your ilk really crack me up on this coverage topic."

What do you have to do to accumulate "ilk"? It seems like having an entourage, or a massive amount of friends on Myspace. I resolve to make my posts much more interesting, so that a number of you are enticed to become my ilk.

+.5st, I would be honored to be in your ilk. Perhaps we could all gather somewhere and call it the Ilk's Lodge. (ugh).

Barry, it's been two days and still no answers on the time stamp fiasco. If I could get any posts to go through at the Times, I'd bet that their time stamps would be correct. This is another instance where the Post isn't following through.

-Smile-

"or Whitney(if something could be worked out with Cleveland)"

nothing would have to be worked out w/cleveland if we traded whitney. the team we traded him to would just have to keep him on the roster all year, or offer him back to cleveland.

that said, you could pile up all of the players you mentioned in that list, not just 3, and the Os would say no. the prospects they're looking at from chicago have a higher ceiling.

Re: Nats Park dining. There is a Subway and a Five Guys right outside the Eastern entrance to the Navy Yard Metro (the side not under construction). Also, 8th St SE from Eastern Market Metro to M st SE has a lot of bars and restaurants. There is a Quiznos right at 8th and M st. You could ride Metro to Eastern Market and do a pub crawl down 8th st, before stumbling down to Nats Park along M st. It's probably a 25 minute walk or so. But there is a lot of promise of better things to come to the area, it's likely to change a lot the next few years.

Oh, good- the word ilk *is* intrinsically funny. We can all wear fake moustaches at the Ilk's Lodge. Both thoughts cracked me up.

While I consume all the Nationals news that I can, the truth is I am not dissatisfied with the coverage from the Post. In fact I think they put out the best quality product in the market. Blogs are always going to draw complaints and rants so I accept that. But it is too bad all the Johnny One-Notes can't allow themselves to enjoy what we have instead of whining all the time about wanting more.

There is a lack of radio and televsion coverage in our area, and I think the root causes are a combination of MASN, MLB policy, and an immature baseball market in the area. But the Post and the Times have each made efforts to deliver the news in entertaining and multimedia ways.

At least the Post allows the negative comments to be voiced. The Times censors the comments before posting them.

+.5 St. Can I be in two ilks? I'd like to be in yours but I think I'm already in Los Doce Ocho's.

I can't find the link to the Nats' "You Make the Call" that was posted earlier this week. Does anyone have it?

+.5st

Your comments are useful and interesting. I'll be in your ilk. Sign me up.

"I resolve to make my posts much more interesting, so that a number of you are enticed to become my ilk."

Please refrain from placing a fake mustache over your lip and running a "Got Ilk?" ad to do so, though. Or if you must, run your ad in the Washington Times. Okay?

FYI, the Times doesn't "censor" comments, it's just a tool to prevent profanity or abusive language.

"In other words, in this sample the Nats-only coverage in the Post exceeded the Red Sox-only coverage in the Globe by about 30 per cent."

You need a larger sample size if you want to prove anything from your column inch counts. For instance, Boswell wrote today, but he only averages about one column a week. Thus choosing today for your Post sample will skew your total to the high side. Likewise, I don't know about columnists in Boston in terms of how often they write every week, but perhaps you chose a day when they didn't write, and that would skew your results low for the Boston papers. Do your analysis over a week's (or better yet a month's) worth of the papers you're comparing, and then your results might actually mean something.

I do find it odd, though, that the only posters who consistently get reviled here are those who suggest that the Post's coverage could be better than it is. After all, if you're here you're presumably a Nats fan and also a Post reader, either online or on paper. Given that, why wouldn't you want to see more and better coverage of the Nationals in the Post?

Capitol Hill, I am going to respond to your post, but first a question: you are including Boswell's Metro business column as baseball coverage dedicated to "the Nats alone", yes?

tinyurl.com/23a74t

yes??? i just did.

so if i can change, then you can change coverage. im tired of reading your crap. if you want to talk about baseball do it, if not, stop wasting everyones time just so you can feel better about yourself.

oh, and Natsnut, that link was for you.

i was asked to login to this blog! is that really the direction this thing is going? i left and came back and it let me in but sheesh.

Oh, and thanks I Hate Walks.

For such a nice comment, I promise to swing away on 3-0 counts.

419,

i get what you are saying. its not a matter of wanting more and better coverage of the nats in the post.

the issue is that when this topic comes up it swallows the board. its negative, its redundant, and its somewhat unecessary. obviously, we do enjoy what is here, so stop pissing on our parade. your comments on baseball are usually spot on. but the comments about the coverage not only takes away from a good forum, but also is completely out of the scope and content of this blog. so please just take it elsewhere.

i know, along with every other regular readers, your feelings on this issue. whats the point of beating it into the ground with fans? its just old man.

Does anyone know who to complain to in the Nats organization about the song choices? Not enough DC-area representation here, and it's not as if there's a paucity of choices. No Marvin Gaye, go-go, Foo Fighters, only 1 Chuck Brown choice, and so on.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/03/nats_pick_stadium_music.html

I'm glad you asked.

It's actually a pretty complicated computation and is somewhat akin to the Pythagoran win/loss formula.

Simplified, the equation looks like this:

Ilk =

NPA ^1.83
----------------------------------
NPA ^1.83 x NPD ^1.83

where NPA is the number of people who typically agree with your overall point of view, and NPD is the number of people who typically disagree with your overall point of view.

Obviously, NPA and NPD have involved calculations in their own right, and are always in flux. Generally, they are calculated by Aggregate Response Average (ARA), which is an estimate of approval and disapproval based on a statistically significant sample of responses.

Hope that helps.

-----

What do you have to do to accumulate "ilk"?

"the issue is that when this topic comes up it swallows the board. its negative, its redundant, and its somewhat unecessary."

Oh, it's redundant, but only *somewhat* unnecessary? I just love your way with words, man!

So, it "swallows the board"? No more so than other things like haiku, sucking up to Barry, endless predictions of what the rotation will be, talk of time stamps, etc, etc, etc. Those things swallow the board too from time to time, yet no one complains about them. Except perhaps me, now. But I'm not complaining about them, I'm just mentioning them to prove a point. And that point is this: Why are people's suggestions that the Post could improve its coverage practically the only posts that generate such scorn around here? Why can't people who don't like these posts just scroll right by them, like I scroll right by all the redundant and somewhat unnecessary "guess the rotation" posts that swallow the board from time to time?

Thanks theraph. And happy to see you and Tin Yurl made up.

Not anything happening with the Orioles regarding Roberts. Angelos doesn't want to see him playing on MASN for the Nats. No way. Interesting to see when the trades start up though.

BTW - I badmouthed Panera a bit a couple weeks ago, but they just opened one up last week here in OC and I've already been twice. So I'm in the hypocrite ilk.

419, your point would be a good one if the haikus and guess the rotations were the EXACT SAME ONES EVERY TIME.

Barry:

Have you ever tried the restaurants in Melbourne? There are some very nice spots, especially right on the Intercoastal -- the Yellow Dog in particular.

Coverage is Lacking:

To avoid being labeled a 'whiner' while dissenting from your oft-repeated views, I decided to bring some hard data to the table.

I have here on my desk the Friday Boston Globe sports section. Let's assume for argument's sake that you believe that the Post should strive to attain the level of coverage delivered by the Paper of Record for Red Sox Nation. In Friday's paper, the Globe allotted 44 column inches for Red Sox coverage. 11 of those inches were dedicated to an interview with (gasp!) Joe Torre. That's 33 inches of Red Sox-only news.

In yesterday's paper, the Boston Herald allotted 32 column inches to the Red Sox, while two columnists wrote baseball pieces -- one on Johan Santana (double gasp!) and one on Pedro (TRIPLE GASP!) The Herald is a tablod-style paper rather than a broadsheet, so not really apples-to-apples, but still instructive.

By contrast, the Washington Post this morning dedicated 41 column inches to the Nats alone, as well as 18 inches to Barry's article on Dodger-town, for a total of 59 column inches of locally-reported (not wire service) baseball coverage.

In other words, in this sample the Nats-only coverage in the Post exceeded the Red Sox-only coverage in the Globe by about 30 per cent.

Perhaps you should contact the Globe sports editors and tell them that you don't believe they are adequately covering the Red Sox.

Barry: Son Volt at the 9:30 Club Friday, April 25th. Nats have the Cubs at home that evening, but perhaps you can develop a 'nasty cold' that day. Please keep up the outstanding work.

The Post's coverage lacks
in both depth and breadth, Nats-wise.
Of this, we're aware.

419,
did i hurt your feelings? its easy to insult people from your moms basement. its funny how quickly the tone goes to insults. i guess you were an only child right? your way or the highway?

its somewhat unnecessary because the topic does have value and it should be brought up from time to time. but we know how you feel. why are you still talking to us about it?

"its somewhat unnecessary because the topic does have value and it should be brought up from time to time."

Well, if it should be brought up from time to time, then why do you complain when it is brought up from time to time?

"but we know how you feel. why are you still talking to us about it?"

I dunno. Why do you keep complaining? After all, we know how you feel. So let me ask a question you haven't answered yet. Are you too cheap to get the shift key fixed on your keyboard?

im a distant relative of ee cummings

To CiL: Yes, I included Boz's column (fronting the sports page) about issues facing Nationals fans visiting Nationals Park to watch a Nationals game as Nationals coverage. Apologies for not realizing that violated one of your 'rules.'

I see theraph, so I guess your recent posts talking about music and tiny urls on this blog isn't talking about "crap" (as you so elequently put it) because....you say so?

I do talk about baseball on this blog. I also talk about other things, like the Post's coverage of the Nats. Apparently, you believe that only baseball should be discussed, so in future posts please restrain yourself accordingly.

* * * *

so if i can change, then you can change coverage. im tired of reading your crap. if you want to talk about baseball do it, if not, stop wasting everyones time just so you can feel better about yourself.

Posted by: theraph | March 13, 2008 10:55 AM

i will gladly accept that deal if you hold yourself to it. and this will be the last time you read my crap if you stop going on about the posts coverage.

everyone can thank me later

As a purely neutral observer in the 419/theraph dispute immediately above, I would note that it's impossible for theraph's shift key to be inoperational.

The 4 question marks in his/her comment at 11:46 required the use of a shift key, unless he/she copied and pasted that particular punctuation mark from some other source.

1[RF]5

Also, I am part of no one's ilk. I'm a mysterious loner who drifts in and out as the wind carries me. That's why chicks dig me so much.

I nominate faNATic to be our resident forensic blogologist.

Thanks for your response, Cap Hill. First off, I don't consider it to violate one of my "rules." I just wanted to be sure about what you were referring to. I think there's a place for a column like Boz's today, I just don't think it should be at the expense of columns about baseball itself.

As to your comparison to the Boston Globe, 419 already responded well to your inital comment, so I'll keep this brief. First off, if you want Barry's own take on this and how the Post's Nats coverage does not yet measure up to the Globe's for one, look here for starters: http://tinyurl.com/37pxg4

Second, the issue is sustained coverage, not cherrypicking a particular day. For some reason, you looked at last Friday's Globe. Now, I don't follow the Red Sox, but a quick look at the Globe web site shows me they have at least 2 beat writers assigned to cover the Sox in print, and a third beat writer who runs a blog and is on-site at Spring Training. Plus, there are at least 2 columnists (Ryan and Shaughnessy) who regularly write columns about the Sox. There's absolutely no comparison between the two papers on this front. But I think you knew that already and were just engaging in a bit of sophistry with your cherrypicked examples.

People are using coverage of the RED SOX as a standard???? The Sox are like a religion up there. Gotta set our sights a little lower for now.

This doesn't mean I think the Post has the Nats well-covered, because it doesn't. Neither the Post nor the Times provides good Nats coverage, column inches or not. The Times looks like it wants to step up a little more for now.

I gotta agree. having lived in Boston before, Sawx coverage is more like Redskins coverage in DC. While I was there (before Brady and the current "Dynasty") Patriots coverage was much like the Nats coverage, not very good.

Having 1 beat writer and 2 part time columnists isn't so bad, as long as they're consistent about it.

Very kind of you, MplsJohn. I'm actually quite fond of the title too.

Also, can someone please enlighten the unenlightened (I'll refer to myself only and assume the rest of you know) as to the meaning of the "15" that's been repeated by numerous posters in the last two threads?

thanks for the truce, guys.

+.5st .. I don't mean I hate getting free bases, I hate giving them away. There was a time, not so very long ago, when the Nationals pitching staff was a huge concern (and not the logjam conversations we're having today), and we were giving away WAY too many leadoff walks and way too many walks in general. Nothing in baseball frustrates me more than giving up a leadoff walk. That's almost a golf level of frustration for me.

My way of measuring baseball player's success is pretty crude, especially pitchers. From my seat from the front row of 418 (RFK) / 315 (NP) I can't tell a curveball from a sinker. What I can tell, however, is if a pitcher walks an opposing batter or strikes him out. I'd rather see our pitchers challenge opposing batters and lose than to give away bases (and lose).

And that's why I hate walks.

Also:

I'm heading down to Orlando / Viera this weekend and through next week. Should we set up some spot to have an NJ meet-up? How about on the north bank of the pond? That's parking area and there should be room to play catch, chill in a lawn chair, or grill up some dogs (especially on the Thursday game, which starts at 7:05).

Here's a google map illustration of the spot I mean:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/22vstr

(theraph, the preview version of the tin yurl used here should mitigate any concerns that you're being tricked into visiting a different site than you expect).

jeez ... I should do some work today.

I wonder which team(s) the following players will be on in 2.5 weeks:

Dmitri, Belly, Felipe, Rule5ers & Ayala (I think he should go, he's the best we got, and we have Schroder, Hanrahan, Shell and numerous others being impressive).

I don't think that all of these will be with the team, and I hope that we get something in return (especially Rule 5ing it!)

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Yurl

Nationals Journal -- Yurl love it!

"First off, if you want Barry's own take on this and how the Post's Nats coverage does not yet measure up to the Globe's for one, look here for starters: http://tinyurl.com/37pxg4"

Congratulations, Lacking, you have Barry on record as saying that the Post's baseball coverage isn't perfect and that they're committed to improving it.

So it seems you're looking for a paper which thinks its coverage is already perfect and has no goals for improvement.

Eh, good luck with that. Be sure and come back and visit us after you find it.

"Having 1 beat writer and 2 part time columnists isn't so bad, as long as they're consistent about it."

Who are the two part-time columnists? Boswell is one. Are you thinking Sheinin is the second? He's not a columnist, he's the Post's MLB beat writer. By rights, he should write about the Nationals about as often as the Post's NFL beat writer, Mark Maske, writes about the Redskins - which is to say, almost never. So the Post has one full-time Nationals beat writer (Svrluga/replacement TBD) and one part-time columnist (Boswell) who writes about the Nationals maybe half the time on a year-round basis. Some of us think that roster, like the Nationals' starting rotation, could use a little shoring up for the long haul that is the baseball season.

Or by saying two part-time columnists were you perhaps counting both sides of Boswell's Janus-like writing persona?

"Can't we all just get along?"

CiL: No sophistry or clever conspiracies here -- just happened to grab the papers at hand. My measurements were, indeed, just a snapshot. But like political polls, snapshots can sometimes be illuminating.

I will concede (something that more of us here at NJ should try) that the overall baseball coverage in the Globe likely exceeds that of the Post. They are covering a century-old franchise with a multi-generational, more numerous fan base -- a MARKET that eats up everything-Red Sox. They are the gold standard in a part of the country where baseball is king.

My larger point, as a former newspaperman, is that the market determines the coverage. The Post assigns significantly more resources than the Globe to, say, high school basketball, which has a long and storied history here in the DC area. They, as people whose livelihoods depend on such decisions, have come to the conclusion that that's what people want to read about.

And in an era of declining readership and subscribership accross all metropolitan dailies (including the Globe), this is a less-than-zero sum game. In order for the Post to add a second Nats beat writer (and pay for his/her travel, etc.), they would have to eliminate one or more reporters covering something else. Perhaps that's what you believe they should do. I would happen to agree with you. I just think that if the Post honestly believed that such a move would sell more papers, they'd do it in a heartbeat.

And I do think you and others who agree with you have been effective. You have moved the market. The Post, for example, last year stopped sending a beat writer to cover the Orioles on the road and have dedicated less space to them this spring. Though I have little sympathy for them, those were decisions that upset a lot of long-time Orioles fans in the area.

I would certainly never ask that you stop posting -- clearly this is a subject about which you feel passionately, and you have the right (the responsibility, even) to express it. I'd only ask that you recognize that not all of us who disagree with you are whiny dupes blindly grateful for table scraps of coverage. We just have a different opinion. Regards.

Just Stop.

Better.

Now, If you could trade Guzman or Lopez for a B-level minor leaguer and keep the other, which one would you keep?

"I just think that if the Post honestly believed that such a move would sell more papers, they'd do it in a heartbeat."

Exactly right. They cover the Redskins extensively because they've sold out since Lyndon Johnson was Prez. When the Nats have such fan participation, they will have more coverage. In other words "if we come, they will build it!"

biscuit, if they can find another option for backup SS (and yes, i'm a broken record), i think i'd keep guzman. better defense at SS and more likely to be better offensively. flopez' only +s over guzman are better SB capability (which, imo, is overrated unless you're a difference maker like reyes) and 2B capability.

but i'm not sure we'd even get a b-leaguer for either unless someone was desperate.

oh, and to trade flopez, we'd have to eat most of his salary. esp if we wanted anything of even minimal value in trade.

of course, if he actually plays more like he did in his half-06 season instead of his 07 season, maybe we'd get something useful if we ate his salary.

If y'all don't start playing nice, I WILL return to butchering Jane Austen and twisting her words to vaguely fit some obscure baseball scenario. And I don't think that's something most of you want.

P.S. I've missed you, Planet NJ. How 'bout that Joel Hanrahan fella, eh?

I wonder which team(s) the following players will be on in 2.5 weeks:
Dmitri, Belly, Felipe, Rule5ers & Ayala (I think he should go, he's the best we got, and we have Schroder, Hanrahan, Shell and numerous others being impressive).
I don't think that all of these will be with the team, and I hope that we get something in return (especially Rule 5ing it!)
Posted by: NattyDelite! | March 13, 2008 12:40 PM

One thing we know about JimBo, he's a wheeler dealer. I think it's at least even money that someone not on NattyD's list is gone also with one or two of these guys. I bet he moves Cordero or Rauch along with Belliard. What sort of player(s) would one get for say Cordero and Belliard?

Swell. We get rid of the trolls for a few days, and start right back at the *is SO* -- "Is NOT" buffet ourselves.

I'd like to hear what O'Connor started/stopped doing in the first inning yesterday.

besides hitting the mitt, I mean.

We have the answer...

The lower right ad on the scoreboard is...

Coke!

http://preview.tinyurl.com/ot6os

(the last sign on the parking garage is just blank)

"I'd like to hear what O'Connor started/stopped doing in the first inning yesterday."

Stopped throwing balls and started throwing strikes, perhaps? But that's just a guess on my part. I wasn't there, there was no radio or TV coverage of the game, and the Post this morning chose to focus on a stadium-by-stadium comparison of ticket prices in various seat categories (can you say apples and oranges?) instead of providing this kind of information to us. But coverage is fine, right?

What do you suppose the white tarped-looking area to the right of the red porch is?

The white-tarped area to the right of the Red Porch seats is the batter's eye. From the stadium renderings it looks like when the tarp comes off there will be grass or some other kind of planting there.

NatsNut:

I believe that is the "Batters Eye" and I think it is supposed to be green... or at least, some dark color.

(I would be really excited about Coke, except I don't drink it anymore...)

noop oast

Thanks for your response Cap Hill and your concession on the Globe issue, which you raised initially. I found your post well-reasoned and informative, and also productive as opposed to the "just stop" whiny approach that others have taken.

I think that where you and I disagree is that I do not believe that all business decisions reflect rational business judgments. Whatever the Post's editors might believe, those beliefs and the consequent level of coverage can also be informed or guided by irrational biases or incorrect assumptions. In this case, I think that the Post's editors--especially Emilio Garcia-Ruiz--for whatever reason have a flawed view of the market and demand for Nats coverage in the Post. I think they consider covering the Nats to be an unwanted "burden." (Comments that Garcia-Ruiz has made over the past several years support this view.) As a result, I think it's important to discuss in several forums, including this one, the fact that the Post's coverage should improve.

If people want to discuss in a productive manner the merits of that view, as you did, then great. To the extent people want to whine and complain about someone expressing their views, I don't understand why they would intentionally prolong discussion about a subject that they apparently want to have nothing to do with in the first place. They'd be better off ignoring the post and instead just posting witty non-baseball related comments about tiny urls and haiku.

John in Mpls-

That stat riff is almost believable to end up on the Baseball Prospectus site. I'm hoping to finish above .500 this season, but I am always really optimistic during Spring Training.

-------------------------------------------
Ilk =

NPA ^1.83
----------------------------------
NPA ^1.83 x NPD ^1.83

Wading into the Post's Nats coverage issue, this is akin to having someone ask a man beating his head against a wall why he's doing it. Answer: because it feels so good when he stops. Until a decision maker in the sports department at 1150 15th St., NW decides to enhance coverage of the team, it's not going to happen. I have in the past e=mailed the sports editors about the situation and their view is that the team gets fair coverage." As a former journalist I know that wishing won't make it so. Post sales actually increase the day after the Snydermen win a game. Instead of railing at the machine, follow the money.

Thank god it is Coke. I bet the other sign is Bud Light.

As long as we're talking about coverage issues ;-) I was intrigued by seeing Eli Saslow's byline on page A1 this morning, telling us all about the Emperor's Club. I hadn't realized that the Post's news bureau had hired him away from the Philly Inquirer's sports desk.

I'll be coing down on Friday.

Back to food in ST area: Stopped at Thai Thai III yesterday for lunch and had the Dragon Rolls. Delish! So rich (and so much of it) that I could only eat half of my meal.

Back to dining, I had an excellent--though pricey--meal at Djon's (522 Ocean Ave., Melbourne Beach). French, a one time place to visit for a high-end meal during a Spring Training trip, particularly good as a partial pay-back to a less than enthusiastic spouse!

Another "thumbs up" for Dixie Crossroads ... skip the ribs and spring for the rock shrimp.