Baseball is back, and since we've already celebrated the National Holiday that is Opening Day, I think it's time to focus on the actual game that the Nationals will be playing today. They will take on the Braves at 1:05. You can catch the game on MASN, and it will be your first chance to get to know new Nats' color guy F.P. Santangelo.
The bad news is that President Obama will not be throwing out the first pitch this year. But they do have a worthy replacement - or replacements. According to the Washington Business Journal, uniformed personel representing the five branches of the Military will handle the first pitch duties this year.
The men who will take the mound during the actual game are Livan Hernandez and Derek Lowe. We know what we're going to get form Livan (a handful of innings, working out of trouble, nothing over 86 mph). Lowe is one of the best sinker ball pitchers in the game, and when he is on, he is almost unhittable. Well, actually, you'll be able to hit it; it's just going to stay in the infield and probably result in an out anyway.
Here are the Opening Day lineups, via a Nationals press release.
Braves:
Prado – LF
McLouth – CF
Jones – 3B
McCann – C
Uggla – 2B
Heyward – RF
Gonzalez – SS
Freeman – 1B
Lowe – P
Nationals:
Desmond – SS
Werth – RF
Zimmerman – 3B
LaRoche – 1B
Morse – LF
Ankiel – CF
Espinosa – 2B
Rodriguez – C
Hernandez – P