Acta to Catch Bush's First Pitch

Links (9)

Hold Your Boos
Published 3/28/2008 by Chris Needham at Capitol Punishment
Controversy Averted! There was a bit of a hullabaloo earlier this week when some blogger roused some rabble , by suggesting that the Nationals first-pitch ceremony would be marred with controversy with Paul LoDuca catching a pitch from a former drug abuser. { re-reads story } Errr... what, with the President, an outspoken critic of drug abuse in sports (except when he was an owner; then he could turn a blind eye to it) pitching to the star of the Mitchell Report, our own beloved drug pusher, Paul Lo Duca. Have no fear, the unseemly combo is gone. Faced with the ...

WaPo: Acta to Catch Bush’s First Pitch (RR)
Published 3/28/2008 at BBTF's Baseball Primer Newsblog
WaPo: Acta to Catch Bush’s First Pitch (RR) With President Bush slated to open Nationals Park by throwing the ceremonial first pitch Sunday night, new Washington Nationals catcher Paul Lo Duca has assumed all spring that he would be the man to receive it. But Thursday morning, on the last day of spring training, General Manager Jim Bowden informed Lo Duca that the honor instead will go to Manager Manny Acta. The choice has symbolic implications. Lo Duca was one of the primary figures in the report by former Senate majority leader George J. Mitchell on the use of ...

Enquirer Exclusive! Nats will play at RFK in 2008!
Published 3/28/2008 by ck at The Nationals Enquirer
... at RFK Stadium "for the foreseeable future". Stan Kasten unavailable for comment.  Meanwhile... More of the same from Lannan; he's just waiting in the wings for the inevitable news on Hill. See you in a week, John. Bloggers with access! Nats320 on the Ballpark Concessions Tour beat. JANF with one of those video thingies. Capitol Punishment on the LoDuca/Bush controversy that almost was. At least now it'll be clear who's getting booed. The Dan Steinberg DC Sportsbog Machine ...

Ready for their new home
Published 3/28/2008 by Jeff at District of Baseball - MLB returns to DC
... with lots of activities for people to do (and spend money on) before the game even starts. Mark Lerner: "We need people to break the habit of coming at 7:05 for a 7:05 game… It's our responsibility to do exciting things to get them to come early." In an apparent bid to avoid embarrassment, Manny Acta and not Paul Lo Duca will catch the ceremonial first pitch from President Bush on Sunday night . The White House said they did not play a role in a decision, and Lo Duca said he was not upset with the change. ...

The Washington Nationals Decide Not To Totally Embarrass President Bush
Published 3/28/2008 at FanIQ Blog
... Yesterday, General Manager Jim Bowden informed Lo Duca that the honor instead will go to Manager Manny Acta. The White House said it played no role in determining who would catch the pitch. ...

Karl Rove Never Would’ve Let This Happen : Paulie Go Nuts Dissed By White House
Published 3/28/2008 by GC at Can't Stop The Bleeding
... , the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga reports that DC skipper Manny Acta will instead, catch the ceremonial first ball from our beloved Commander In Chief. ...

Lo Duca Not Chilling with the Prez
Published 3/28/2008 by Dan Lerner at Hot Foot
... Paul Lo Duca will not catch President Bush, who is throwing at the first pitch at the Nationals new stadium. According to the Washington Post, formet Met coach Manny Acta will take Lo Duca’s spot. ...

Nationals Decline Opportunity To Mock President Bush
Published 3/30/2008 by Anthony Hall at MVN Outsider
... However, although this situation had “PR disaster” written all over it for Bush, the general manager of the Nats, Jim Bowden, recently informed Lo Duca that Washington manager Manny Acta will instead be catching the President’s pitch. ...

The Best Sports Weekend in D.C. History*
Published 3/31/2008 by Dan Steinberg at D.C. Sports Bog
... mention the fact that the president's first pitch at Nats Park would be caught by a drug distributor, the Nats cave and put their manager behind the plate . And yeah, this was just an excuse to mention the fact that D.C. did us all proud with that reaction to the Prez. Kornheiser said on his radio show this morning that the boo-cheer ratio sounded like 50-50 to him, so maybe the TV feed was somehow biased in favor of the booers, but on my set that didn't sound like no 50-50 ratio. I hear the White House claimed the fans were really shouting "Buuuuuuuuush." 8. Let's wait until ...