By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
The Nationals' slow offensive start has been concerning to some, worrisome to others and downright nerve-fraying to certain factions of the fanbase. For plenty, it's been maddening to watch them strike out, swinging or looking, so often. To see them come up small in large situations. To hit the ball on the screws, and right at a waiting fielder.
Chipper Jones retired last year, Bobby Cox the season before that.
Mariano Rivera and his family walked into the pavilion behind the third-base stands at Steinbrenner Field followed by his New York Yankees' teammates.
With the entire Yankees' team looking on — including longtime teammates Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte — Rivera said he knew the time was right for his decision.
Justin Upton, acquired with Johnson from Arizona in a seven-player trade on Thursday, had his first news conference on Tuesday. Brother B.J. was in the audience with the brothers' beaming parents, Manny and Yvonne.
In the aftermath, the Washington Nationals did not hang their heads or speak in hushed tones. They talked of the work they'd done to get to this point, and of the fact that their lead in the National League East is still one of the largest in baseball with just more than two weeks to play.
It was a frustrating night for the Atlanta Braves, the NL wild-card leaders who mustered only four hits against the San Diego Padres.
The ball sat on the infield grass, to the left of first base, and did not move. To the right, the Washington Nationals celebrated their 76th victory of the season. To the left, the Atlanta Braves walked quietly off the field.
A person familiar with the selection tells The Associated Press that Fredric Horowitz has been hired to replace Shyam Das as the arbitrator for Major League Baseball and its players' association.
The noise continued long after Stephen Strasburg's day was done.
A year ago at this time, Dan Uggla looked lost. The Atlanta second baseman was hitting well below .200 and had been nothing like the slugger the Braves had traded for during the offseason. Then in July, Uggla began swinging the bat better. In fact, he went on a 33-game hitting streak that lasted well into August, highlighting one of the season's most stark turnarounds. By the end of the year, Uggla had a career-high 36 home runs.
Previewing the National League.
When Stephen Strasburg stands on the mound, his mentality is that there's no one he can't do battle with. If he knows a guy is a dead fastball hitter, one side of his mind tells him, "Blow this one by him." Why not?
Nearly an hour after one more loss in a historic collapse, Freddie Freeman walked through the Braves clubhouse still wearing his No. 5 uniform, as if he couldn't believe he'd be taking it off for the final time this year.
Stephen Strasburg's next-to-last pitch of the night was a 77 mph breaking ball that caused the hitter to duck down and curl away from the plate _ as though worried he might get plunked in the head.
"After what happened last year with us, we know anything can happen," said Braves second baseman Dan Uggla, his two-run, bases-loaded single in the seventh giving the Braves a 5-1 lead. "This put us back in the hunt a little bit. We are still going to need some magic, but there's still time so we'll see what happens."
Nationals ready to turn the page after getting swept by Braves →
"We actually hit a lot of balls hard, but they made the plays and made the pitches when they had to," Dan Uggla said after the Braves' 3-0 loss to the Padres. "Sometimes, it's just not in the cards for you."
