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Record: 4-5. Standing: Tied 3rd, 3 GB. Streak: W1.

Feeling good: I left to walk the Biloxi Bay Bridge with the Nats down 3-1. Smelled a little like a repetitious no-offense, good-pitching afternoon. Got back home pleasantly surprised by an extra-innings victory. Ivan Rodriguez is starting to get some hits, and the pitching staff struck out 17 guys. 17. Wow.

Feeling bad: I feel bad for doubting the Nats.

Feeling shame: I go to the box. Two minutes. I feel shame.

Nationals or Natinals: NatiOnals. (No ‘O’ for Saturday’s loss, though.)

Record: 3-4. Standing: Tied 4th, 2 GB. Streak: W2.

Feeling good: Jordan Zimmermann got another good start under his belt, and added a two-RBI single to give himself the lead in the second. The Nats bullpen expanded its roster of contributors to include Doug Slaten and Chad Gaudin, then got another stellar performance from Tyler Clippard to get out of a seventh inning pinch. The team went 3-for-9 with RISP, and Ivan Rodriguez got his first hit of the regular season.

Feeling bad: Ian Desmond puts up an 0-for-5 as the leadoff struggle continues.

Feeling shame: Shame struck out today.

Nationals or Natinals: Ohhh, baby, ‘O’. Nationals.

Record: 2-4. Standing: 5th, 3 GB. Streak: W1.

Feeling good: For finally beating the Marlins. That almost never happens. Literally. The Nats had lost seven straight to Florida, and a mind-boggling 41 of the last 55 meetings. Also, Tyler Clippard was the nuts in the sixth, entering with runners at second and third and nobody out. He got a groundout allowing a run, then two strikeouts, throwing 10 strikes in 11 pitches. That started a stellar night for the bullpen, which didn’t allow a run in the next five innings, striking out six more batters and allowing just two hits.

Feeling bad: Nothing really. Didn’t you read? 14-44. Any win is a good win in that joke of a ballpark near Miami. (And is the new ballpark they’re building down there going to have a capacity of 5,000 to fit in all their regular fans?)

Feeling shame: Danny Espinoza tried to steal third in the top of the 10th and got gunned down. There were runners at first and second with one out and the top of the order up. Yeah, not real smart.

Nationals or Natinals: Big “O” today.

Our Lady of Fatima in Biloxi is having it’s main yearly fundraiser, the International Spring Festival, coming up May 13-15.

The idea was pitched, by various people at various times (sometimes by the same people at different times), as you can save your hair if people pitch in $1,000, or you have to shave your head if people donate $1,000. It settled on something to the effect of, “If you volunteer, we’ll shave your head at the festival if you don’t raise $1,000.” (In fact, you can see a different iteration on the fest’s page.)

So I got to thinking. What’s the best way to raise money? What are people interested in? Do they want to see my bald pate, or do they want to do good deeds and save my flowing locks? I have a feeling I know the answer, and it’s the opposite of what the organizers settled on.

I’m going to give you the chance to decide: Save It or Shave It. I’ll take donations from anybody willing to cough up any amount. You vote with your pocket book. When we get to $1,000, whichever is in front, Save It or Shave It, wins. (I’ll gladly take any additional donations after that point, but I’ve got to set a finish line, right?) If I get buzzed by raising $1,000, I’ll use the chrome dome photo for a month on the various interweb places you might run across this. If I don’t raise $1K, you won’t deserve those pictures.

Ooooo, burn.

I know, I know. If you do nothing, donate nothing, I’ll get my head shaved. That’s fine, sit on your wallets. Reach for the bill with your alligator arms.

Or, you can donate, help a good cause, and make me look like a doofus. Contact me on Facebook, Twitter or here at dh _at_ donhammack.com, and I’ll take your pledge and give you the address to send it to.

Thank you for your consideration.

Record:1-4 . Standing: 5th, 3 GB. Streak: L3.

Feeling good: Only for 4.5 innings. Livan Hernandez was pitching well, Ian Desmond finally gave Washington a base hit out of the leadoff spot (he wound up 4-for-5 to raise his average 222 points to, um, .222.

Feeling bad: Outside of him, the Nats didn’t hit much. Their three runs in the second inning were a bit of a mirage: a walk, a single, a fielder’s choice, a sac bunt, a safety squeeze for a base hit, a walk, a sac fly and a groundout. Lots of runners left on base.

Feeling shame: The bottom of the fifth was ugly. “Watching” via MLB.com’s game tracker, it was death by a thousand cuts. Hernandez with five walks in five innings, struggling to find Tim Tschida’s strike zone. Chad Gaudin was not effective. Again.

Nationals or Natinals: No “O”.

Record: 1-3. Standing: 5th, 2 GB. Streak: L2.

Feeling good: Still, the starting pitching. Jason Marquis went 6.1 innings, allowing two runs. Nats starters have thrown 23.2 innings, allowed eight runs with a sub-1.0 WHIP still. Wilson Ramos had another good game at the plate.

Feeling bad: Two more errors, including the back-breaking error by Jayson Werth in the bottom of the 10th. A routine play becomes the downfall. Where have we heard that before?

Feeling shame: Third-base coach Bo Porter for his go-no-come-back efforts with Jerry Hairston Jr. in the eighth.

Nationals or Natinals: Feels like it’s still the bad days. No “O”. 2-2 for the season.

Record: 1-2. Standing: 1-2, Tied 4th. Streak: L1.

Feeling good: Only about the starting pitching. Livan Hernandez, John Lannan and Jordan Zimmerman have combined for 17.1 IP and allowed six runs. I’ll take that. Their WHIP is under 1.

Feeling bad: Yeah, about everything else. Carla and I came back from dinner and the Braves were up 3-1 in the sixth inning. We did some super-exciting spring cleaning (housework!) and I turned the tube back on expecting not to find the game on. Oh, it was on, because Atlanta had piled up eight runs. Sounds like the bullpen was bad, defense was back to the 2010 vintage, and the bats managed just four hits.

Feeling shame: Brian Broderick (54.00) and Chad Gaudin (40.50) sport those crazy reliever first-weekend ERAs.

Nationals or Natinals: Natinals. No ‘O’. No doubt. 2-1 for the season.

Record: 1-1. Standing: Tied-2nd, 1 GB. Streak: W1.

Feeling good: Two games into the season, zero errors. Two games into the season, five runs allowed. Check, and check. Rick Ankiel gets a two-run home run and a squeeze-play RBI, thanks to some fine strategy by Jim Riggleman (managing!). Ankiel is teh suck against left-handers, so why not bunt a run home? Also, hello Jayson Werth! If only he and Ryan Zimmerman hit .500 all year long …

Feeling bad: Not a chance. First win. (But Adam LaRoche could do something with RISP at some point.)

Feeling shame: Not a chance. First win.

Nationals or Natinals: First win of the year deserves the ‘O’. Nationals.

Record: 0-1. Standing: 5th, 1 GB. Streak: L1.

Feeling good: Big ups to the pitching staff, allowing just two runs. I’m a little worried Livan Hernandez only lasted 77 pitches, but you can’t argue with his results. Relievers put up nothing but zeros. The staff issued only one walk today. The Braves struck out only five batters, but Hernandez isn’t going to put up tons of Ks with his Bugs Bunny curveball. Also, Jayson Werth made a couple of good plays in the outfield and Adam LaRoche dove to his right to make a stop on a hard-hit groundball. Defense!

Feeling bad: The 3-4-5 hitters went 1-for-11 against Derek Lowe, et al., and it was rough from the get-go. After Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman singled with one out in the first to put runners at first and third (speed on the basepaths!), Adam LaRoche and Michael Morse couldn’t drive ‘em in.

Feeling shame: Shame on Mother Nature for providing such a downer weather day. Let’s do better Saturday, OK?

Nationals or Natinals: Even with the dreams of 162-0 dashed, they earned the ‘O’ today. Nationals.

I was a huge baseball fan growing up. I loved playing it, I loved reading about it, I loved watching it. As a kid, I used to lie down on my stomach on the floor, lay out “The Sporting News” and comb through it, cover to cover, box scores and everything. I was addicted to Bill James before most people had ever heard of him. I was one of those guys, as Tony Kornheiser mocks, who loved the “elegiac symmetry of the emerald chessboard.”

I was an Atlanta Braves fan. That was a thing you were born into in Birmingham, Ala., because it darned sure wasn’t for the quality of baseball the team played. They were the home team, so you pulled for them. Yes, there was Hank Aaron to pull for, and Phil Niekro, but you also got Mike Lum, Paul Casanova and Marty Perez. All heroes to me at the time, but not exactly the 1927 Yankees.

One game I distinctly remember was in the summer after I graduated high school. (My parents remember it for their own reasons, as you’ll see.) I was watching TBS as the Braves play the Mets at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on July 4. It was truly one of the most bizarre games I’ve ever seen. New York won 16-13 in a leisurely 6 hours, 10 minutes. The Braves trailed 7-4 after 7.5 innings, put up a four-spot but Bruce Sutter couldn’t hold on in the ninth. Howard Johnson hit a two-run homer in the 13th, but with two outs Terry Harper tied it up with a home run of his own. In the 18th, Lenny Dykstra hit a sacrifice fly to give the Mets the lead off Rick Camp. There was nobody left of the Braves bench, so Camp had to hit for himself with two outs. Home run. Rick Camp. Rick Freakin’ Camp.

I seem to remember the ball just squeaking over the wall (although I can’t find it on YouTube), and I remember doing more than squeaking in joy as a result. I can’t remember if Mom or Dad came to the living room to check on my health/sanity after having woken them up at that ungodly hour. Of course, Camp gave up five runs the next inning. He came back up in the bottom of the inning with two on, two outs down 16-13 with a chance to tie the game. Rick Freakin’ Camp did not tie the game.

I drifted away from the game, starting in college when it was easier to play basketball. Then there were a few years spent underwater in the Navy, including the Braves’ worst-to-first season while I was living in Charleston, S.C. The town went nuts over the team, and I actually turned on the team as a result. Did they know who Mike Lum was? Johnny Oates? They weren’t real fans, and an obnoxious chopping motion pilfered from Florida State was the final straw.

Somehow, I’ve come back comfortably into baseball’s bosom following another team that longs just for mediocrity, the Washington Nationals. They’re supposed to play the New York Mets Atlanta Braves (E-blogger) today, although the weather is gonna cause problems. I know the Natinals very well thanks to the power of the internet, but I rarely get to see them play and I’m not as well-versed with the rest of baseball as back in the days of lying on the floor with the Bible of Baseball. Washington is trying to build for the future, but Stephen Strasburg is rehabbing his new elbow and Bryce Harper is three years from buying his first legal beer and probably at least a season from the majors. The Nationals just traded troublesome center fielder Nyjer Morgan to Milwaukee for minor-leaguer Cutter Dykstra, son of Lenny, the man who gave Rick Camp a reason to stick in my mind.

Baseball is back on my mind. It’s Opening Day. Play ball.