Deron Snyder

SNYDER: Nats’ Danny Espinosa a force at bat, in the field

Amid the prodigious numbers that made him a candidate for the All-Star Game - and keep him in Rookie of the Year conversations - it's easy to forget that Danny Espinosa is playing a new position.

July 4, 2011

SNYDER: Nats clear winners in changing of guard

The Nationals play their first home game under Davey Johnson on Friday, and his 0-3 record since taking the helm hasn't diminished our giddiness by one iota. Did you know his 1986 New York Mets had five losing streaks of three or more games en route to winning the World Series?

June 30, 2011

SNYDER: Drafts reveal a chasm between NBA, baseball

Jan Vesely's magic moment came when he kissed his girlfriend on ESPN and shook hands with NBA commissioner David Stern. Bobby Lucas' magic moment came when he attended a pre-game reception at Nationals Park and shook hands with team owner Mark Lerner.

June 27, 2011

SNYDER: Riggleman’s future wasn’t with Nats

There were no winners in manager Jim Riggleman's shocking resignation Thursday, coming just moments after another thrilling Washington victory capped an 8-1 homestand and made the Nationals victors in 11 of their last 12 games.

June 23, 2011

SNYDER: Winning by accident, just as Nats planned it

The Washington Nationals were without their best player, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, for 58 of their first 72 games. Their No. 5 hitter, first baseman Adam LaRoche, played 43 games and batted .172 with a torn shoulder muscle before having season-ending surgery. Their $126 million offseason acquisition, right fielder Jayson Werth, has 16 fewer RBI than their rookie second baseman, Danny Espinosa.

June 20, 2011

SNYDER: With love, to a father I wish that I’d known

An open letter to my father, Stanley Howard Snyder: Hi. Another Father's Day has come and gone, yet another that I spent wondering how it would've been having you in my life.

June 19, 2011

SNYDER: Batting out of order? Why not?

Sitting behind the desk in the visiting manager's office at Nationals Park, Tony La Russa studied the Nationals' batting order for Wednesday's game against his St. Louis Cardinals. For the fourth consecutive time, Washington manager Jim Riggleman defied conventional wisdom by batting his pitcher eighth and a position player ninth - in this case, shortstop Ian Desmond.

June 15, 2011

SNYDER: Redskins’ informal approach still offers some benefits

And so it began, another set of voluntary workouts for Washington Redskins players who were inclined to show up. Roughly 30 did so Tuesday morning, dressed in assorted T-shirts and shorts as they straggled onto a field in Northern Virginia. Inside linebacker London Fletcher was a conspicuous latecomer, arriving after the players had gone through warm-ups and split into their position groups.

June 14, 2011

SNYDER: NBA title arrived at by playing right way

You don't have to be a LeBron James/Miami Heat hater to be glad that the Mavericks won the NBA championship.

June 13, 2011

SNYDER: Entitlement mentality isn’t limited to college athletes

Their high-profile positions give them access to gifts and services not available to everyone else. They know they're not supposed to accept the extra benefits, but they do so anyway, often bringing shame to their institutions when caught. Despite numerous examples of prohibited perks leading to a downfall, the cycle continues, with new reports surfacing on a regular basis.

June 9, 2011

SNYDER: Why is LeBron cast as villain?

The folks at Nike were amazingly prescient in November 2005 when they unveiled a 110-foot high by 212-foot wide billboard to introduce their new ad campaign for LeBron James - "We Are All Witnesses."

June 6, 2011

SNYDER: Small-ball tag irks Riggleman big-time

We like people who don't think small. We encourage folks to not act small. We engage in small talk, though it's largely insignificant.

June 2, 2011

SNYDER: Tressel not the only one who should lose his job

'He's our coach, and we trust him implicitly." That's what Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said about Jim Tressel during a March 8 news conference. It was a strange statement, considering Smith was in the process of announcing Tressel's two-game suspension and $250,000 fine for, essentially, being dishonest.

May 30, 2011

SNYDER: Dark cloud follows Nats after two glorious drafts

When a team is "fortunate" enough to have the No. 1 pick in back-to-back years, with once-a-generation prospects available in back-to-back drafts, we shouldn't be surprised if good karma is scarce afterward. Few franchises are fortuitous enough to ever draft a Stephen Strasburg a Bryce Harper; snagging both within a 12-month span was like winning the Powerball on consecutive drawings.

May 26, 2011

SNYDER: Doping accusations don’t diminish Armstrong’s feats

I'm not sure how many folks can watch Tyler Hamilton's interview on "60 Minutes" and still think that Lance Armstrong was clean in becoming the world's top cyclist. If holdouts were uncertain beforehand, Hamilton's apparent pain and reluctance in outlining Armstrong's supposed doping history should remove doubt.

May 23, 2011

SNYDER: QB John Beck’s media tour rises to top of ‘Don’t Understand List’

Once again, it's time to check off some items on my "TIDU List" — Things I Don't Understand:

May 19, 2011

SNYDER: One step closer to the day when gay won’t matter

In other news, Phoenix Suns president Rick Welts announced that he's gay.

May 16, 2011

SNYDER: Coaching carousel unfairly spins past the players

They do it so routinely each year, we don't even blink as they jilt one campus and bolt for the next. We've turned it into a spectator sport, predicting which college coaches will fill which openings during the annual game of musical chairs. The incoming recruits and returning players left behind or waiting ahead? They're just collateral damage. Nothing to see here, move along.

May 12, 2011

SNYDER: ‘Fear the turtle’ is fine; fearing a coach is not

He can X-and-O with the nation's best hoops tacticians. He can recruit against anyone in the country. He can use his homegrown roots and local connections to dominate the D.C. area's fertile hotbed. The only thing Todd Bozeman can't do is give big-time athletic directors like Maryland's Kevin Anderson the courage to hire him.

May 9, 2011

SNYDER: Dump Boudreau? It’s firer beware

The Washington Capitals remind me somewhat of the Florida Everblades, an ECHL team I covered for several years in Fort Myers, Fla. Before the mob is assembled, the torches are lit and Bruce Boudreau's head is called for, let's consider a similar situation that might be instructive.

May 5, 2011