D8 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MARCH 6 , 2022
they’re shooting themselves in
the foot. I ’m g utted that now
we’re going to have a shortened
season for the second time in
three y ears. I can’t h elp but f eel as
a fan that we’re at t he bottom of
the pole here, that no one is
thinking of the fans.”
But if it were only a dearth of
games t hat baseball f ans w ere
asked to endure, t hat would be
bad enough. Baseball fans, after
all, are a patient sort — as they
must be, given an average time of
game that stretched to a record
3 hours 10 minutes in 2021, w ith
an average of nearly four minutes
between balls p ut in play.
Instead, think of everything
else baseball fans have been
asked to absorb and accept since
the end of that 20 19 World Series:
l The Astros’ sign-stealing
scandal, which t ainted their 2017
World Series title and r esulted in
organizational penalties and
management figures l osing their
jobs but no punishment for play-
ers.
l The contraction o f the minor
leagues by 42 teams, leaving fans
in some areas without an affiliat-
ed farm team.
l The Eric Kay trial, i n which
the former Angels official was
convicted of supplying Angels
pitcher Tyler Skaggs with the fen-
tanyl pills that ultimately caused
his fatal overdose and which ap-
peared to open a window into a n
opioid problem in baseball.
l The further degradation o f
the on-field product, which con-
tinues to be plagued by rising
strikeout totals, longer games,
the diminishing i mpact of start-
ing pitchers and a g eneral lack of
action caused by analytics-driven
refinement of defensive shifts
and pitch-shaping.
They may n ot be able to get
their p roduct in front of their
fans, b ut MLB’s overlords still
have managed to hit for the cycle
of institutional maleficence.
“My favorite sport, my c hil-
dren’s f avorite sport,” MSNBC
commentator and longtime Bos-
ton Red Sox fan Mike B arnicle
said, “ has been turned into a
hedge fund.”
Speaking of both the players
and owners, Barnicle said: “What
is wrong with these people? T hey
don’t u nderstand what two years
of covid have done? They d on’t
understand two years of people“Especially coming out of
covid, where now you have an op-
portunity to enjoy spring base-
ball the way it’s s upposed to be
enjoyed, with summer a round
the corner — it’s j ust so disillu-
sioning that baseball can’t g et i ts
act together and get back on the
field,” said CNN commentator
David Gregory, a Washington Na-
tionals season ticket holder a nd
lifelong baseball fan.
“Lifelong baseball fan”: How
many of those are even left a s the
2021 -22 Major League Baseball
lockout zooms p ast the three-
month mark, with no end in
sight? Think of what the sport
has asked those hardy souls to
endure.
There certainly hasn’t b een
much baseball to enjoy. Since the
Nationals won Game 7 of the
2019 World Series at Houston’s
Minute Maid Park, the calendar
has flipped to a new month 2 9
times, and only 12 of those
months have included meaning-
ful big league baseball games.
Three months i n 2020 were lost
to the c oronavirus pandemic and
the resulting l abor squabble that
reduced that season to 60 games,
capped by a neutral-site World
Series.
If April comes and goes with-
out baseball, as now seems possi-
ble if not likely, it will have been
21 / 2 long years since t he last nor-
mal, pre-pandemic season, d ur-
ing which time the consensus
best player in the game, Los An-
geles Angels center f ielder Mike
Tr out, will have played exactly 89
meaningful games a nd the con-
sensus best pitcher in the game,
Jacob DeGrom of the New York
Mets, will h ave made 27 starts.
“This is just devastating.
Opening Day is a holiday in my
house. I’ve flown home — left t he
studio and flown home — f or
Opening Day,” said Josh Eppard,
drummer for progressive rock
band Coheed and Cambria and a
lifelong Mets fan. “This was t he
year baseball was back. My Mets
are making huge moves — I
mean, [ they signed] Max f---ing
Scherzer! And now it’s j ust — ker-
plunk. I just can’t i magine they’re
going to do this to us after covid.
“It’s the p erfect time for base-
ball to capture America after
we’ve lifted the veil of covid, and
ON BASEBALL FROM D1
ON BASEBALL
As l abor fight rages, fans
lament a disrupted spring
(and more contentious) one rag-
ing over the new collective bar-
gaining agreement — it seemed
less damning given everything
else the world w as dealing with.
That w as always going to be a
bastardized version of a baseball
season, without fans in the seats
and with manufactured crowd
noise piped pumped into the sta-
dium and broadcast feeds. Under
the circumstances, 60 regular
season games a nd an expanded
postseason f elt a cceptable, if not
entirely satisfying.
What’s happening now feels
less forgivable. After two years of
sacrifices, of learning to do with-
out, the mind and b ody are crav-
ing a return to the familiar and
comfortable. For some, that
means bars, r estaurants, music
clubs, airplane travel. And those
things, for the most part, are sit-
ting out there beckoning for you
to return.
It i s only baseball — good old,
sweet, dumb baseball — that has
gone away j ust when you were
desperate to throw yourself back
in its arms.Gus Garcia-Roberts contributed to
this report.There i s still plenty to cel-
ebrate on the field in today’s
game, of course, with two-way
Angels star Shohei Ohtani doing
things on the mound and in the
batter’s b ox n o one in history has
done and young stars such as
Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
and Fernando Tatis Jr. off to his-
toric starts to their careers. The
2021 “Field of Dreams” game in
Dyersville, Iowa, was a n unquali-
fied success and could become a
permanent fixture of the MLB
calendar.
But that calendar is in peril
thanks to a contentious labor ne-
gotiation that threatens to de-
vour a sizable chunk of the 2 022
season. Already, MLB has a n-
nounced the cancellation of the
regular season’s first week.
Among the next casualties, unless
an agreement comes soon, c ould
be the April 15 celebration of
Jackie Robinson Day — which
this year happens to be the 75 th
anniversary of Robinson break-
ing baseball’s c olor barrier.
When the owners and players
squabbled over the terms of the
pandemic-shortened 2020 sea-
son — a dragged-out b attle that
presaged the more importantughey, a g uitarist, songwriter and
singer for bands such a s the Mi-
nus 5 and the Young Fresh Fel-
lows who, a long with Steve Wynn
(the Dream Syndicate), L inda Pit-
mon (Golden Smog) and Mike
Mills and Peter Buck of R.E.M.
formed the Baseball Project in
2007. The supergroup has p ut out
three albums full of songs such as
“Ichiro Goes to the Moon” and
“Sometimes I Dream of Willie
Mays” and is planning a long-de-
layed fourth.
“We don’t w ant a record of
kvetching,” McCaughey said of
the essential inspiration behind
the Baseball Project. “Or do we?”
Actor Danny Tr ejo, 77, best
known f or his role as a Mexican
action hero in the “ Machete”
franchise, has been a Los Angeles
Dodgers fan since he watched the
stadium being constructed in his
childhood neighborhood of Echo
Park — though he was in prison
by the time it opened. Tr ejo
blamed the owners. “Most of the
problem is greed really, and it’s
not really from the players. The
owners are trying to get yachts
like [Vladimir] Putin’s c rowd....
If it wasn’t f or the players, there
wouldn’t b e no baseball.”trying to figure o ut: ‘Do I have to
wear a mask? Do I need my v ax
card? Is my school closed? Is my
job gone?’ They d on’t u nderstand
what the average family has gone
through? Now they have a chance
to give us baseball b ack, and in-
stead it’s: ‘Sorry. Wait till next
year.’ ”
Has he contemplated walking
away f rom the sport? “No,” Barni-
cle said. “It’d be hard to disap-
point me more than t hey’ve dis-
appointed me. But they’ll never
lose me.”
The last time there was a work
stoppage in baseball, the players’
strike of 199 4-95, i t resulted in
the cancellation of the 1994
World Series and t he hemorrhag-
ing of millions of fans, and it took
a decade for the game to regain
the attendance it lost, helped
along the way by the goodwill
generated by Cal Ripken Jr.’s con-
secutive-games s treak and later
the home run explosion of what is
now known a s the “steroid era.”
But this time, to paraphrase an
old baseball s aying, Cal Ripken
ain’t w alking through that door.
“It’s worse this time — because
they never learn,” said Seattle
Mariners die-hard Scott McCa-JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Nationals Park sits empty amid the lockout. “It’d be hard to disappoint me more,” a longtime baseball fan said. “ But they’ll never lose me.”ASSOCIATED PRESSCindy Parlow Cone w as reelect-
ed to a four-year team as U. S.
Soccer Federation president Sat-
urday, beating predecessor Carlos
Cordeiro in an endorsement o f the
governing body’s settlement of a
lawsuit by women players.
Cone, a former national team
player, received 5 2.3 percent o f the
weighted vote on the first ballot
during the U SSF National Council
meeting, held online and in Atlan-
ta.
Cordeiro, a former Goldman
Sachs partner and current adviser
to FIFA President Gianni Infanti-
no, got 46.6 percent of the ballots
as he tried to regain the job h e held
from 2018 until 2 020, when he
quit amid the fallout from legal
filings that said women’s national
team players had less physical
ability and responsibility than
male c ounterparts.
The USSF Athletes Council got
one-third of the votes, and the
Youth, Adult and Pro Councils re-
ceive 20 percent each, with the
remaining d elegates 6.7 percent.Charlotte sets M LS record
Charlotte FC made a record-
breaking home debut Saturday
night, s etting a Major League Soc-
cer attendance mark of 74 ,47 9
against the L os Angeles Galaxy.
Fans dressed in the team’s light
blue colors and wearing Charlotte
FC scarves celebrated the team’s
first game at Bank of America
Stadium, the home of the NFL’s
Carolina Panthers since 199 6.
Efraín Á lvarez’s goal in the 7 7th
minute gave the Galaxy a 1-0 victo-
ry....
Lewis Morgan scored three
goals in the first half, and the N ew
York Red Bulls cruised to a 4-1
victory over host Toronto....
Alejandro Bedoya and Daniel
Gazdag scored in a three-minute
span early in the second half to
help the visiting Philadelphia
Union b eat Montreal, 2-1....
In K ansas City, K an., R emi Wal-
ter’s g oal a nd T im Melia’s s aves led
Sporting K ansas City t o a 1-0 victo-
ry o ver t he Houston Dynamo....
Carles Gil scored in New Eng-
land’s 1-0 win over FC Dallas inFoxborough, Mass., and Revolu-
tion Coach Bruce Arena became
MLS’s all-time wins leader....
Diego Rubio had a goal and an
assist and William Yarbrough
notched five saves to power the
Colorado Rapids to a 3-0 victory
over visiting Atlanta United....
Francisco Calvo had the equal-
izer for the host San Jose Earth-
quakes in a 3-3 draw with the
Columbus Crew....
Thomas Hasal made four saves
for his third MLS shutout in the
Vancouver Whitecaps’ 0 -0 home
tie with New York City FC....
Pedro Gallese had five saves to
help Orlando C ity earn a 0-0 d raw
at t he Chicago Fire....
Hassani Dotson had the equal-
izer for host Minnesota United in
a 1-1 draw w ith Nashville SC....
Bobby Wood s cored a s Real Salt
Lake earned a 1-0 win over the
Seattle Sounders in Sandy, Utah.
l ENGLAND: Chelsea scored
four goals in a 21-minute burst at
the s tart of the second half i n a 4-0
win at Burnley in the Premier
League.
Kai H avertz had t wo of the goals
along with one each from Reece
James and American Christian
Pulisic, who a dded an assist.
Some Chelsea fans interrupted
a pregame minute’s applause,
held to show solidarity with
Ukraine, by chanting the name of
Russian owner Roman Abramov-
ich....
American coach Jesse Marsch
had a n encouraging f irst match in
charge of Leeds — except for the
result.
Making the Premier League’s
most porous team more resilient
and organized didn’t stop Leeds
from losing, 1-0, at L eicester.
l GERMANY: Bayer Leverkus-
en exposed host Bayern Munich’s
defensive frailties but was unable
to get more than a 1-1 draw from
their Bundesliga encounter.
l FRANCE: Nice upended
Ligue 1 leader Paris Saint-Ger-
main, 1-0, at home with a score
from Andy D elort o ff t he b ench.
l SPAIN: In La Liga, Luka Mo-
dric and Eduardo Camavinga
scored from outside the area to
lead Real Madrid from behind to
beat Real Sociedad, 4 -1, in Madrid.SOCCER ROUNDUPCone r eelected as president
of USSF, defeating Cordeiro
think is none.”
Defender Steven Birnbaum
called the victory “a smash and
grab.”
He added: “It’s one of those
games where we were heading
toward the end hoping for a
point, and to get three is just
awesome. I think last year we
would’ve lost that game.”
It c ame on a night when Julian
Gressel left with a muscle injury
at halftime and Moses Nyeman
was sent off in the 79 th minute
before 22,183 at TQL Stadium.
After United (2-0-0) absorbed
late pressure, rookie Sofiane Dj-
effal served a free kick deep into
the box. Birnbaum aimed to head
the ball a cross the six-yard box to
Kamara, but it struck Geoff Cam-
eron’s raised and extended left
arm.
Referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere
allowed play to continue, but a
moment later, the video assistant
referee suggested a review.
“When you drop to 10 players,
you might think you have to be
lucky with a point, but still there
is a free kick, and we put num-
bers in the box,” Losada said. “We
asked Sofiane to kick that serv-
ice, believing something else
could happen.”
Birnbaum said: “It’s a Hail
Mary at that point. If we can
create some chaos in their box,
we were in a good position to
make something happen.”
Bill Hamid preserved the vic-
tory with a sensational save on
Cameron.
Until Kamara’s goal, United’s
only true chances came in the
first half against Cincinnati,
which earned more draws (18)
than victories (14) in 91 games
over its first three seasons and
lost its 2022 opener at Austin FC,
5-0.
D.C. sputtered in the attack
and relied on Hamid and the
defense to repel Cincinnati’s for-
ays.
UNITED FROM D1
U nited tops
Cincinnati,
overcoming
a red card
money for his league rights.New contract for Najar
Defender Andy Najar, who re-
vived his injury-plagued career
last season to become one of
United’s most valuable players,
agreed to a new contract for two
guaranteed y ears a nd a club-held
option in 202 4, people close to
the talks said.
In the offseason, United exer-
cised an option on a deal that
paid him just $100, 000 last year.
A 2023 option also remained.Issue at new training venue
Losada is not happy about the
field at United Performance Cen-
ter, the new training venue in
Leesburg.
This past week, he described
the surface as “dry and hard....
There is nothing you can do —
just train and know that, on the
day of the game, [the field] will
be different.”
United moved into the long-
delayed facility in the fall after
splitting time between Audi
Field a nd RFK Stadium’s t raining
grounds for years. The NWSL’s
Washington Spirit moved into
the Leesburg complex this past
week.Kamara, who shared the MLS
scoring title last year, scored his
second goal of the season as a
sub.
“In a few weeks,” Losada said,
“no one is going to remember
how you took the points.”
That s aid, he added, “we’ll also
take good conclusions to im-
prove because we are going to
need it against better oppo-
nents.”
Birnbaum said: “We definitely
didn’t p lay our best — we weren’t
great b y any means. But if we can
win games when we play like
that, it will give us a lot of
confidence.”
Here’s w hat else to know a bout
D.C. United’s victory:Old friends again
For the second consecutive
week, former United starters
from recent years were in the
opponent’s lineup.
Last weekend, it was forward
Yordy Reyna and defender Jo-
seph Mora for Charlotte. On
Saturday, it was Acosta and de-
fensive midfielder Júnior More-
no, a four-year MLS starter who
was not re-signed by United over
the winter. United received up to
$425,0 00 in general allocation“We feel relieved, honestly,”
Hamid said. “ It w as a tough game
for us, but we found a way.”
Hamid was terrific all night in
recording his second shutout,
making a diving save on Dom-
inique Badji in the first half. He
also benefited from an offside
flag that negated Brandon
Vazquez’s apparent goal in the
first half, set up by Luciano
Acosta, who was afforded ample
space between D.C.’s lines.
Video replay confirmed the
close call.
United labored not only to
sustain possession but acquire it
in the attacking end, a facet that
figures prominently in Losada’s
plans.
Late in the half, Badji, an
Episcopal High graduate, squan-
dered a seven-yard opportunity
at the end of a terrific counterat-
tack.
Nyeman was tossed after a
high challenge on Acosta. Initial-
ly, he received a yellow card, but
after video review, it became a
red. He was also red-carded in
this stadium last year.
Hamid and United kept their
nerve, and with a draw looking
like the best outcome, the match
turned in the closing moments.D.C. UNITED
Brad Smith gets off a shot for D.C. United, which won to go 2-0 despite struggling to control the ball.