Nationals Hold "Bloggers Day" at the Park

It's a beautiful 82F here at Nationals Park, as we're "live blogging" from the stadium as the Nationals host the Toronto Blue Jays.

Today, the Washington Nationals organization hosted members of the "Natosphere", internet writers and bloggers that cover the team. We'll have more in-depth coverage of the event tomorrow, but first, a word of thanks to the team for including Nats News Network in the festivities.

The team provided members of its public relations, media relations, minor league operations, players, manager Manny Acta, "acting" GM Mike Rizzo, and president Stan Kasten to explain their responsibilities and to answer questions.

Kasten quipped that he didn't know to be happy or fearful of the questions, but civility, humor and good-naturedness ruled the afternoon.

The Nationals and major league baseball are figuring out how to transition from a traditional press corps to a modern, mobile, electronic media corps.

It's a process that some sports, notably the National Hockey League and NASCAR, are a little further along in the development, but MLB is slowing coming to grasp the idea that it is inevitable...that as newspapers lay off more and more staff and are less viable by the day, the people that are going to be providing the bulk of coverage and dialogue about their product are going to be independent electronic sources.

For that reason alone, it makes business sense for all parties to figure out how we're going to treat each other before the situation is forced upon us.

Today was a big, important step in that direction, and the team should be congratulated for its efforts in reaching out to a dedicated, passionate fan base.

As well, the participating bloggers and internet writers should be heralded as well. This team has a wealth of diverse and intelligent people that follow and write about it, and the Natosphere in general was well represented today.