Ovie on the Mound, Jamie at Bat, and Ben on the Radio

- Ovechkin's foray into major league baseball went smoothly earlier this evening as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch - some of his teammates were even there to support (or mock) him. If you haven't seen it yet, check out the video on the Caps' website. There's some good footage of Jamie Heward hitting a home run in batting practice and running the bases, too. All in all it was just gosh-darn adorable - I wanted to scoop them all up and squeeze their little faces, they're just so cute.

Sorry, couldn't resist getting all girly-girl - now where's my damn pink jersey...

Anyways, it's nice to see Ted and the Lerner family working together to promote both teams, and equally nice to see the local media actually covering it. Next up, Brian Schneider in goal...

- I just finished listening to the Caps Report (just convincing everyone once and for all that no, I have no life after hockey season starts). Mike and Corey spoke with assistant coach and defensive guru Jay Leach about the progress of the blue line corps and touched on penalty-killing issues. No great epiphanies, but it sounds like the coaching staff is very confident and pleased with the progress of all the young'uns, and they discussed how efficient and effective the PK was against Philly last night. Leach thinks if we can keep the penalties below 6 a game we'll be fine...hey, stranger things have happened.

- Speaking of the d-men, Ben Clymer was on for the second half of the report - they covered a lot and I can't really go into all of it here, but I highly recommend listening to it on your own. Once the technical difficulties were sorted out, it was a really interesting interview. The part where they discuss Ovie's fight was particularly entertaining, especially when they get to what Hatcher said to Clymer...I can't do it justice, you'll just have to listen.

Among other things, Ben seems to be getting more comfortable on the back line, although he did mention that he still has to fight the urge to jump into the offensive rush. He also mentioned he was glad he didn't have to stop Ovie in a real-life game because it was hard enough in practice. Please note that I looooove Clymer and I know he'll be great on D, but I think I can speak for all Caps fans when I say - Ben, we're glad too. :)

It's amazing, though, every time I hear Clymer talk I can totally picture him as a coach someday. Just the way he describes team strategies and his own play as it relates to others on the ice - it goes so far beyond your textbook answer from an athlete, the "we have to stick together and play as a team" or "just go out there and give it 110%" type responses. He gets it. I would love to see him behind the bench once his playing days are over...after a long and successful career in DC...with several Stanley Cup rings to keep his first one company...

*Sigh*...a girl can dream, right?