5. Tyler Clippard: I interviewed both members of the Clip and Save phenomenon on the same day this season, but Clippard in particular just came across as an honest, funny and insightful guy, willing to say, as he did during the quick conversation that he thought his room and bullpen mate Drew Storen was, "..a lot more advanced than I was in the sense that his stuff is a lot better than what I was featuring at 22," though he didn't offer what sort of joke it was that led to his "Peaches" entrance music. Follow-up chance missed on my part...
•Washington Nationals: 5 Minutes With Nats' reliever Tyler Clippard. - Federal Baseball
4. Roger Bernadina: I'd been following Roger Bernadina since the Montreal Expos signed the Curacao-born outfielder as an amateur free agent back in 2001, so I was excited about getting the chance to finally interview the 26-year-old outfielder who had just weeks before really had his biggest moment in the Majors when he hit a game-winning HR off Mets' closer Francisco Rodriguez in a game in which he also made what could possibly be considered the catch of the year. However, and this was not noted in the original interview, when I started the questions I pointed out that Roger hadn't made the Nats' roster out of Spring Training and politely, but not without a little pride, Bernadina pointed out that they'd sent him down because he was still recovering from the injured ankle he'd suffered the previous season as opposed to his performance in Spring Training. All I could think was great, I just insulted one of my favorite Nationals. The rest of the interview went well, however, so I think I avoided offending him...
• Washington Nationals: 5 Minutes With Roger Bernadina, Nats' Outfielder. - Federal Baseball
3. Danny Espinosa: More than the interview itself, it was the timing on this one that stands out as Danny Espinosa went out just hours after I spoke to him back on September 6th and hit 2 HR's and collected 6 RBI's in his Nationals Park debut, earning himself a post game pie in the face and setting me up with an interview with the National everyone was talking about that day.
• Washington Nationals: 5 Minutes With Nats' Infielder Danny Espinosa. - Federal Baseball
2. SI.com's Joe Posnanski: SI.com occasionally sends me previews of Nats-related articles that are going to appear in the weekly newsstand edition of the magazine, and if I find myself wanting to know a little more about what they've written I will often ask if the writer is willing to answer a few questions about the article, but really this time I just wanted to say I'd talked to everyone's favorite baseball writer, and Mr. Posnanski was kind enough to agree, as all the SI writers have, to field a few questions about the Nats.
1. Ken Burns: Let's just say it was simultaneously the highlight of the year for me and the most embarrassing moment. The night of Stephen Strasburg's debut and I get to interview legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, who was in D.C. to throw out the first pitch and promote the newest addition to his "Baseball" documentary, "The 10th inning", which has now aired, but was then a few months away from its debut on PBS. The interview went fine, Mr. Burns was all too willing to entertain my questions, except when I put him on the spot about the Nats not recognizing their Expos' past, but I managed to embarrass myself anyway in the following exchange that I left out of the published piece. Just to explain, I'd read in several articles about Mr. Burns comparing Strasburg's debut to that of Red Sox' great Ted Williams, so when he brought Williams' debut up, knowing that Mr. Burns had been born in 1953 and Williams had played until 1960, I wondered if he'd ever had the chance to see Williams play, but instead I asked, "Were you there?", as in, "Were you there for his debut?" "In 1939?" Mr. Burns asked. If I could've walked away there and ended it I would've, but instead I laughed uncomfortably and moved on...ugh...