May 8, 2005 [LINK]
Marlins to be homeless?
In spite of intensive lobbying by officials from Miami and the Marlins front office (see April 9), the Florida legislature turned down the request for state help in funding a new baseball stadium in Miami. This doesn't necessarily doom the team to search for a home in another state, however: "Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, who has spent nearly two weeks in Tallahassee lobbying for the stadium, vowed to keep the team in town." See Miami Herald. 
Folks in Washington, Minneapolis, and elsewhere know how these issues tends to drag out infinitely. Speaking of which, the D.C. Council has lost patience with Mayor Williams and has taken control of the search for alternative stadium financing mechanisms. See Washington Post.
Washington conquers California
The Giants eked out a 4-3 win against the Nationals in the 13th inning tonight, thus averting being swept. The Nats won series against both the Dodgers and the Giants this past week, leaving no doubt that they are a very solid, competitive team. Is it premature to say they cannot be ruled out as contenders for the postseason? Manager Frank Robinson said the key play in Saturday's amazing comeback game was when Jose Guillen hit a sacrifice ground ball to advance the runner to third, rather than go for a home run. See nationals.mlb.com. Guillen had a bad reputation for being hard to get along with in Anaheim last year, but he is definitely a team player for the Nationals. Next up: The Arizona Diamondbacks, who are currently in second place in the NL West but were swept by the Nationals in the opening series at RFK Stadium last month.
Nearly all of the stadium pages should be "upgraded" by now. I tried to double check each one, because I modified many of the photographs to become more consistent in size, but there are bound to be a few glitches that escaped my notice. If so, please let me know.