{"id":2986,"date":"2008-02-21T11:24:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-21T11:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate.html"},"modified":"2008-02-21T11:24:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-21T11:24:00","slug":"dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/","title":{"rendered":"Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2008\/02\/20\/AR2008022002742.html\"><b>Nats&#8217; Dukes Talks About Changes<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>The Post<\/i><br \/><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20080221\/SPORTS02\/28781922\/1005\/SPORTS\"><b>Dukes debuts his &#8216;breakthrough&#8217;<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>The Wash. Times<\/i><br \/><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/fredericksburg.com\/News\/FLS\/2008\/022008\/02212008\/357787\"><b> Dukes&#8217; introduction not the stuff of kings<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>The Free Lance-Star<\/i><br \/><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/floridatoday.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20080221\/SPORTS\/802210329\/1002\/SPORTS\"><b>Dukes says he&#8217;s a changed man<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>AP\/Florida Today<\/i><br \/><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sptimes.com\/2008\/02\/21\/Rays\/Dukes__No_beef_with_R.shtml\"><b>Dukes: No beef with Rays<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>The St. Pete Times<\/i><br \/><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www2.tbo.com\/content\/2008\/feb\/21\/sp-a-changed-man-elijah-dukes-on-elijah-dukes\/\"><b>A Changed Man?<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>The Tampa Tribune<\/i><br \/><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2008\/02\/20\/AR2008022002711.html?sid=ST2008022002769\"><b>With Dukes Comes Outfield Competition<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>The Post<\/i><br \/><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">THOM LOVERRO<\/span> &#8211; <a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20080221\/SPORTS07\/17602139\/1005\/SPORTS\"><b>Smooth landing at Space Coast<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>The Wash. Times<\/i><br \/>OF <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Elijah Dukes<\/span> arrived at <strike>Jim Bowden&#8217;s halfway house<\/strike> spring training yesterday and spoke to the media, dawg. He says he&#8217;s hardheaded , but is now a changed man, blah, blah, blah. He better have changed, because leaving messages on girlfriends voicemail that say &#8220;Hey, dawg. It&#8217;s on, dawg. You dead, dawg. . . . Your kids, too.&#8221; are uncool whether you can hit a baseball or not. <\/p>\n<p>Dukes also has something like five children by four different mothers, I cannot remember specifically. He has also liked the wacky tabacky<\/p>\n<p>I wasn&#8217;t thrilled with his acquisition, but I don&#8217;t want him to fail, because we have seen what happens when he does.<\/p>\n<p>Dukes is expected to be the fourth outfielder if he can adhere to the club&#8217;s zero tolerance policy.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20080221\/SPORTS02\/239189805\/1005\/SPORTS\"><b>Lo Duca aspires to play in opener<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>The Wash. Times<\/i><br \/><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/fredericksburg.com\/News\/FLS\/2008\/022008\/02212008\/357788\"><b>Catching becomes an early concern<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>The Free Lance-Star<\/i><br \/>Catching is a problem because both <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Paul Lo Duca<\/span> and <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Johnny Estrada<\/span> are ailing right now. Lo Duca is targeting March 15 for his first spring training game with hopes of playing in the opener. Estrada is having some issues with his elbow following surgery to remove bone spurs. This could be good news for <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Jesus Flores<\/span>, last year&#8217;s #2, who was expected to spend the majority of the season in the minors.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/floridatoday.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20080221\/SPORTS\/802210334\/1002\/SPORTS\"><b>Closer seeks strong finishes<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>Florida Today<\/i><br \/><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Chad Cordero<\/span> wants to return to his 2005 form when he led the majors with 47 saves. That may be hard since Nationals Park will not have fences as deep as RFK Stadium did and Cordero does give up the long ball. He lost ten pounds in the offseason with a new diet though. Will the Nats sill be fun without a lot of fat guys?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Luis Ayala<\/span> to <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Jon Rauch<\/span> to Cordero still looks pretty good for getting through the last three innings of a game.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">PETE KERASOTIS<\/span> &#8211; <a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/floridatoday.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20080221\/COLUMNISTS0306\/802210322\/1065\/SPORTS\"><b>Nationals&#8217; Bacsik showed class, sportsmanship despite having thrown Bonds record HR pitch<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>Florida Today<\/i><br \/>Another column about what a great guy <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Mike Bacsik<\/span> is and how easy it is to root for him. Sure, he is a great guy, I like him, but he is probably no better than an AAAA pitcher.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.fcnp.com\/index.php?option=com_content&#038;task=view&#038;id=2563&#038;Itemid=37\"><b>Picking Splinters: A Few Nats Notes<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>Falls Church News-Press<\/i><br \/>Season preview from an area weekly.<\/p>\n<p>The WWWT radio (1500 AM &#038; 107.7 FM) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/washington\/stories\/2008\/02\/18\/daily37.html\"><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">pregame show will originate from Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center<\/span><\/a> (aka National Harbor) according to <span style=\"font-style:italic;\">Washington Business Journal<\/span>. The broadcast will begin at 5:30 p.m. I guess you can stop by it after visiting <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/awakening.html\"><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">The Awakening<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It seems like every spring training, a Space Shuttle returns from orbit to land at nearby John F. Kennedy Space Center. I enjoy reading about the D.C. beat writers reactions to the two sonic booms.<\/p>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\">&copy;MMX William F. Yurasko<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nats&#8217; Dukes Talks About Changes &#8211; The PostDukes debuts his &#8216;breakthrough&#8217; &#8211; The Wash. Times Dukes&#8217; introduction not the stuff of kings &#8211; The Free Lance-StarDukes says he&#8217;s a changed man &#8211; AP\/Florida TodayDukes: No beef with Rays &#8211; The St. Pete TimesA Changed Man? &#8211; The Tampa TribuneWith Dukes Comes Outfield Competition &#8211; The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,100],"tags":[1222],"class_list":["post-2986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsmlb-2008","category-video","tag-nats"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate? - William F. Yurasko<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate? - William F. Yurasko\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nats&#8217; Dukes Talks About Changes &#8211; The PostDukes debuts his &#8216;breakthrough&#8217; &#8211; The Wash. Times Dukes&#8217; introduction not the stuff of kings &#8211; The Free Lance-StarDukes says he&#8217;s a changed man &#8211; AP\/Florida TodayDukes: No beef with Rays &#8211; The St. Pete TimesA Changed Man? &#8211; The Tampa TribuneWith Dukes Comes Outfield Competition &#8211; The [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"William F. Yurasko\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-02-21T11:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"wfyurasko\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"wfyurasko\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"wfyurasko\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773\"},\"headline\":\"Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate?\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-02-21T11:24:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":556,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Nats\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Nats\\\/MLB 2008\",\"Video\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate? - William F. Yurasko\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-02-21T11:24:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/\",\"name\":\"William F. Yurasko\",\"description\":\"Yet another Washingtonian pushing the ubiquitous Nats\\\/DC sports, Penn State, commuting, bicycling, kayaking, broomball, skiing, gin &amp; tonic agenda.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773\",\"name\":\"wfyurasko\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"wfyurasko\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jus.tia.mybluehost.me\\\/website_3c1e0e40\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/author\\\/wfyurasko\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate? - William F. Yurasko","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate? - William F. Yurasko","og_description":"Nats&#8217; Dukes Talks About Changes &#8211; The PostDukes debuts his &#8216;breakthrough&#8217; &#8211; The Wash. Times Dukes&#8217; introduction not the stuff of kings &#8211; The Free Lance-StarDukes says he&#8217;s a changed man &#8211; AP\/Florida TodayDukes: No beef with Rays &#8211; The St. Pete TimesA Changed Man? &#8211; The Tampa TribuneWith Dukes Comes Outfield Competition &#8211; The [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/","og_site_name":"William F. Yurasko","article_published_time":"2008-02-21T11:24:00+00:00","author":"wfyurasko","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"wfyurasko","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/"},"author":{"name":"wfyurasko","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773"},"headline":"Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate?","datePublished":"2008-02-21T11:24:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/"},"wordCount":556,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["Nats"],"articleSection":["Nats\/MLB 2008","Video"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/","url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/","name":"Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate? - William F. Yurasko","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-02-21T11:24:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2008\/02\/dukes-arrives-who-is-going-to-be-behind-the-plate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dukes arrives; who is going to be behind the plate?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/","name":"William F. Yurasko","description":"Yet another Washingtonian pushing the ubiquitous Nats\/DC sports, Penn State, commuting, bicycling, kayaking, broomball, skiing, gin &amp; tonic agenda.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773","name":"wfyurasko","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"wfyurasko"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/jus.tia.mybluehost.me\/website_3c1e0e40"],"url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/author\/wfyurasko\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}