August 27, 2011 [CLICK HERE to see proper format.][LINK / comment]
As Hurricane Irene tears northward along the east coast, wreaking death and destruction, the major league baseball schedule has been seriously disrupted. Five Saturday games were postponed, including two double-headers: Marlins at Phillies (two games), Yankees at Orioles (two), and Braves at Mets (one). All of those matchups involve teams that are heading toward the postseason, so the games will have to made up one way or another. Natural disasters such as this remind us that baseball is a mere sideshow in the grander scheme of things, and we should pay due respect to the many thousands of rescue workers, electrical utility workers, and police officers who are working overtime this weekend to make our lives safer.
The hurricane comes on the heels of the freakish earthquake that hit central Virginia on Tuesday afternoon. (I was not far from the epicenter but didn't even notice.) Buildings in Richmond, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and even farther north suffered damage. The evening game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Washington Nationals was delayed for about a half hour while Nationals Park was inspected to check for damage. Fortunately, everthing was intact. See MLB.com. Obviously, it was nothing like the major earthquake that devasted the San Francisco Bay area during the 1989 World Series, leaving cracks in Candlestick Park. This week's quake may have rattled the Nationals' nerves, however, as they lost that game, 2-0.
The New York Yankees whalloped the visiting Oakland A's 22-9 on Thursday afternoon, a feat that was made possible by three (3) grand slams -- a major league record. 
Curtis Granderson, Russell Martin, and 
Robinson Cano each cleared the bases with the long ball, in a home game at which many fans had already left because of a rain delay. (D'oh!) Oakland actually led early on, 7-1. (Photos taken at the August 16 game in Kansas City.)
Playing the Reds in Cincinnati, the Washington Nationals lost their fifth consecutive game this evening, in spite of home runs hit by Wilson Ramos, Jayson Werth (!), and Michael Morse. Unfortunately, they were all solo shots, while the team went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position. Ouch. In his major league debut, Nats first baseman Chris Marrero committed two errors in the early innings, allowing the Reds to score at least two additional runs. On the plus side, he did get a hit. Final score: 6-3. The Nats have fallen into fourth place, behind the Mets once again, and have a record of 62-69.
I have received a number of ballpark photos from fans recently, and I'll be posting some of them on the appropriate pages in the near future. Whether I make use of them on my Web site or not, I always appreciate them.
On a related note, I occasionally get requests from fans for use of photos, for a variety of purposes. I charge a nominal fee for high-resolution photographs in JPG format, but only for photos that I myself have taken. I will not release to any third party high-resolution images that other people have sent to me for use on this Web site unless the person who owns the rights to them gives me their consent. I'll develop a general policy for high-resolution photo distribution later this year.