The keys to celebrating tomorrow are different for different players.

Arlington, Va. | On the eve of the first playoff experience for the three-year-old 20-Minutemen squad, players are taking different strategies to prepare for the weekend’s slate of games. Many players have never played in a sporting event of this magnitude before, while others haven’t done so in decades.

Some of the team’s “elders” are taking a preventative approach. Chip Porter said he will spend the night gathering five forms of identification and undergoing fingerprinting to ensure that he can play despite the league’s strict ID policy. “I’m all ID’d up,” Porter said. “I’m ready to forfeit all personal liberties for the playoffs.”

Dan Caccavaro, who hasn’t played since becoming a father midway through the season, is icing his back and knees while spending hours at a time stretching and doing yoga. “Unfortunately, my muscles have atrophied after months without any time to go to the gym,” he said.

For the team’s youngsters, the idea of stretching is passe. Many of them have focused on eating right and some are throwing in a light to moderate workout, a risk Andy Bonior called “stupid and unnecessary.”

“I’m not going to do much tonight,” said sports intern Joe Bubar. “Just a 5-mile warmup run, followed by a pyramid set of sprints, some chest and back sets and, of course crunches.”

Most of the 20-Minutemen have vowed to hydrate on Friday night instead of indulging in the daily binge of booze they have become accustomed to. But Amanda Erickson has volunteered to head to 51st State, a bar frequented by CNN, the day’s first opponent. She is taking her $250 “health and fitness stipend,” given to all company employees, and will use it to buy rounds of beer for CNN players. “I’m even willing to dip into my personal savings if I’m there late with one of CNN’s best players,” Erickson said. “I think this strategy even has the potential to win us some sportsmanship points.”

Continued …

Washington, D.C. | With the playoffs rapidly approaching, many of the 20-Minutemen have turned to sports movies for inspiration, replacing nights of reading Ayn Rand with hours of watching inspirational films.

“[Coach] Ian [Herbert] doesn’t really do a great job motivating us before games,” said 3B Ryan Derousseau. “I had to look elsewhere for my motivation.”

20Minutemen.org caught up with some players and asked what movie or team this year’s squad reminds them of most — and why. Here are the responses:

“Major League — the first one. We’re near the bottom but in the end we’re going to do some great things.” — Derousseau

“Benchwarmers. A bunch of geeks looking to use softball as a way to make up for our relative inferiority complex as a paper/website.” — SS Clinton Yates

“A League of Their Own. Mainly just because our coach is a drunk. I’m not saying everyone plays like a girl.” — CF Betsy Lowther

“Mighty Ducks. They’re a ragtag group of players who pull it together at the end and sing ‘We are the Champions’ during the credits. And I have a huge crush on Joshua Jackson.” — C Amanda Erickson

We’d like to hear your thoughts. Chime in in the comments.

Express’ rookies looked a little sloppy last week.

Arlington, Va. | Just a month ago, the 20-Minutemen were flying high. Coming off a dominant performance against the Associated Press, Express players were talking about finally finding their bats and hitting their stride. There was talk of a late playoff run.

Week after week, the players prepared for the upcoming games only to be disappointed by holiday vacations or mother nature.

Now, it seems all the Minutemen can find is the gloves of the other team. The drastic breakdown has left Express all but eliminated from the playoff hunt with two weeks left in the regular season.

Continued …

Were Weaver’s guns a factor in the decision? Team officials won’t say.

Arlington, Va. | With manager Ian Herbert leaving town for the weekend, Dustin Weaver has been tapped to run the team, adding to speculation that he may be given the reins when Herbert retires from media softball at the end of the season. But the move has also been criticized as an attempt to bypass the proper coach search process mandated by league rules.

Weaver was named interim manager in an e-mail to the team on Wednesday. “Dustin has graciously offered to take over managerial duties for the weekend, and he will be holding pitching tryouts before the first game to try to give Andy some relief,” Herbert casually mentioned in the e-mail, obtained by 20Minutemen.org on Thursday.

Herbert, who could not be reached for comment, is reportedly spending the weekend in Las Vegas. Sources knowledgeable with his thought process said he picked Weaver because of his seniority at Express and the respect he demands from his teammates. But critics note that Andrea Bonior, Clinton Yates and Christopher Porter, who have similar qualifications, were not offered the job. Scott McCarthy will also be in Las Vegas this weekend and was not considered for the job.

Continued …

One of the Minutemen ate lunch with this guy instead of playing softball. Find out who after the jump.

For the second week in a row, the fields at Layhill were dormant, with no media softball teams gallivanting in the infield. Last week, it was the Memorial Day holiday that postponed the season; this week it was a week’s worth of rain. 20Minutemen.org caught up with some of Express’ stars to see how they spent their unexpected weekend off. Here’s what we found:

- “I went on a long, long walk wearing a beer helmet and no pants.” — RF Chip Porter

- “I watched game film, going through my previous at bats, frame-by-frame, analyzing my swing. I also saw ‘Up.’” — 3B Ryan Derousseau

- “I went to another softball game and took action shots of the players and pictures of cute children.” — Team photographer Holly Morris

Continued …

Coach Ian struggles with juggling the score book and substitutions while playing.

Washington, D.C. | The differences between the Express team that first joined the Metropolitan Media Softball League two years ago and the Minutemen who have jumped out to a modest-but-impressive-by-their-standards 3-5 start in season No. 3 are endless.

The team no longer looks like the Bad News Bears in the field, routinely catching routine fly balls. And at the plate, Express has mostly eliminated the pop-ups that plagued the team in the first season and has managed to manufacture runs throughout the lineup this season.

The improvement has been noticed by other teams, as well. After the first week of the season, Jonathan D. Salant of the National Press Club said Express was “my nominee for most improved team of 2009 so far.”

But despite all the improvement, Express has remained weak in one area in particular: Few on the team have the talent necessary to keep the book.

It seems like a simple skill, one learned at Little League games (that’s where Clinton Yates learned) and baseball games with dad (where Dustin Weaver learned). But it’s a skill only a handful of other players — Ian Herbert and Matt Swenson — possess.

“Every game when I head out to the field, I ask one of the two or three subs we have if they can keep the book until they get in the game,” Herbert said. “All I get in return is blank stares. … So when the other team is batting, I generally just tell them to keep track of runs.”

Continued …

John Davisson had his best game of the season this weekend, as did many other Minutemen.

Layhill, Md. | Though the 20-Minutemen started the season better than either of the previous seasons, many on the team were beginning to wonder if they had the offense it took to blow a team out.

On Saturday, they got their answer, beating the Associated Press 28-5 after losing to Gazette 5-3.

“That was the most fun I’ve had playing softball,” said Amanda Erickson. “And I didn’t even get a chance to bat against the AP. You would think that winning a close game would be more fun than winning easily. But dominating a team is way more fun.”

Christopher Porter drove in seven runs with two home runs and Scott McCarthy had three triples, but the reason Express came out on top was contributions from everyone on the team. Playing in their first games of the year, Betsy Lowther and Aimee Goodwin both singled and scored, and Rachel Kaufman singled, had two RBI and scored twice. John Davisson had by far his best game, with a double and three singles in four at-bats.

“It was awesome,” said designated hitter Andy Bonior. “Everyone who got an at-bat got on base. That’s just … awesome. I wanted Ian to put Vance in to test the swing we’ve been working on for three years.”

Continued …

Mud is bad for the Minutemen.

Washington D.C. | Every morning when he wakes up, Christopher Porter turns on his computer and goes to the homepage: weather.com’s 10-day forecast for ZIP code 20906. Porter doesn’t live near that ZIP code, but it has become equally important to his life. It’s the ZIP code for Layhill softball fields, the home fields for the 20-Minutemen.

Porter is not alone in his recent weather obsession. Rachel Kaufman has recently bought a Farmer’s Almanac, and Katie Aberbach finds herself looking at radar maps as far as four days in advance. “You have to look four days ahead,” she says. “That’s the only way you can see the trends, the directions the low-pressure fronts are moving and where the precipitation is developing. I knew on Thursday of last week that the storms that were threatening the area were never going to hit, but did anyone ask me? No.”

Last season, poor weather plagued the Minutemen. Fields at Wheaton Forest, Express’ home field last year, were known to get muddy at even the hint of rain, and the Minutemen played many of its games in the grass, which many experts say slowed down the team known for its speed.

Continued …

Unfortunately, intensity doesn’t always turn into victories.

Aspen Hill, Md. | Just when they thought they were ready to break through, the 20-Minutemen were dealt a brutal lesson on Saturday with two losses that were difficult to take in very different ways. Pitcher Ian Herbert was rocked in the first game for 16 runs in a 16-4 loss to Discovery Channel in the first game, which was followed by an 8-7 loss to ABC News in extra innings.

“I don’t know which one was more difficult to take,” said left fielder Dustin Weaver. “The first loss was a big blow, mentally, because we hadn’t been blown out like that all season — that was the old Express. But you never like to lose an extra inning game.”

Against ABC News, Express took a 6-3 lead into the sixth inning. ABC got one back in that inning on a double by BK and then tied the game in the seventh when Herbert tried for a diving catch down the third base line. The ball probably would have gone foul, but the ump said Herbert touched it in fair territory. That put two runners on. One run scored on Eric’s walk and Cristina came home on a fielder’s choice. Pitcher Andy Bonior made a diving save to get the third out and send the game into extra innings.

Continued …

Matt Swenson makes a tag at third during Express’ 10-6 win against Allbritton Communications.

Viers Mill, Md. | Christopher “Chip” Porter was scorching hot on a 90-degree weekend at Viers Mill.

Porter homered twice and drove in five runs, lifting Express to a 10-6 win over Allbritton Communications in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. That dominating performance gave the 20-Minutemen a series split for the second straight week.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Minutemen coach Ian Herbert. “I know we’re just 2-2 at this point in the season. But we’ve played well in all four games and beaten some good teams. I don’t remember how good Allbritton was last year, but I know their coaches are big talkers at the coaches meeting, so they’re at least very serious.”

Continued …