Photos by Chris Gordon

Now that the Washington Capitals have been eliminated, it’s time to move on to other things: country music concerts, junior hockey games, and, tonight, baseball!

Caps players seem to love America’s pastime. Some of them prefer a game of catch over the traditional pregame soccer kickaround. Some of them are filthy Blue Jays fans. Brooks Laich is a fan as well, and on Monday he threw out the ceremonial first pitch before game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. Laich also got an extensive tour of the O’s clubhouse from All Star closer Jim Johnson, a noted New York Rangers fan.

Laich, a righty, managed to throw (sort of) a strike, just like Alex Ovechkin did a year ago. His pitch to outfielder Chris Dickerson was a little outside, but he gunned it in there.

“He said ‘Just don’t bounce it,’ which is what everybody said,” Laich recalled Dickerson as saying. “I said ‘I’m gonna bring it in there’ and he goes ‘YES! Finally somebody’s gonna throw it! Bring the heat!’”

“It was awesome!” added Laich. “A lot of people asked me ‘Are you gonna be nervous?’ You’re used to preforming in front of people — maybe not in this environment but it was more exciting.”

Laich, who recently divulged that he was named after Orioles legend Brooks Robinson, got a nice cheer out of crowd, a number of them Yankees fans.

The Washington forward’s father was a big fan of the Hall of Fame third baseman– in fact, he gave his son the middle name Brooks (Laich’s first name is Evan) in honor of the Human Vacuum Cleaner. The younger Laich also idolized Robinson, before finally meeting him in April.

Laich, though, still had some regrets.

“I should have thrown it harder,” he said. “I really wanted to be on the top of the mound and bring it way back.”

Video

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Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

At 6:45 PM, Adam Oates made his first public appearance as the new Capitals head coach, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before the Nationals/Rockies game.

Oates, wearing khakis and a white #77 Nats jersey, lobbed in a high-arching ball to Nationals pitcher Ross Detwiler, who was crouched down and catching at home plate.

Video is below the jump.

The Nationals made a solid choice in having Detwiler catch for Oates. Ross grew up in Wentzville, Missouri and was a huge Blues fan growing up. In fact, Oates, who centered future Hall of Famer Brett Hull in St. Louis, was traded away to the Bruins when Detwiler was 7-years-old.

“I remember growing up watching them on the local TV channel 11 in St. Louis,” Detwiler recently told MASN’s Byron Kerr. “Anytime I can go to a [Blues] game, I go to a game.”

Before the ceremony, Oates got a full tour of the Nationals clubhouse and even got a chance to meet Bryce Harper before going out to the field. When asked if he did anything special to be ready for the pitch, Oates replied that he would being going out to the mound cold.

Thankfully, everything worked out and Oates avoided having a John Wall moment.

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Adam watches batting practice.

Oates meets Harper in the lockerroom.

Oates talks to Detwiler and a club official before taking the mound.

The pitch (Photos via the Washington Capitals’ Instagram account).

Photo via washingtoncapitals.tumblr.com

Wearing a red Nationals’ #32 Tom Gorzelanny jersey (perhaps in honor of Dale Hunter?), Jason Chimera, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Sunday’s Orioles/Nats game. Chimmer, who got a loud ovation when he took the field, threw high and hard — we’re going to call it a ball — to Gorzelanny, a pitcher who played catcher for the moment. And yeah, Chimera brought along his son Cale.

Video is below the jump.

“I was a little nervous,” Chimera said to CSN Washington after the pitch. “It’s a little different at Nationals Park where there’s 30,000 – 40,000 people looking at you. But it was fun.”

The Edmonton, Alberta native never played baseball as a kid because of the cold weather, but he didn’t embarrass himself on the mound like John Wall and LaVar Arrington had.

“Some of the guys warned me in the clubhouse not to spike the [pitch] on the ground,” Chimera happily grinned.

Way to go, Jason.

Behind-The-Scenes Video by the Capitals