WaPo: Acta to Catch Bush’s First Pitch (RR)

With President Bush slated to open Nationals Park by throwing the ceremonial first pitch Sunday night, new Washington Nationals catcher Paul Lo Duca has assumed all spring that he would be the man to receive it.

But Thursday morning, on the last day of spring training, General Manager Jim Bowden informed Lo Duca that the honor instead will go to Manager Manny Acta.

The choice has symbolic implications. Lo Duca was one of the primary figures in the report by former Senate majority leader George J. Mitchell on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. Bush, in turn, is an avid baseball fan and former owner of the Texas Rangers who has publicly denounced the use of steroids, both in professional sports and by America’s youth.
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Lo Duca said after Thursday’s final Grapefruit League game that he had no animosity about the situation.

“I’m not upset,” Lo Duca said. “I’m just not catching it.”
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Lo Duca declined to speculate as to whether his role in the Mitchell report had anything to do with the decision. Bowden did not mention that in his conversation, Lo Duca said.