April 19, 2012: Nationals vs. Astros

What’s worse than losing a game 11-4 in an UGLY way?  Losing a blog post because WordPress is having issues.  That’s right – this is attempt number two after having written everything and put in pictures and EVERYTHING.  So we’ll make this a quick version of that more extensive post that has been lost to the black hole of the internet.

So Edwin Jackson started out well – he had a strikeout to start the game.  But then he allowed 6 runs on base, and 5 of those runners scored.  Ouch.  Luckily, after that he pitched another 4 innings of 1-2-3 out baseball to make things less painful for the Nats fans in attendance.

Helping EJax out was the offense.  Adam LaRoche had some great base running in the second inning (assisted by a wild pitch, and a big hit by Wilson Ramos), and then Ryan Zimmerman came through in a big way in the third with his first HR of the season.  This brought the score to Astros 5, Nationals 4, and it seemed like a comeback was in the works!

Unfortunately, this is when things got confusing.  At the top of the 6th, before his spot in the hitting rotation had even come up, Jackson was taken out of the game in favor of Tom Gorzelanny.  This proved to be a big mistake, because Gorzelanny allowed 5 runs in the 6th inning, and another in the 7th, bringing the score to 11-4 Astros (the score which would prove to be the final).  Does anyone out there have any idea what happened?

It was National High Five Day at the park, which was pretty cool, because I’m a fan of high-fives.  Not so cool was the complaining by a guy sitting behind me.  He went on for about 15 minutes about how there are no real Nationals fans because no one is actually from the Washington area, and that it was pathetic that the stadium was empty.  Two things: there are plenty of people who are Washington-area natives (myself included), and if you consider that there was a Caps playoff game that night (a weeknight), and some people may be holding off on attending games until they figure out if this Nats team is for real.

So – you’re all Nats fans – what do you think?  Is this complainer right?  How many Washington DC-area natives do you know that are fans of the local baseball team?  Do you think attendance will pick up later in the season?

Full album here.

April 14, 2012: Nationals vs. Reds

I have a very busy spring ahead of me, and this last Saturday wasn’t much different.  I had three items on my agenda: visiting the zoo in the morning, baseball game in the afternoon (main goal: Strasburg bobblehead), and birthday party in the evening.  Since my afternoon and evening agendas overlapped quite a bit, I had to split my time.  This meant arriving early for the game in order to guarantee getting a bobblehead, and leaving about halfway through to make my next event.  But the time I had at the ballgame allowed me to get in some quality portions of the game, and to appreciate what’s happening with the Nationals this season.

Before the game even started I was hanging out with some Nats fans (including @tracytran, who sold me my ticket), talking about the team, and what we thought of the way things were going so far, and our hopes for the future.  In the middle of that discussion, we were approached by the Nat Pack who asked if we wanted to participate in a trivia game on NatsHD.  Tracy and I agreed, and played “Ross or Ryan” (Detweiler or Mattheus) with Clint.  Apart from the first question (who wears #48?), most of the answers were not things that either of us readily knew because Ryan Mattheus and Ross Detweiler aren’t given the Tiger Beat treatment the way that Zimmerman and Strasburg are.  Through sheer luck (50/50!), I ended up winning the game, and was given a prize pack which included a knit cap, a frosty mug and an Ian Desmond bobblehead.  Since I already had a Desmond bobblehead, I gave mine to Tracy so he could complete his collection.

On to the game – we sat up in section 222, which has a nice view along the first base line, but not so far in the outfield that it’s hard to see.  We were a little worried after the top of the second when the Reds scored their first run, but with some timely walks, a hit by Flores and great base-running by Jayson Werth, things were tied up 1-1 at the end of that inning.  In the third inning, LaRoche smacked a double and batted in two runs that would be enough for the Nats to win.

The third inning is also when I think the crowd started to notice that Jackson was pitching really well.  With the exception of the 8th, he would continue to take down the Reds hitters in order, 1-2-3.  It was really an impressive outing, and I’m sad that I didn’t get to see all of it.  And while I’m praising Jackson’s performance, I think now is the time to mention my ESP.  During the third or fourth inning, I turned to Tracy and said, “Since Gio had his first hit ever at the home opener, I think Edwin should get a hit in this game to balance things out.”  I had promised myself I would stay through the president’s race, and so was actually walking towards the metro when I heard the cheers for Jackson as he made his first hit of the year!

And that’s it.  I watched the end of the game in awe from the bar where the birthday party was being held.  I actually drew the attention of the entire table to what was happening when I noticed that Jackson was still pitching in the 8th.  I’m pleased to report that after his amazing complete game, everyone at the table was talking about the Nats and the fantastic start to the season they were off to.  And because I have no pictures from the bar, here are a few more pics from the game.

Full album can be found here.

N.B. – I held off on writing this post until I had time, which meant I had the opportunity to go to Jackson’s second outing at Nats Park on Thursday which wasn’t quite as good.  I’ll address that game in a post tomorrow.

April 13, 2012: Nats vs Reds

Friday the 13th. You never quite know what to expect when that day rolls around. Usually, it’s a typical day except you have something to blame if anything goes wrong. My evening with the Nats didn’t start off well – our regular lot (HH) was charging $10 for parking (double last year’s price of $5, which is still posted on the Nat’s website) and the Half Street Fairgrounds bouncers were harassing us about carrying water bottles. Neither incident put me in a good mood whatsoever. However, once we got inside the park, things changed for the better.

First, my husband bought me a fried pie from Box Frites. On the spectrum of commercial fried pies, it tasted much better than it looked, but didn’t quite measure up to the Varsity (but really, what could?). Overall, a B+ pushed into A- territory by the decadent caramel sauce. The filling was wonderful (I tried the apple, he tried the mixed berry. We didn’t share).

Next, we got to watch Jordan Zimmermann play. This First Lady loves the tall socks and the good arm. He’s a fast pitcher too – the 7th inning stretch was somewhere around 8:45. At that point, the Nats were down by one, but they soon tied it up with a homer from Nady. Also? The Reds pitcher was in for one batter before he was yanked – Nady. I guess it’s bad form to give up a run on your second pitch.

The Nats outfield was pretty solid other than back-to-back errors in the 7th. The team seemed very cohesive too – the atmosphere at the park was more an expectation of winning than of clinging to the faint hope of a win smothered in a blanked of acceptance that the team will lose.

Sadly, even though the Nats came back spectacularly in the 13th, I was in bed asleep by that point. Maggie texted me to see if we were still at the game, but several late nights in a row had done their work and I was out. Next time Nats, next time…

More pictures here.