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.
First Ladies of Baseball 
April 22, 2012 at 3:57 pm |
I’m not a Washington Native, but I’m a Nats fan. Of course, I wasn’t at the Nats game today because I was at the Syracuse double-header, but that doesn’t stop me from being a Nats fan.
April 22, 2012 at 6:06 pm |
Of course not! I get the feeling this guy just wanted to complain about the lack of other fans to make himself feel cooler. But I hate that the “no-real-Washingtonians” myth still persists. 😦
April 22, 2012 at 6:29 pm
A former co-work, now in Ohio, is a Washington-area native (northern VA) and he’s a Nat’s fan, too. FWIW.
April 22, 2012 at 6:46 pm
I love that there are Nats fans all over, and not just near DC. It’s nice to know the fan base is widespread (and growing?)
April 22, 2012 at 7:25 pm
You heard Harper hit his first Triple A home run here in Syracuse today? It was a beautiful thing.
April 22, 2012 at 7:50 pm
I didn’t hear that! I was driving most of the day, so missed out (even on checking what’s the happening on twitter). That’s awesome – you guys get to see all the good stuff first!