Nats vs Phillies, 5/4/12

On Friday, Drew and I headed down to Natitude Park to watch the baseball game. Yup, Natitude Park. Every reference inside the stadium, from the scoreboard to the directional signs, had been changed for the weekend. Totally cheesy? Absolutely. Useful? Well, as of right now, the Nats are up 2-0 in the series.

Although I definitely saw Phillies fans, there certainly weren’t as many of them as there have been in years past. They also weren’t able to dominate the stands. We had a rowdy group sitting in our section, and although they tried, they couldn’t get any cheers to catch on. There were just too many Nats fans!

But how was the baseball you ask?

Well, it turned out to be a perfect night. There were scattered showers around DC all day, but they stayed away for all 11(!) inning of play. Oh, and the moon was out too.

Things were heated from the start – the first three Phillies batters were quickly dispatched, and the Nats took a turn at bat. Bryce Harper was walked, and the Phillies manager came out to argue the call. With no umpire at third to check the call at the plate, Charlie Manuel was quickly tossed (there were only three umps for the whole game – one called in sick).

After that, the umps did a decent job until they robbed us of a run in the 8th! (My untrained eyes clearly saw Ankiel safe at home).

In addition to pitching, we saw Strasburg hit a double in the 3rd. He made it all the way to third with the bases loaded before Werth struck out to end the inning. The Nats got lots of players on base, but had trouble actually get them home. Hence, it took 11 inning to get the job done.

I sincerely hope that the Nats continue to do well and can get people to come to games. It’s a different ballpark with the stands full. The high school girls behind us were especially amusing, going from “Look, it’s Harper! He’s so dreamy!” to explaining things like bunts and balks to a friend who tagged along.

Go Nats!

More pictures here.

Goodbye and Good Luck!

There is always something in the news about baseball, and the First Ladies usually don’t mention it here. However, we can’t let this week go by without saying farewell to Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez. Pudge retired yesterday after 20 years playing professional baseball.

Even though we only had him in Washington for two years (and didn’t have enough chances to watch him play due to injuries), he was one of our favorite players. Even approaching the end of his career, he could still grab the ball and rocket it to 2nd to score an out.

So, good luck in all of your future endeavors Pudge – we’ll miss you!

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.