Thus ends season three

At 4:36 pm yesterday afternoon, season three of Nationals baseball came to an end as they lost to the Phillies 6-1, and I have to admit, I feel rather bummed. Not by the loss per se, nor by the fact that the season has come to a close. It's because I've felt so detached from Nats baseball for much of the season, and whenever I was able to see a game, somehow my usual enthusiasm was misplaced.

The season started out normally for me—thirsting for the season opener like a little kid yearning for Christmas morning, but preparations for my trip to London in June ate up so much of my time and energy that I completely lost track of the Nats in the process. Thus, when I made it back to RFK in late summer, it almost felt like I had become detached from Nats baseball, and like each game was something I remembered from a distant past. Missing was the passionate following that is more customary with me for each season, and for some reason, I wasn't able to regain it.

I have to admit, I kinda regret not making it out to RFK more this season, because as I said, I live for the start of Nats baseball season each April—even the pre-season games in March! I'd really hate to think that I'm losing interest in the Nats, so hopefully in season four, when the Nats begin playing at their new ballpark in Southeast, my enthusiasm for my team will return like it always has—and stay throughout the entire season.

RFK Finale

It was one for the recordbooks, people! For today marks the end of an era, and the promise of a new beginning next April: today we witnessed the final Nationals game ever to be played at RFK Stadium, and it was a glorious day all around.

Today's opponent was the Philadelphia Phillies, and in a stunning display of power and cohesion, the Nats topped the Phillies 5-3, thus ending the days of baseball at RFK on a glorious note. Christina and I joined Will and Erica in our usual seats (down along the right field line, in the 400-level seats for a change), and we watched with glee as the Nats gave a strong on-field performance under a beautiful blue sky.

The game progressed rather quickly up until the 5th inning, when both teams started to show some signs of fatigue. Philly pulled two pitchers in the bottom of the 5th, and the Nats struggled to keep the game in check in the 6th. But a walked-in run, a triple, and some good hits allowed the Nats to pull ahead by the time we clocked in that final out.

A big surprise, too, came in the President's Race! Earlier this season, I made a prediction that Teddy would win the President's Race at the last-ever game at RFK . . . and that prediction didn't come to fruition! Apparently, many other fans made the same prediction as me, because when the President's Race began, the whole place began to chant, "Ted-dy! Ted-dy!" And on the scoreboard, it showed all four of the racers starting out in their customary way: running through downtown DC and making their way to RFK—only when they showed Teddy running into the ballpark, it was Nationals Park he was running into! Not RFK! So contrary to my (and everyone else's) prediction, Teddy lost this race. Which leads me to wonder, will he win the first race at Nationals Park next April? Time will only tell, but it's a shame he didn't win at least one race at RFK, because that would have felt appropriate to the concluding festivities.

But I must admit, it's really hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that we'll no longer be trotting out to RFK to see a Nats game. We'll no longer welcome spring with a weekday-morning journey to Stadium-Armory for the season opener in April. Instead, we'll be taking the Green Line down to the Navy Yard to the new (and as yet unnamed) Nationals Park. I admit, I'm really eager to sit inside the new ballpark and enjoy many a Nats game there, but I'll nevertheless always associate the return of baseball to DC with RFK Stadium.

And I know many others will, too, because today the fans really showed up to mark the last RFK Nats game. I don't think attendance was ever announced, but it was a pretty packed house. Probably upwards of 30,000 (which is pretty damn good for this season).

I honestly can't believe it's come and gone, but after an exciting beginning at RFK Stadium, baseball in DC is about to move on to a new and exciting chapter. And on that note, I bid you adieu, RFK. It's been a great three years of Nationals baseball there, and I feel it only appropriate now to borrow that famous line by Bob Hope: thanks for the memories.

Baseball on the Barn

On Saturday night, I finally partook in a summer activity that I've been looking forward to since baseball season started: Baseball on the Barn!

Baseball on the Barn is organized by Nats blogger MissChatter and her husband, and I first learned of this fun event last year when I bumped into Will and Erica in Pentagon City one night (this was before I moved there), who were on their way to one such party and invited me along. To describe Baseball on the Barn is no easy task, but it's nevertheless very easy to visualize. Basically, MissChatter and her husband have a very large old house on a lovely piece of land in Falls Church, and right next to their house is a sort of carriage house/barn. And on certain nights, they access the Nats game through their laptop's streaming audio and video, connect their laptop to a projector, and project the game onto the side of their barn—essentially turning a regular old baseball game into something akin to a drive-in movie! And just like a drive-in, the experience becomes more thrilling as the sun begins to set.

This weekend was the first Baseball on the Barn I've been able to attend this season, mostly because I've had other commitments (like London) spring up during their other scheduled parties—and since it was the last Baseball on the Barn for this season, I made sure that my calendar was clear for it. Saturday's game was against the Rockies, and though rain threatened to turn it into an indoor event, our determination to remain outdoors won through (courtesy of the tent MissChatter set up, plus the lightning storms managed to skip around us for most of the evening).

The Nats did lose 5-1, but it was still a memorable experience overall, and I'm gratified I was able to make it out to one before Penn State football season began.

Food for thought?

Through my mentally exhausted haze yesterday, I somehow managed to catch an interesting bit of information from Barry Svrluga's Washington Post chat.

Barry Svrluga: . . . Also: Aramark, I'm told, is out as concessionaire next year. Not sure who's going to win.

If true, this would be fabulous news!!! Aramark has been the food vendor at RFK since (I think) the Nats' inaugural season—and in all that time, service has been anything but smooth. During the first season alone, concessions frequently ran out of food within the first few innings (though at the time, I think we all blamed it on MLB's lack of managerial willingness), and I think matters came to a head this year when people had to wait in line for an hour on Opening Day, just to get a hot dog.

I think food service at RFK improved greatly last season with the opening of the food court above the main entrance (though I wish Hard Times had remained), but given the prices on most items ($6 for nachos or beer, $8.25 for a chicken tender platter), my strategy of late is to buy a hot dog at one of the street vendors outside the stadium. A much better hot dog, for maybe a quarter of the asking price inside RFK.

But if Aramark is indeed out as food vendor next year, I'm sure that'll earn the Lerners some strong points—though with the strong PR campaign they've been pushing for the new ballpark, hopefully the Lerners will be smart and hire a food vendor that's competent, capable, and able to fulfill their promised new-and-improved-night-at-the-ballpark experience. Because after three years at dank, rundown, outdated RFK, fans are going to want to step upward in a big way. So let's keep our fingers crossed that replacing Aramark is a major step in the right direction.

For my part, I'm also crossing my fingers for a Five Guys stand at the new ballpark.

A hero's weekend?

It was a busy weekend in Paradise, that's for sure! The main event was Cal Ripken's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The other (lesser-known) event was John Wayne being honored with a statue at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma.

Both events make sense to me: Cal was the face of the Orioles for many years, bringing class and honor to the game, and John Wayne helped solidify the Western film genre. Welcome tributes to two great men.

I missed the Commish

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig did a chat on MLB.com today, but I unfortunately missed it. I wanted to ask him how he justifies selling the Nats' TV rights to the man who tried to move heaven and earth to keep a team out of Washington, but I guess that question will have to wait till the next chat.

On another note, tonight's the All-Star game, and I'm glad the Nats are representin'.

The grudges we bear

I missed last night's Nats game, but nearly fell off my chair when I got the post-game e-mail announcing the final score of 13-0, in favor of the hated Atlanta Braves.

I've probably mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: I've hated the Braves with a passion ever since they defeated the Pirates in the 1991 National League Playoffs. That was the first time I'd ever heard the tomahawk chop, and not only did it grow old fast, but I knew instantly that it was a rip-off from the Florida State Seminoles. Yet growing up, I almost couldn't escape the Braves, because they were aired on TBS damn near every night! And the fact that they went to the World Series nearly each year for the next several years got old fast, too.

So suffice it to say, anytime the Nats lose to the Braves, it stings a little more than customary.

The dilemma that is MASN

As I sit here watching the Nats-Blue Jays game on UPN 20, I can't help but think of how much I dislike MASN, and what kind of conflict it stirs in me. It goes without saying that anyone in the Washington regions despises Peter Angelos for doing his damndest to keep a team out of Washington for so long, simply because he wanted to maintain a Orioles monopoly within the region (damn that anti-trust exemption to hell!), not to mention his general condescension towards Nats fans in general (think his "there are no baseball fans in DC" schtick).

And I know it's old news, but it really does turn my stomach to remember how MLB caved to his demands to retain the TV rights to the entire DC/Baltimore region. I mean, c'mon—is one team owning the TV rights to another team not the very definition of "conflict of interest"??? And they can spare me that rhetoric of Angelos paying the Lerners a respectable and fair sum to air the Nats games. I'm sorry, but there's nothing anyone can say that will convince me that the owner of the Baltimore Orioles, the man who fought heaven and earth to keep a team out of Washington, is in any way entitled to profit from the presence of a team in Washington.

Having said all that . . . I still find myself somehow happy that I can sit in the comfort of my own living room and watch a Nationals game on TV every night! Somehow, enough time has passed for me to forget that this TV deal is corrupt and that MASN is the brainchild of politics, intimidation, cowardice, and good-old-boy bullshit.

And as I sit here watching the Nats try to pull it together against the Blue Jays . . . it might be best for Nats fans to remember the price we're paying (literally!) to see the games on TV—particularly the next time you pay your Comcast bill.

Bang zoom for the sweep!!!

Today started out as a pretty rotten day for me, but tonight I go to bed a happy man knowing that the Nats swept the Orioles of Baltimore—yes, Baltimore!!! Despite their not putting the name of the city on the uniforms, the Orioles belong in Baltimore and not in Washington! They have their team, we have our team.

Okay, despite that unexpected rant, I'm having a mental picture of Peter Angelos sitting in a smoking jacket inside a very lonely and very empty mansion, brooding angrily into the fireplace whilst he swirls his glass of brandy in bitter defeat—isolated from all by his contempt for the baseball fans in Washington that supposedly don't exist.

A close call

A quick double-play gave the Nats a beautiful but nail-biting victory over the Orioles tonight—one up in enemy territory, no less!

I actually missed much of the game, though I caught glimpses of it at Crystal City Sports Pub (where I was attending a Penn State board meeting). I was able to watch the last two innings from the comfort of my living room couch later in the evening, and actually didn't sweat it too much when the Orioles snagged a solo homer in the bottom of the 9th. I was starting to sweat, though, when we allowed two men on base from bad pitching—possibly giving the O's a chance to tie up the game. But a well-fielded double play from Christian Guzman (God, I never thought I'd utter those words!) quickly shot those chances down, thus ushering the Nats to a 7-4 victory.

And the fact that it all took place in Peter Angelos's front yard makes this victory even sweeter.

Damn the double shutout!

How how how do you get shut out two nights in a row like this? Granted, last night's 5-0 loss wasn't as bad as Tuesday's 10-0 loss, but a shutout is still a shutout, and two nights in a row is hard to stomach. Personally, I was hoping that the first loss would inspire the Nats bounce back like they did against Cincinnati, but alas, that wasn't the case.

But on the other side of the coin, the Cristian Guzman that I remember from ye olden days briefly returned—missing that grounder to shortstop.

(Yes, I know I sound cynical this morning. I haven't had my coffee yet.)

The word for the night is "choke"

Okay, can someone please explain to me how you blow a 6-run lead like this? Tonight's game could have been a glorious follow-up to yesterday's victory over the Orioles, so just how the hell do the Nats choke like this?

A most glorious curly W!

Today I made it to my third Nats game of the season, where we defeated the Orioles, 4-3, in a glorious 8th inning comeback. Take that, Peter Angelos!

But the real fun began after the game—when I managed to get in on the limo ride with MissChatter out of RFK.

So much for "same time, same channel"

When I turned on MASN tonight to get the Nats-O's game, I was somewhat perturbed to find it all Orioles: Orioles colors in the scoreboard, all-Baltimore commercials . . . the usual Baltimore-is-superior-to-Washington-because-Peter-Angelos-says-so motif.

Just of curiosity, I switched over to MASN 2 to see if the game was on there; no such luck. And again, out of curiosity, I logged onto nationals.com to see which MASN station was officially carrying the game: it said MASN 2 and WDCA. Surprised at this discovery, I switched to WDCA, and indeed found the game—only this time, it was decked out Washington style: Washington colors on the scoreboard, etc. And it even had the MASN 2 brand logo down in the corner. So now that I've gone through this channel shuffle, where both teams were given top billing on different channels, I have two questions to ask:

1. If MASN 2 is the carrier, why isn't MASN 2's actual channel carrying the game? Why is WDCA carrying it under the MASN 2 umbrella?
2. Who's on first? (Which is a polite way of me saying, "Whiskey tango foxtrot." Which is yet another polite way of me saying . . . well, you get the idea.)

Harrisburg Senators: under new ownership

I almost missed this article from the Patriot News, but the Harrisburg Senators, the AA affiliate of the Washington Nationals, have been sold by the city of Harrisburg to an ownership group headed by Michael Reinsdorf, son of White Sox owner (and MLB bigwig) Jerry Reinsdorf. The team will still remain in Harrisburg, which I'm grateful for, though the sale may also include future renovations to Riverside Stadium Commerce Bank Park.

At the same time, this sale does and doesn't surprise me. I remember there being talk for so long about the city of Harrisburg possibly selling the team, possibly moving the team, possibly changing affiliations from the Nats to the Orioles (I can remember when they were affiliated with the Pirates way back in the day!), etc. But as long as the team stays there on City Island, I'm happy. For I have fond memories of the Senators from my upbringing. I think I started going there in 1987, not long after the ballpark opened up there—and back when the general admission seats consisted of wooden bleachers.

But even back then, the mayflies were firmly in charge.

One of the most interesting points about having a minor league ballpark on a small island in the middle of a river is its wildlife draw—which is to say, once the sun went down and the field lights went on, mayflies would be swarming by the thousands around each set of lights. They never bit, but sometimes you'd honestly need an umbrella just to keep the dead ones from dropping onto you.

It's a sweep!

Bang zoom! A curly W! A sweep!

On this Mother's Day, the Nats pulled off a feat that I didn't expect them to do on an 11-25 record: they swept the series with the Marlins!!! I listened to much of the game on the radio as I drove back from a Mother's Day lunch in PA (Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!!), and I felt jittery all over as the final pitch was called, "Strike three."

It might be the excitement of a sweep talking, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this signals a turnaround for the Nats.

The man with the plan?

Post columnist Tom Boswell, who has championed baseball's return to Washington for so long, isn't very happy with the situation the Nats are in right now—particularly with team president Stan Kasten. (Just a look at his opening line says it all.) In large part, I have to agree with some of Boz's concerns about the 2007 season, especially since we're a dismal 9-25 right now. I've subtly noticed, like so many fans, that the current season isn't really being focused on by the Lerners and Mr. Kasten; instead, they've chosen to focus on the new Southeast ballpark that's slated to open up next year.

But there's the rub: that's next year. We need to get through this year first! And at 9-25, just how is your run-of-the-mill Nationals fan supposed to get excited about baseball? We can't rely on the promise of a new ballpark to bring in the fans. We need a winning team. Hell, just one win right now will be something of an achievement.

A quick afterthought on Teddy

According to Barry Svrluga's write-up on last night's game, there was a second President's Race at RFK last night, during the 13th inning. (The first one ran around the 2nd or 3rd inning, much earlier than customary.) Teddy, this season's favorite, once again failed to score—though it certainly hasn't been for a lack of trying. (I personally loved how he repelled onto the field during Opening Day.)

My prediction on Teddy: he'll have a most glorious victory during the last-ever home game at RFK in September.

Sports dizziness

Last night I made it to my second Nats game of the season, but it came at a rather awkward time. I say awkward because, on Opening Day, it was close to 80 degrees and sunny. The following Saturday, I walked outside in the morning to find snow flurries on the ground! Ever since then, it's been unseasonably cool, and the last few Nats games I've seen on TV (home games, I mean) have showed players wrapped up in warmer clothes underneath their uniforms. Add to this the fact that, in Cleveland, they couldn't make the opening game official because it was snowing too hard, and I find myself asking, "Are you sure this is baseball season?" Normally I'd associate long, sunny, warm evenings with baseball—not bundled up against the freezing cold. I usually associate that with football.

Speaking of which, this weekend I am going to a football game at Penn State! So now that we're totally confused by juggling two sports with mismanaged weather, I think at this point it would be appropriate for Abbott and Costello to step in.



Last night's weather wasn't too bad, though, staying somewhere in the high 40s and low 50s for much of the game (though it got noticeably chillier as the evening progressed). The Nats pulled out a 13th-inning victory over the Phillies, with a score of 5-4. I didn't stay for the whole game (I left after the 9th), but Will and I managed to score some pretty sweet (and free!) seats from a friend of his: down in the 200-level, just a short distance into left field! A few foul balls came in our general direction—one even landing a few seats away from me! (Dad, did you pass that luck onto me, too?) Lots of Phillies fans were in attendance, not to mention one or two really drunk party girls in front of us.

The second inning was utterly beautiful, putting the Nats ahead by a score of 4-1 on a spectacular 3-run homer, though the Phils came back in the 7th to make it a 4-3 game (never have I been more grateful for a 7th Inning Stretch, just to get out of that rotation). Cordero gave up one run in the top of the 9th to tie the score, and I left RFK with a sinking feeling that the Phils would take the game. I was quite stunned to turn the TV on when I got home to find it already the 11th inning and still tied! I missed the game-winning sacrifice fly by Lopez in the 13th, but I was nevertheless grateful.

But getting back to this weekend's football game at Penn State, it's the annual Blue/White spring scrimmage, where the first squad plays the second . . . so you know what that means? It means Penn State's gonna win on Saturday! :)

Can I get a "Bang Zoom!" here?

No, I'm not talking about my sex life. I'm talking about tonight's surprise victory of the Nationals over the despised Atlanta Braves! This was a long-awaited victory for the Nats, who have only scored one win since Opening Day.

I tuned into the game in the top of the 8th, just after the Nats had scored their second run, and watched with glee as the Nats held the Braves down—though Cordero had me shivering as he started to lose composure in the 9th, throwing more balls than strikes. And the game-winning out was actually off a wild pitch! On 2 outs, Cordero pitched, the catcher dropped the ball—but since the bases were loaded, all he needed to do was tag home plate to end the game. Thus, the Nationals brought home a delicious, long-awaited victory! And the fact that it was against the Braves made this win even more sweet. (I've hated the Braves since I was 13, when they defeated the Pirates in the 1991 National League playoffs. The tomahawk chop got very old in that series.)

On that note, let's have a rousing "Bang Zoom!" for the Nationals!!! If there was ever a time for one, it's now. :)