Favorite Musical Artists: Steely Dan

I pretty much summarized my feelings about Steely Dan a couple years back in my tribute to Walter Becker. I’ve never seen them live – after all, during their prime they abandoned the road for the studio – but if they ever migrated from Jiffy Lube Live back to Wolf Trap, I’d give it a shot, despite Becker’s absence.

 

Favorite Songs:

 

My Old School  

Reeling In The Years

Deacon Blues

FM

Do It Again

 

King Of The World

Don’t Take Me Alive

Dirty Work

Hey Nineteen

Bad Sneakers

 

Show Biz Kids

Here At The Western World

Only A Fool Would Say That

Kid Charlemagne

Josie

 

Bodhisattva

Peg

Midnite Cruiser

Razor Boy

Turn That Heartbeat Over Again

Favorite Music of 2019

Another good year for WXPN-type music (although my favorite radio station for some reason decided not to do a listener poll this year). Other songs, not so much. And most of my favorite folks released albums last year, rather than in 2019.

 

Songs (AAA division) 

1. Outside Of This Town – Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (#82, WTMD Top 89)
2. Harmony Hall – Vampire Weekend (#5)
3. Keep Your Head Up – Preservation Hall Jazz Band
4. Juice – Lizzo (#73)
5. You Got It Wrong – Jeb Loy Nichols
6. Falling Down The Stairs Of Your Smile – New Pornographers (#20)
7. Saw Lightning – Beck (#29)
8. Armor – Sara Bareilles (#80)
9. When Am I Gonna Lose You – Local Natives (#23)
10. Trouble In Paradise – Rufus Wainwright
11. Hello Sunshine – Bruce Springsteen
12. Goin’ Back To Philly – Tommy Conwell & The Young Rumblers
13. Overexcited – Guster (#26)
14. This Life – Vampire Weekend
15. All Your’n – Tyler Childers (#51)

 Songs (other) 

1. Circles – Post Malone
2. Better – Khalid
3. Old Town Road – Lil Nas X
4. thank u, next – Ariana Grande
5. Good As Hell – Lizzo

 Albums 

1. Blinded By The Light – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
2. Kingfish – Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (#20, mvyradio Top 25)
3. Daylight – Grace Potter (#8)
4. Western Stars – Bruce Springsteen (#21)
5. 40 – The Stray Cats

Defining the 2010s

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/26/s-were-decade-what-exactly-six-columnists-tell-us/?arc404=true

 

The Washington Post asked six of their columnists to characterize the past decade. Two particular quotations stood out for me.

 

From Dana Milbank:

The rise of social media — Facebook and Twitter — aggravated and amplified the fissures [within America]. Though it gave voice to millions, it proved ruinous to traditional media and, with it, any sense of a shared, objective truth. It gave rise to demagoguery, gave an edge to authoritarianism and its primary weapon, disinformation, and gave legitimacy and power to the most extreme, hate-filled and paranoid elements of society.

 

From Molly Roberts:

[W]e soon found we weren’t only giving each other access to our photos and thoughts, our likes and our loves. We were allowing the [social media] platforms access to a whole mess more, and those platforms were letting third parties see it, too. To maximize our engagement, those platforms played on the preferences all our sharing revealed — which meant shoving inflammatory content in our faces and shoving us into silos. All that connection ended up dividing us.

Big Brother on campus

A truly scary Christmas morning article:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/24/colleges-are-turning-students-phones-into-surveillance-machines-tracking-locations-hundreds-thousands/

Serendipity #78

Fresh Air – Quicksilver Messenger Service

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ejj81Y2ZlM

Heard 12/15/2019 around 12:00 at honeygrow (Rockville)

Shuffle #125 (November 30, 2019)

In Liverpool – Suzanne Vega

When It Began – The Replacements

Running On Empty – Jackson Browne

The Rockafeller Skank – Fatboy Slim

Truckin’ – Grateful Dead

Since You’ve Been Gone – Aretha Franklin

Glory Bound – The Grass Roots

Time Is Tight – Booker T. & The MG’s

Little Ghetto Boy – John Legend & The Roots

Happy Thanksgiving!

While there are many things for which to be thankful, I decided to come up with a list of all the musicians that I’m glad I saw perform before it was too late. (I’ll revise this periodically as needed.)

 

Paul Barrere (Little Feat) 

LaVern Baker

James Brown

Ruth Brown 

Eva Cassidy 

Ray Charles

Clarence Clemons (E Street Band)

Pat DiNizio (Smithereens) 

Danny Federici (E Street Band)

Aretha Franklin 

Danny Gatton

Lesley Gore 

Richie Havens
Etta James

Sharon Jones 

Kirsty MacColl

Art Neville 

Charles Neville
John Prine
Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne)
Mary Travers (with Peter, Paul and Mary)

Junior Walker

Jesse Winchester 

Favorite Musical Artists: Indigo Girls

The Indigo Girls occupy an interesting middle niche in the music business ecosystem: not exactly household names, but more than cult favorites. They’ve received multiple Grammy nominations (with one win) and, with a run of six consecutive albums that went either gold or platinum, probably don’t have to worry about where their next meals are coming from. Yet, fortunately for their fans, they’re not so big that they can’t play venues such as Wolf Trap or the Maryland Hall for the Performing Arts (with reasonable ticket prices), or appear on the River Stage at XPNFest. And we can also be thankful that they didn’t become so acclaimed that they spawned a bevy of imitators trying to become the “new Indigo Girls”; it would be difficult if not impossible to improve on the original.

 

Concert notes: 2018 2015 (Wolf Trap) 2015 (XPNFest) 2014

 

Favorite Songs:

 

Southland In The Springtime

Fill It Up Again

Watershed

Closer To Fine

The Wood Song

 

Hammer And A Nail

Power Of Two

This Train Revised

Cold Beer And Remote Control

Galileo

 

Chickenman

Rise Up

Sugar Tongue

Get Out The Map

Least Complicated

 

Welcome Me

All That We Let In

Moment Of Forgiveness

Kid Fears

Shame On You

Shuffle #124 (November 27, 2019)

Daydream – The Lovin’ Spoonful

Dreamin’ – Johnny Burnette

Sweet Emotion – Aerosmith

Ordinary People – John Legend

The Sound Of Crying – Prefab Sprout

Volcano – Jimmy Buffett

Long Journey Home – Del Amitri

Long Distance Runaround – Yes

A Sign Of The Times – Petula Clark

Shuffle #123 (November 23, 2019)

The Boy’s Gone – Jason Mraz

Wall Of Death – Richard & Linda Thompson

Beautiful Day – U2

Wonderful! Wonderful! – Johnny Mathis

The Unforgiven – Metallica

One Man Wrecking Machine – Guster

Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop – Little Anthony & The Imperials

Hollywood – Rufus & Chaka Khan

Please Come Home For Christmas – The Eagles

Two takes on the “Sideshow Bob” defense

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-republicans-no-harm-no-foul-defense-of-trump-doesnt-hold-water/2019/11/15/d6843666-07d3-11ea-818c-fcc65139e8c2_story.html  (Ruth Marcus)

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/11/14/one-defenses-trump-is-literally-tv-sitcom-joke/ (former “Simpsons” writer Bob Oakley)

Shuffle #122 (November 10, 2019)

10 Degrees And Getting Colder – Gordon Lightfoot

My One Desire – Stray Cats

The Green Leaves Of Summer – The Brothers Four

You Don’t Get Much – The BoDeans

I Can’t Understand – Los Lobos

Do What You Want, Be What You Are – Hall & Oates

Baby I’m For Real – The Originals

Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen

Come Back And Stay – Paul Young

Shuffle #121 (November 9, 2019)

I Have Nothing – Whitney Houston

Fireball – Pitbull

The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) – U2

Burning House Of Love – X

Words Get In The Way – Miami Sound Machine

Lost And Lookin’ – Sam Cooke

Penguins – Lyle Lovett

Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley

Summertime – Eva Cassidy

Sitting On The Fence – GrooveLily

More on Medicare-for-all

Two recent Washington Post columns:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/warrens-climb-in-the-polls-should-horrify-democrats/2019/11/04/429f4032-ff4d-11e9-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html (Michael Gerson)

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/elizabeth-warren-tried-to-do-bernie-sanderss-homework-for-him-she-failed/2019/11/04/bddfb0b0-ff48-11e9-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html (Catherine Rampell)

Paul Barrere

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-barrere-guitarist-and-singer-songwriter-for-little-feat-dies-at-71/2019/10/30/8ff7b290-fb21-11e9-ac8c-8eced29ca6ef_story.html

 

I like Harrison Smith’s quick summary of Little Feat in his obituary above: “… mixed California rock with New Orleans funk over a half-century of extended jams and fiery performances.”

 

Favorite Little Feat songs:

 

Red Streamliner

Dixie Chicken

Let It Roll

Oh, Atlanta

Fat Man In The Bathtub

Hate To Lose Your Lovin’

All That You Dream

Time Loves A Hero

Sailin’ Shoes

Willin’

Why did those World Series games last so long?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27977973/why-did-world-series-games-last-long

 

Great analysis by Sam Miller.

Favorite Musical Artists: Eva Cassidy

I’ve expressed my feelings about Eva in an earlier post (“With the possible exception of Sinatra, I’ve never heard anyone approach Eva Cassidy as a singer, in terms of voice quality, phrasing, and the overall ability to interpret a song”), but Jefferson Morley provided an even better summary in his superb 1998 Washington Post article, “When Chuck Met Eva”:

 

“She had a voice that could silence a barroom and get the pool players to lay down their cues. A voice that could prompt casual listeners to round up their co-workers for a night out dancing. A voice that could invest all kinds of American popular music with a true portion of herself.”

 

RIP Eva. Your legend lives on.

 

Favorite Songs:

 

Over The Rainbow 

Blue Skies

You've Changed*

Dark End Of The Street

Wayfaring Stranger

 

You Don't Know Me*

Stormy Monday

American Tune

Cheek To Cheek

People Get Ready

 

Oh, Had I A Golden Thread

I Could Have Told You So*

Penny To My Name

Autumn Leaves

Won't Be Long

 

A Bold Young Farmer

Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You*

God Bless The Child

Honeysuckle Rose

Fields Of Gold

 

* -- with Chuck Brown

October 27, 2019 – Astros 7, Nats 1 (World Series Game 5) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/astros-win-world-series-game-5-three-straight-in-dc

 

Weather: 72 degrees, Clear.

Wind: 8 mph, In From LF.

Umpires: HP--Barksdale, 1B--Holbrook, 2B--Wolf, 3B--Eddings, LF--Cederstrom, RF--Hoye.

Time: 3:19

Attendance: 43,910

 

The search for the Washington Nationals’ offense, gone missing this past Friday, proved fruitless for the third straight day, with only a single ray of hope in each of them. Even the presence of POTUS didn’t help to unravel the mystery.

 

The situation required something close to perfection from the team’s pitching. Joe Ross, starting only due to the injury-related late scratch of ace Max Scherzer, did pitch efficiently, needing only 78 pitches to get through his five innings of work. Unfortunately, he served up a two-run homer to Yordan Alvarez in the 2^nd inning, putting the home team in a quick hole, and allowed another two-run shot (this one to Carlos Correa) in the 4^th. Rainey and Doolittle blanked the visitors for two innings after Ross left, but Hudson allowed a run in the 8^th and yet another two-run dinger (this time to George Springer) in the top of the 9^th, greatly accelerating the flow of fans toward the exits.

 

Houston starter Gerrit Cole, after being treated rudely by the Nats in Game 1, got his revenge Sunday night, giving up just three hits, with the only one that hurt a bit being Soto’s solo HR following the 7^th-inning stretch. Washington’s only real scoring chance came in the top of the 2^nd, when singles by Soto and Kendrick put runners on the corners with no one out. In keeping with the script for the previous two games, however, Zim struck out and Robles grounded into an inning-ending double play.

 

Since our previous two World Series trips to Nando’s had been followed by deflating Washington defeats, we altered our pregame routine, taking advantage of the unusually warm weather to dine outside at Wiseguy Pizza. (Obviously it didn’t help, but the pizza was good enough to justify a repeat visit.)

October 26, 2019 – Astros 8, Nats 1 (World Series Game 4) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/news/astros-win-game-4-tie-world-series-at-2?game_pk=599374

 

Weather: 63 degrees, Overcast.

Wind: 10 mph, R To L.

Umpires: HP--Hoye, 1B--Barksdale, 2B--Holbrook, 3B--Wolf, LF--Eddings, RF--Cederstrom.

Time: 3:48

Attendance: 43,889

 

The recipe for Game 4 turned out to be almost identical to that of Game 3. The Nats added some sterling defense, but also mixed in an atrocious bullpen meltdown. The main ingredients – excellent Houston pitching blended with Washington’s failure to take advantage of their scoring opportunities – remained the same, as did the final result.

 

The conventional wisdom going into the contest was that the Astros, lacking a fourth starter and therefore needing to make this a “bullpen game”, would be at a decided disadvantage, with the Nats countering with a well-regarded (and well-compensated) veteran like Patrick Corbin. The conventional wisdom turned out to be wrong.

 

Corbin, who had been up and down during the postseason, did get through six innings for the Nats. However, he dug the team into another early 2-0 hole by yielding four consecutive singles with one out in the 1^st inning. He settled down and allowed only one baserunner the next two frames, but faltered again in the 4^th, as Robinson Chirinos homered for the second straight game, this time with a man on base.

 

Meanwhile, rookie Jose Urquidy, with just 41 regular-season MLB innings to his credit, shut down the hosts for five strong innings on only two hits, as the Nats wasted Gomes’ leadoff double in the 3^rd (thanks in part to Corbin’s inability to bunt him over to third). Washington missed its best opportunity to get back in the game in the 6^th after Josh James replaced Urquidy and walked two of the three batters he faced, with the heart of the order coming up. Will Harris took over for the Astros, and Rendon managed an infield single to load the bases (and give the Nats credit for a hit with a runner in scoring position, albeit one that did not actually result in a run). Harris then induced another grounder from Soto that did score Parra as Houston recorded the second out, and then fanned Kendrick to minimize the damage.

 

Any hopes for completing the comeback died a quick death just a half-inning later. Rainey couldn’t find the plate, walking two of the three batters he faced. Rodney then entered with the proverbial can of kerosene, allowing a Michael Brantley single to load the bases, followed by an Alex Bregman grand slam. One out and three walks later, Davey was merciful enough to yank him in favor of Wander Suero, who kept the score at 8-1 by fanning Kyle Tucker. The Nats did manage to produce (and strand) a few more runners, but the meaningful part of the evening was over. The Series was now tied at 2-2, with only one more chance for the Nats to win a game at home before the action returned to Texas.

October 25, 2019 – Astros 4, Nats 1 (World Series Game 3) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/astros-beat-nationals-in-world-series-game-3

 

Weather: 64 degrees, Partly Cloudy.

Wind: 2 mph, Out To RF.

Umpires: HP--Cederstrom, 1B--Hoye, 2B--Barksdale, 3B--Holbrook, LF--Wolf, RF--Eddings.

Time: 4:03

Attendance: 43,867

 

Section 416, Row J, Seats 27-28 (back in our old section, but on the opposite aisle and higher up – under shelter in case of rain)

 

It was, in a sense, a game of opposites. Washington starter Anibal Sanchez, when last seen starting Game 1 of the NLCS two weeks ago, went 7.2 innings in that affair before giving up his one and only hit. Friday night, he gave up a hit to the leadoff hitter, and 10 in all, without getting out of the 6^th inning. The Astros, who had been struggling mightily with runners in scoring postion, went 4 for 8 in such situations, while the Nats were 0 for 10. Houston was sloppy in their Game 2 defeat; now, the Nats yielded 4 stolen bases (including one where an errant Suzuki throw allowed the runner to get all the way to third), while birthday boy (and Gold Glove nominee) Juan Soto misplayed one ball in left field and airmailed a throw on a second, giving up an extra base each time.

 

For the first time in the Series, Washington’s starter kept the Astros off the board in the first inning, although they scored in each of the next two to put the home team in an early 2-0 hole. The strategic turning point came in the bottom of the 4^th, after a leadoff Zimmerman walk and a one-out Robles triple. Although Tanner Rainey was warming in the bullpen, Davey allowed the light-hitting Sanchez to bat. He struck out, and Turner hit a soft ground ball to pitcher Zack Greinke, leaving Robles on third.

 

The decision was certainly defensible, given Sanchez’s low pitch count and the shortage of reliable options in the Washington bullpen, but it did not work out well. Sanchez recorded only 4 more outs, giving up one more run in the 5^th and a homer to Robinson Chirinos in the 6^th before leaving with one out. Meanwhile, Fernando Rodney prevented any further damage that inning, and Joe Ross combined with Wander Suero to blank the visitors over the final three frames.

 

The Nats didn’t lack for baserunners, getting at least one man in scoring position in each of the first six innings and getting Greinke out of the game with 2 outs in the 5^th. They just couldn’t get hits when they needed them, either against Greinke or the Houston relief crew.

 

Things seemed much more crowded than at the two NLCS games, despite almost identical attendance figures. You could barely move on the lower level when we came in around 6:45, and getting out of the park after the game seemed to take forever. Metro did a great job getting us back, but I didn’t actually get home until 2:15.

 

And I was extremely happy that DC Washington got the honor of performing the National Anthem before the game.

Shuffle #120 (October 19, 2019)

We Let The Stars Go – Prefab Sprout

I’ve Been Loving You Too Long – Otis Redding

Right Here (Departed) – Brandy

Pictures Of Lily – The Who

Lollipop – The Chordettes

Nashville Cats – The Lovin’ Spoonful

Behind The Wall Of Sleep – The Smithereens

A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You – The Monkees

Midnite Cruiser – Steely Dan

Run Joe – Louis Jordan

Wide River To Cross – Diana Krall

Elizabeth Warren and her recent gay-marriage “zinger”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/warren-had-a-good-zinger-on-gay-marriage-it-was-bad-politics/2019/10/15/6736ea1a-ef50-11e9-8693-f487e46784aa_story.html

 

Another great column from the Post’s Ruth Marcus. A couple of key passages:

 

“[Her response] reflects an attitude of intolerance and disrespect toward people of faith. Those who reasonably expect tolerance and respect should think about — well, they should think about the importance of practicing what they preach.”

 

“Most immediately, this dismissive attitude is politically dangerous. In the short term, Warren’s seeming intolerance toward those whose faith rejects same-sex marriage could hurt her with African American voters. In the general election, her comments carried unsettling echoes of Democratic missteps past: Barack Obama on dispirited working-class voters who “cling to guns or religion”; Hillary Clinton lumping Trump supporters into a “basket of deplorables.” Intolerant condescension is rarely a winning political strategy.”

October 15, 2019 – Nats 7, Cards 4 (NLCS Game 4) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/nationals-win-2019-national-league-pennant

 

Weather: 64 degrees, Clear.

Wind: 5 mph, Out To LF.

Umpires: HP--Cuzzi, 1B--Fairchild, 2B--Culbreth, 3B--Guccione, LF--Conroy, RF--Miller.

Time: 3:02

Attendance: 43,976

 

Sweep dreams! The Nationals win the pennant! The Nationals win the pennant!! The Nationals win the pennant!!!

 

Tuesday night’s triumph can best be seen as a two-act play, with three major scenes.

 

Act One, which consisted of a single scene (the first inning), couldn’t have gone any better for the Nats. Starter Patrick Corbin struck out the side, on his way to becoming the first postseason pitcher to record at least 10 Ks by the end of the 4^th. The home team then proceeded to quickly ambush the ill-fated St. Louis starting pitcher, Dakota Hudson:

 

Pitch #3 – Turner single

Pitch #4 – Eaton double

Pitch #5 – Rendon sac fly, scoring Turner

Pitch #7 – Soto double, scoring Eaton

Intentional walk to Kendrick

Pitch #9 – Ground ball by Zimmerman, with second baseman Kolten Wong dropping the throw to load the bases

Pitch #14 – Catchable pop by Robles that was chased by three Cardinals and dropped in front of the defensively-challenged Jose Martinez, scoring run #3 and leaving the bases loaded

Pitch #15 – Two-run single by Robles for a 5-0 lead

 

Exit Hudson (stage left). Enter long-time St. Lous stalwart Adam Wainwright, who had played the lead role of starting pitcher the previous Saturday. Corbin laid down a sacrifice on Wainwright’s second pitch, sending the runners to second and third, and Turner singled them both home on the next offering.

 

The second act of the evening, which ran much longer, began immediately thereafter, following only a brief intermission. Would our home-team heroes be able to extend their lead, or would they let it dwindle?

 

The cast of characters in blue, so dominant in Act One, might as well have turned their bats into wet noodles for the remainder of the affair. Only four of them got on base against the St. Louis bullpen, with none advancing past first.

 

Meanwhile, Corbin dominated the Cardinals for the next three innings, although he did give up a seemingly-harmless homer to Yadier Molina in the 4^th. This led to the night’s second major scene, the top of the 5^th inning.

 

Corbin suddenly had trouble finding home plate, walking two batters with a Kolten Wong single in between. A soft grounder allowed the Cards to score their second run, and a ringing Martinez double produced two more. All of a sudden the score was 7-4, with an air of apprehension filling the sold-out audience. Nats manager Davey Martinez surprised many of us by keeping Corbin in the game, and he rallied to fan his final two batters.

 

Things calmed down for a bit, with Tanner Rainey retiring the visitors in order in the 6^th and a well-rested Sean Doolittle repeating the feat an inning later. This led to the climax of the affair.

 

Doolittle retired the first two St. Louis batters in the top of the 8^th, then gave up a single to Marcell Ozuna. The equally well-rested Daniel Hudson (no relation to Dakota) entered to (hopefully) close things out; he proceeded to hit Molina with his fourth pitch, then walk Paul DeJong to load the bases. St. Louis then played one of their high cards, bringing in dangerous left-handed power hitter Matt Carpenter to face the right-handed Hudson. A single would cut the lead to one, a round-tripper would actually put the visitors ahead. As the script unfolded, however, Carpenter hit a harmless ground ball for the final out of the inning, and 40,000 of us resumed breathing.

 

The final inning seemed preordained. Hudson retired the side in order, giving the Nats their first-ever NL pennant. The stagehands and actors took their bows, and everyone lived happily ever after (or at least until the World Series).

 

October 14, 2019 – Nats 8, Cards 1 (NLCS Game 3) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/stephen-strasburg-nlcs-game-3-performance

 

Weather: 71 degrees, Clear.

Wind: 3 mph, L To R.

Umpires: HP--Miller, 1B--Cuzzi, 2B--Fairchild, 3B--Culbreth, LF--Guccione, RF--Conroy.

Time: 3:26

Attendance: 43,675

 

The action last night deviated quickly from the script of the previous two games, in that one of the Cardinals actually had the temerity to get a hit before the seventh-inning stretch. Fortunately for the Nats, Marcell Ozuna (who has always hit Strasburg well) followed his leadoff double in the second by getting caught between second and third on Jose Martinez’s comebacker to the mound, extinguishing the rally before it had a chance to get going.

 

An inning later, again referring to the previous two games, I commented that the Nats were about due to score their one early run. This would indeed come true, as Robles led off with a single, went to second on the first of two Strasburg sacrifice bunts, and scored on a two-out Eaton single after St. Louis ace Jack Flaherty fanned Turner. Turned out that I had underestimated our team, as Rendon then lined a double to left that Ozuna just missed catching, scoring Eaton. Following a walk to Soto and a wild pitch, Kendrick came through again, doubling to center to double the Washington lead.

 

Strasburg continued to deal for the next 3 innings, allowing a couple of harmless singles. In fact, he seemed to be getting stronger, finishing off a 10-pitch 6^th by fanning Paul Goldschmidt (who wound up going down on strikes in each of his 4 plate appearances) and Ozuna. Meanwhile, Washington feasted on the St. Louis bullpen after Jack was forced to hit the road, lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top of the 5^th. Doubles by Kendrick and Zim following a Rendon single plated two more in the bottom of the frame, and Robles led off the 6^th with a homer to increase the lead to 7-0.

 

Things did get a little tense in the top of the 7^th. Martinez, a thorn in Washington’s side the entire series, extended Stras’s pitch count from 90 to 100 before singling to left, and Yadier Molina got another hit on the very next pitch. With Tanner Rainey up in the bullpen, Strasburg fanned Tommy Edman, but Paul DeJong hit another single in Soto’s direction, with Martinez scoring an unearned run after Juan slipped while getting ready to throw the ball back in. During the subsequent mound visit, Stephen made clear that he intended to finish the inning, and he did so in style, fanning former Nat Matt Wieters and Dexter Fowler on a total of 8 pitches.

 

Things calmed down from there. The Nats got the run back after the stretch on Kendrick’s third double of the game followed by Zim’s single. Fernando Rodney and Rainey retired the final 6 St. Louis batters, leaving the Nats one win away from the World Series. (And we are now 2-1 this postseason when eating at Nando’s before the game.)

 

October 7, 2019 – Nats 6, Dodgers 1 (NLDS Game 4) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/max-scherzer-nationals-force-nlds-game-5-vs-dodgers

 

Weather: 80 degrees, Partly Cloudy.

Wind: 3 mph, Out To CF.

Umpires: HP--Eddings, 1B--Marquez, 2B--Gibson, 3B--Little, LF--Baker, RF--Barrett.

Time: 3:24

Attendance: 36,847

 

Since none of the superstitious behaviors we carried over from the wild card win worked for the NLDS, we changed direction for the win-or-go-home Game 4. Took Metro instead of driving. Brought in subs rather than eating before the game. Different attire. New rally towels. Something seemed to work.

 

In some ways, this was the mirror image of the loss the previous night; this time it was the Nats who put up one big inning after the opposing starter had left the game. Rich Hill, as expected, didn’t last long, leaving with 2 outs in the 3^rd, although the Nats failed to take advantage of the 3 walks he issued in the inning, plating only a single run. Their explosion came in the bottom of the 5^th, when Julio Urena replaced Kenta Maeda on the mound for the Dodgers. A Turner single, Eaton sacrifice, and Rendon single gave the Nats the lead. After Soto popped out, Kendrick singled Rendon to third, finishing the outing for Urias. Zim then sent the crowd into a frenzy by greeting Pedro Baez with a three-run homer to center. Rendon finished the scoring an inning later with his third RBI of the game.

 

On the pitching front, Max brought back memories of his wild-card-game struggles when he served up a home run to Justin Turner with two outs in the top of the first. He recovered nicely, however, getting through the next 5 innings without much difficulty while keeping his pitch count down. He did struggle in the 7^th, walking two men with one on and one out, but he retired the next two batters, completing his mission nicely. Doolittle and Hudson finished things off, sending the series back to LA for a winner-take-all Game 5.

 

As predicted, the weather took a turn around 8:00, with quickly falling temps, quite a bit of wind, plus off-and-on rain for the rest of the evening. Fortunately it was never bad enough to stop the game, although many of us sought out shelter in various covered areas of the park.

October 6, 2019 – Dodgers 10, Nats 4 (NLDS Game 3) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/patrick-corbin-nationals-fall-to-dodgers-in-game-3

 

Weather: 72 degrees, Overcast.

Wind: 3 mph, R To L.

Umpires: HP--Barrett, 1B--Eddings, 2B--Marquez, 3B--Gibson, LF--Little, RF--Baker.

Time: 3:58

Attendance: 43,423

 

Well, we tried to keep as much as we could the same from our routine for Tuesday’s wild card game win. Same restaurant, same food/drink orders, mostly the same attire. We again switched seats during the seventh-inning stretch and brought out our “magic mints” in the eighth. It wasn’t nearly enough.

 

The evening started off well. Juan Soto got the home team off to a 2-run lead in the bottom of the 1^st, making a winner of the game’s “Dinger Of The Day” contestant in the process. Anibal Sanchez mostly baffled the Dodgers with his eclectic pitch assortment, fanning 9 and not allowing a run until Max Muncy hit a solo shot in the 5^th. Admittedly, the Nats failed to take advantage of scoring chances in the 4^th and 5^th, but they still held their one-run lead after 5.

 

Inasmuch as Washington possesses only two trustworthy relief pitchers, no one was surprised to see Patrick Corbin (who started Game 1 on Thursday, tossing 107 pitches) start to warm up in the 5^th and come in for the 6^th; after all, Stephen Strasburg had fired 3 scoreless frames in the Wild Card Game, and Scherzer struck out the side in the 8^th inning of NLDS Game 2 in LA. Ideally Corbin could go for two innings, followed in some order by Doolittle and Hudson, to finish off the victory and give the Nats a 2-1 series lead.

 

Things looked promising when Corbin fanned the next two batters after a leadoff single by Cody Bellinger, but they then collapsed with a thud, the key blows being a two-run Russell Martin double to give the visitors a 3-2 lead, and a pinch-double two batters later by Enrique Hernandez to extend the lead to 5-2. Following an intentional walk to Muncy, Wander Suero entered the game to face Justin Turner, who promptly put one out of the park to double the lead.

 

The Nats were given a great chance to get back in it in the bottom of the inning thanks to Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly, who gave up a single, three walks and a wild pitch, finally exiting with no outs, the bases loaded and one run in. Asdrubal Cabrera delivered a sac fly off Julio Urias to score another run, but Kendrick managed to kill the rally by getting caught between second and third for the second out. Washington could scrounge up only one more baserunner during the final 3 innings, and Hunter Strickland put the punctuation mark on the team’s bullpen woes by giving up a 2-run homer to Martin in the ninth (his 9^th HR allowed in 13 post-season innings).

 

We wound up parking at L’Enfant Plaza: quite a hike, but easy to get into, and surprisingly easy to get out of.

October 1, 2019 – Nats 4, Brewers 3 (NL Wild Card Game) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/nationals-win-2019-nl-wild-card-game

 

Weather: 83 degrees, Clear.

Wind: 4 mph, Out To CF.

Umpires: HP--Everitt, 1B--Danley, 2B--Nelson, 3B--Blaser, LF--Rackley, RF--Torres.

Time: 2:55

Attendance: 42,993

 

Section 301, Row C, Seats 7-8

 

Previously, the Nats played winner-take-all playoff games at home in 2012, 2016, and 2017. They lost all three. Things were different tonight – we won’t quibble that this win just gets them to the NLDS, which they had already reached previously by virtue of winning the NL East.

 

The much-discussed decision to start Scherzer rather than Strasburg at least initially looked misguided, as Max walked the leadoff hitter in the top of the first, promptly served up a two-run homer to Yasmani Grandal, then gave up a solo shot to Eric Thames an inning later. As in some of his other post-return starts, he wasn’t consistently sharp with his location, although his fastball started out in the 98-99 mph range, at least a few mph higher than his typical early-inning offerings.

 

Trea Turner brought some life back into the park with a third-inning shot off Milwaukee starter Brandon Woodruff, but the Nats had only two other hits through the first 7 frames off Woodruff, Brent Suter, and Drew Pomeranz. Although Max settled down to last 5 innings, and Strasburg kept the visitors off the board for the next 3, the Nats faced a formidable task when the Brewers’ relief ace Josh Hader came in for the bottom of the 8^th.

 

Although Hader was throwing as many balls as strikes, things still seemed bleak three batters later, as he fanned Robles and Turner, with a Michael A. Taylor hit-by-pitch in between. But Zim pinch-hit for Eaton and blooped a broken-bat single into the outfield, and Rendon drew a walk to load the bases.

 

Juan Soto then sent the crowd into a frenzy with a clean single to right, with all three baserunners scoring as the ball got by the charging Trent Grisham. Daniel Hudson came in to pitch a scoreless ninth, as chants of “Beat LA!” started to fill the stands.

September 29, 2019 – Nats 8, Indians 2 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/nationals-will-play-brewers-in-wild-card-game

 

Weather: 86 degrees, Partly Cloudy.

Wind: 4 mph, In From RF.

Umpires: HP--Blaser, 1B--Cooper, 2B--West, 3B--Dreckman.

Time: 2:50

Attendance: 36,764

 

Having already secured the home field for their upcoming Wild Card game against the Brewers, the Nats had nothing particular to play for on Sunday, but nevertheless extended their end-of-season winning streak to 8 games heading into the playoffs. The afternoon had a spring training feel, with Anthony Rendon getting the day off and other regulars exiting at some point during the game. Consequently, part-timers Brian Dozier and Gerardo Parra, plus the seldom-seen Michael A. Taylor and Wilmer Difo, each accounted for two of the team’s 14 hits. Washington never trailed, sparked by an RBI double by Soto in the 1^st  and a 2-run homer by Suzuki in the 3^rd. They pretty much put things away three innings later on a 2-run Dozier single and a 2-run pinch double by Parra.

 

Joe Ross needed only 78 pitches to get through the first 6 innings, fanning 8 while allowing only one run. Comeback kid Aaron Barrett received a deservedly warm reception as he came in for the 7^th (which he battled through despite allowing Cleveland’s second run to score), and Erick Fedde finished things off.