March 25, 2019 – Nats 5, Yankees 3 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/yankees-vs-nationals/2019/03/25/568441#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=568441

 

Attendance: 22,735

Game Time: 2:50

Weather: 59 degrees, Cloudy.

Wind: 11 mph, In From RF.

 

Section 306, Row D, Seats 3-4 – out just beyond 3B

 

In their annual final exhibition at Nationals Park before the real season starts, the Nationals fielded a reasonable approximation of their regular lineup and came away with a 5-3 victory. They never trailed in the game, starting off quickly in the bottom of the first on a one-out Turner single and a two-out Rendon homer, his 5^th of the spring. They loaded the bases with none out in the 4^th, scoring runs on a Suzuki sac fly and a Dozier single. Matt Adams homered two innings later to complete the Washington scoring, just before Martinez gave most of his starters the rest of the day off.

 

Anibal Sanchez turned in a relatively uneventful outing for the Nats, giving up a Troy Tulowitzki homer in the 3^rd and walking the leadoff hitter in the 6^th. Comeback kid Aaron Barrett relieved Sanchez with one out and allowed the inherited runner to score on a Greg Bird double. Barraclough, Rosenthal, Grace, and Doolittle finished up, with the visitors notching one more run in the 8^th.

 

As usual, the non-baseball side of the operation had numerous kinks to work out prior to Opening Day. Most of the concession stands were open, but numerous menu items were not available. At least one stand experienced a computer systems outage, and my eCash couldn’t be read off my phone when I went to get pizza. The scoreboard operator had quite a bit of difficulty keeping up with New York’s defensive substitutions. On the brighter side, my Nats Park Lanyard Radio worked like a champ to bring in the play-by-play from 106.7.

 

Perhaps as many as half of the 22,000 fans came disguised as empty seats. The good news weather-wise was that the “light intermittent rain” held off entirely until midway through the game, and never became much of a problem. On the other hand, the combination of temperature and wind made it feel much colder than the listed 59 degrees, so much so that I finally pulled out my gloves, and we left the building entirely after the 6^th inning.