Weather:
50 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 7
mph, Out to LF.
T: 2:44.
Att:
34,327.
Umpires: HP: Doug Eddings. 1B: Marvin Hudson. 2B: Cory Blaser. 3B: Jim Joyce.
Section
416, Row C, Seat 1 (in our regular seats for the first time)
First
“normal” trip to Nats Park, following the rained-out exhibition game vs. the
Tigers and the home opener on Friday the 4th. The drive down was
uneventful and took the predictable 35 minutes, with the former “HH” lot off
South Capitol St. under the freeway still in operation and still $10. (The lot
was originally operated by the Nationals, but taken over by a different
operator starting last year.) Walked down to Subway and, instead of my usual
roast beef, picked up the “$5 Footlong of the Month” (Turkey Breast and Black
Forest Ham). Sunny, but colder than I had expected – really wished I had
brought gloves (for warmth, not for catching foul balls).
Our friend
Jeff was back, heckling the umpires and leading a couple of Charges. Don’t think
he made his traditional announcement of the elapsed time of the National
Anthem, however.
No line
for the men’s room today, but there was a fairly long line for pretzel bites –
naturally, there is no eCash express line at the Pretzel stand. Was happy that
the Nats featured a video montage to Pharrell Williams’s “Happy” in the middle
of the sixth and again in the middle of the eighth. (Would make a great
postgame victory song as well …)
By Sunday,
the euphoria generated by the season-opening sweep of the Mets had pretty much
vanished. The two losses to the Braves featured almost no Nats offense, a shaky
Strasburg start on Saturday, and a “lost at the plate” Bryce Harper. Worse,
Zim’s sore shoulder and throwing woes had resurfaced, contributing to the
Saturday loss and keeping him out of the Sunday game. Topping things off,
Hairston went on the DL with a strained oblique.
Sunday
turned out to be another pitcher’s duel, mirroring the Friday game. Nats
scratched out a run in the top of first on a Rendon bunt single, a single by
Kevin Frandsen (starting in LF for the first time in seven years), and a Dan
Uggla throwing error, but their offense was silent against Alex Wood for the
next 5 innings. Meanwhile, Taylor Jordan pitched an excellent game against the
Braves, throwing groundballs all over the place, getting out of a bases-loaded
jam in the 4th and allowing only one run in the 6th after
the inning started with Braves on second and third with no outs. First base ump
Marvin Hudson was in the middle of close calls all day – Williams challenged
his out call on Desmond in the bottom of the first, but Hudson’s ruling was
upheld on replay.
The Nats
took the lead for good leading off the bottom of the seventh, when Wood served
up a hittable first-pitch fastball to exactly the wrong guy, and Desmond
deposited it deep into the left-field stands. Blevins and Clippard took care of
the Braves in the eighth. Things got a little uncomfortable in the bottom of
the ninth with consecutive two-out infield singles, but Soriano finally fanned
Heyward to send most of the crowd home happy.
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