March 24, 2017 – Cardinals 3, Nationals 1 – West Palm Beach FL

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/220715242/dexter-fowler-triples-in-cards-win-vs-nats/

 

Attendance: 5,078

Game Time: 2:42

Weather: 74 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 19 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Ryan Additon, First Base - Mike Estabrook, Second Base - John Bostwick

Section 110, Row M, Seat 1 – next section to where I was yesterday, just a bit down the first base line. “Dugout Box”, so somewhat closer, and more in the sun.

 

No weather issues today, but the Washington offense continued to struggle. They did load the bases with two out in the first against Cards starter Michael Wacha, but failed to score, and went down in order in each of the next 4 frames. They finally broke through in the sixth on singles by Turner, Harper, and Werth off Trevor Rosenthal, but Eaton fanned with the bases loaded and two out to end the threat.

 

Jeremy Guthrie started for the Nats and held the Cards hitless through his 4.1 innings. They finally broke through off closer candidate Koda Glover, plating two in the 6^th keyed by a Dexter Fowler triple, and adding another in the 7^th. Glover, who’s typically more of a one-inning guy, wound up facing 9 batters, retiring 5 and allowing 4 hits.

 

For lunch, I decided to try a “PB half smoke”, which it turns out is topped by pulled pork, BBQ sauce, and cole slaw. Actually good, not quite as messy as expected, and a relative bargain at $7.00.

March 23, 2017 – Nationals 1, Mets 0 – West Palm Beach FL

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/220541248/nats-erick-fedde-outduels-robert-gsellman/

 

Attendance: 6,086

Game Time: 2:26 (start delayed by 42 minutes due to rain)

Weather: 73 degrees, cloudy (but it got significantly cooler later in the game)

Wind: 12 mph (and up)

Umpires: Home Plate - Angel Hernandez, First Base - Chris Conroy, Second Base - Nick Mahrley, Third Base - Shane Livensparger

Seventh-inning stretch song: I Got You (I Feel Good) – James Brown

Section 109, Row R, Seat 7 (“Infield Box”) – Lower level (as are virtually all the seats at The Ballpark of The Palm Beaches), almost exactly behind home plate. I purchased “Dugout Box” tickets, which are $3-5 more expensive, for a couple other games, but only got a few rows closer to the action)

 

It was nice and sunny up until about 12:30, when a thunderstorm arrived. Fortunately it didn’t last too long, but the game started closer to 2:00 than the scheduled 1:05. Rain event #2 came an hour or so later, in the middle of the 5^th inning; it wasn’t hard enough to stop play, but the wind whipped up to such an extent that most of us cleared out of the stands until it stopped. We had a little more in the final couple innings, by which point quite a few of the fans had already left the building.

 

After Hall of Famer Tim Raines threw out the first ball, Erick Fedde and 5 Nats relievers combined to hold the visitors to 4 hits, without walking a single batter. Fedde was particularly good, throwing a ton of ground balls during his 5-inning stint. The only baserunners he allowed were on two one-out singles in the 4^th, but he retired Curtis Granderson and Neil Walker to end the threat. Closer candidate Blake Treinen handled the ninth, retiring Michael Conforto and Juan Lagares with the tying run in scoring position.

 

The Nats didn’t do much better against the Mets pitchers, but did manage to scratch out an unearned run in the 3^rd, as Trea reached on an error by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and scored on a two-out double by Tony Two-Bags.

 

Cabrera provided a little more excitement a half-inning later, as he managed to get tossed after his one-out single. Apparently he complained a little too much about being denied a timeout prior to the previous pitch. He got a little bit of revenge with his exit, strolling slowly from the third-base dugout across the middle of the field to the visitors’ clubhouse beyond right field.

 

My first glance at the concession selection and prices at the Nats’ new spring home left me less than overwhelmed. The $8.00 pair of grouper tacos was pretty good, however.

Chuck Berry

Long live rock & roll!

 

Rolling Stone obituary

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame entry

 

Favorite songs:

Brown-Eyed Handsome Man

Roll Over Beethoven

Johnny B. Goode

Back In The U.S.A.

Rock And Roll Music

Almost Grown

School Days

No Particular Place To Go

Sweet Little Sixteen

Nadine

 

Favorite covers of Chuck Berry songs:

You Never Can Tell (C’est La Vie) – Emmylou Harris

Memphis – Lonnie Mack

Roll Over Beethoven – Electric Light Orchestra