October 12, 2017 – Cubs 9, Nats 8 (NLDS Game 3) – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/258393242/cubs-outlast-nationals-advance-to-nlcs/

 

Attendance: 43,849

Duration: 4:37

Weather: 62 degrees, Cloudy

Wind: 13 MPH In From Right

Umpires: HP: Jerry Layne. 1B: Will Little. 2B: Cory Blaser. 3B: Ron Kulpa. LF: Fieldin Culbreth. RF: Laz Díaz.

 

Game notes – Nats’ 4-1 lead after 2^nd-inning homers by Murphy and Taylor didn’t last, as Gio gave up 2 more runs in his third and final inning, and Cubs scored 4 off Scherzer in the unbelievable 5^th frame … Cubs scored 1 more run each off Kintzler and Solis, giving them just enough to hold off the Nats’ 4 in innings 6-8, including another RBI hit by Taylor … game ended as Werth and Harper fanned against Chicago closer Wade Davis, running on fumes in his third inning of relief … longest 9-inning post-season game ever

 

Other – traffic on the way down was not as bad as it could have been (although slow on the GW Parkway), and we had no trouble getting into our parking lot, although getting out of SW onto M Street after the game was over was unbelievably slow … chilly and breezy on the concourse before the game with a little rain, but rain-free and reasonably comfortable once the game actually started … concessions stands were out of pretzels (both levels) and pizza (upper level at least) by the top of the seventh … Metro wound up letting people in until 1am, thanks to them and to Exelon (but no thanks to the Nats)

 

The problem with some progressive politicians

Not to particularly pick on Sanders-endorsed Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous, but he’s the one who happened to catch my eye today:

 

“Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous is calling for Maryland to join the state of New York in providing public higher education for a large segment of the population free of charge.”

 

And four paragraphs later …

 

“Jealous has not estimated how much a Maryland tuition-free state program would cost, how many students would benefit or what type of income-eligibility requirements would be required.”

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/ben-jealous-wants-tuition-free-college-in-maryland-his-plan-is-like-sanders-college-for-all-bill/2017/10/10/06500cec-ad47-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html?utm_term=.e5b49780dac6

October 7, 2017 – Nats 6, Cubs 3 (NLDS Game 2) – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/257843238/nationals-homer-rally-to-beat-cubs-in-game-2/?topicId=27118414

 

Attendance: 43,860

Duration: 3:06

Weather: 82 degrees, Partly Cloudy

Wind: 8 MPH Out to Left

Umpires: HP: Ron Kulpa. 1B: Fieldin Culbreth. 2B: Laz Díaz. 3B: Jerry Layne. LF: Will Little. RF: Cory Blaser.

 

Game notes – Rendon broke the Nats’ scoring drought with a first-inning homer, but Willson Contreras answered for Chicago in the top of the second … visitors took the lead in the fourth on a Bryant double and Rizzo HR off Gio, who wound up with a kept-them-in-the-game 5-inning outing, giving up only those 3 hits and runs … Nats didn’t get another baserunner off Jon Lester until the 5^th, when they loaded the bases on a leadoff single by Zim and 2-out walks to Taylor and pinch-hitter Howie Kendrick, before Turner fanned to end the frame … Washington finally broke out in the bottom of the 8^th, when pinch-hitter Adam Lind singled, Harper hit a 2-run HR to tie things up, and Zim hit a 3-run shot after a walk to Rendon and a Murphy single … Doolittle got the save, finishing up 4 innings of scoreless ball by the Nats’ bullpen