April 13, 2018 – Rockies 2, Nats 1 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/anthony-rendon-exits-nationals-loss-early/c-272115436

 

Attendance: 32,702

Duration: 3:04

Weather: 81 degrees, Clear

Wind: 15 MPH Out to Left

Umpires: HP: Ron Kulpa. 1B: Gabe Morales. 2B: Jerry Meals. 3B: Ben May.

 

Section 315, Row C, Seats 11-13 – on the first base side, not quite directly behind home plate but close

 

Weather finally changes for the better. Nationals offense does not, as they fall 6 games behind the resurgent Mets.

 

Game notes – Nats stranded two runners in the first and third innings, failing to score each time … the Rockies opened the scoring on a Carlos Gonzalez HR in the top of the fourth … Nats loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, scoring the tying run on a Harper sac fly … Colorado scored the final run of the game immediately thereafter, when LeMahieu reached on a Turner error and eventually crossed the plate on a Gonzalez sac fly … Rendon left after the sixth after fouling a ball off his left big toe … Nats went down 1-2-3 in each of the last 3 innings, with 6 Ks

 

Other – perfect baseball weather, as we were comfortable in short sleeves throughout the game … Metro was uneventful (but crowded) both coming and going, and we got there in plenty of time to get our Sean Doolittle bobbleheads

Straight No Chaser – Weinberg Center for the Arts (Frederick MD), 4/12/2018

Row K, seats 2 and 4 (right side, on the aisle)

 

The SNC guys put on another top-notch performance in front of a sold-out crowd Thursday evening. No Christmas songs this time, and not a lot of overlap from the last time we saw them (the Beyonce and Blues Brothers medleys, “Creep”, and the usual mic-less “Make You Feel My Love” as the final encore). A couple of the new mashups were quite good, notably “Sweet Dreams” / “Hand Clap” to open the show, and “Come As You Are” leading into “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” near the beginning of the post-intermission set. Everyone in the crew had a chance to shine, although as usual Jerome Collins managed to steal the show most often.

 

Highlights:

Hi-De-Ho

Twistin’ The Night Away

Creep

Billie Jean / Poison (first encore)

 

Setlist

 

April 8, 2018 – Mets 6, Nats 5 (12 innings) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/nationals-fall-to-mets-for-5th-straight-loss/c-271390140

 

Attendance: 21,579

Duration: 4:03

Weather: 47 degrees, Clear

Wind: 10 MPH Left to Right

Umpires: HP: Mark Ripperger. 1B: Joe West. 2B: Doug Eddings. 3B: Marty Foster.

 

Section 311, Row C, Seats 17-19 – our regular seats for the season are a definite improvement: on the aisle, and one section closer to home plate

 

Game notes – Nats jumped off to an early lead on Rendon’s first-inning single and Harper’s 6^th HR of the season, but once again couldn’t hold it … with two out in the 3^rd, Roark walked the bases loaded and surrendered a grand slam to Adrian Gonzalez … Nats cut the lead in half in the 4^th when Severino doubled in Kendrick with 2 outs, but Tanner gave the run back the next inning on a dinger by Asdrubal Cabrera, again with 2 down … Nats battled back to finally tie on a 5^th-inning RBI single by Trea and a 7^th-inning RBI single by Michael A., although they missed numerous other scoring chances throughout the game (14 LOB) … after 6 innings of scoreless relief work by Kelley, Grace, Madson, Doolittle, and Solis, Brandon Kintzler completed his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad series by allowing the winning run to score for the second straight day, after giving up Bruce’s grand slam in the opener … it’s early, but Washington’s losing streak now stands at 5, longer than any they had last season, and they’re 3½ games in back of the first-place Mets

 

Other – ESPN Sunday Night game with an 8:08 starting time … relatively heavy traffic getting onto and across the bridge going down, but light traffic on the way back … did get to the area in time for a leisurely, warm pre-game dinner at Nando’s … actual crowd was considerably smaller than the number of tickets sold, on a chilly night made worse by the persistent breeze (we lasted until the end of regulation)