June 21, 2019 – Nats 4, Braves 3 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/nationals-bullpen-secures-win-over-braves

 

Weather: 81 degrees, Partly Cloudy.

Wind: 17 mph, L To R.

Umpires: HP--Conroy, 1B--Porter, 2B--Miller, 3B--Eddings.

Time: 3:01

Attendance: 34,212

 

Section 419, Row N, Seats 28-29 – behind first base, top row of the stadium (nice breeze, although the bright sun was a bit of a problem sight-wise until it finally went down)

 

Although Strasburg struggled early with his control, he hung in there for 6 innings, as the Nats rallied to beat the Braves on a perfect evening for a ballgame.

 

The visitors took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 2^nd when Austin Riley homered following a leadoff walk, and they added another run an inning later on a two-out RBI double by Freddie Freeman. Meanwhile, Dallas Keuchel, making his first start after his belated free-agent signing, allowed runners in each of the first 3 innings, but the Nats were unable to push anything across.

 

Washington finally broke through in the fourth to tie the game at 3, in an inning featuring a Robles triple and a Yan Gomes home run, and took the lead in the fifth when Soto led off with a triple and Rendon singled him home.

 

That wound up finishing up the scoring for both sides. Despite some anxious moments, Washington’s depleted bullpen protected the lead for the final 3 frames, with Wander Suero notching his first major-league save.

June 20, 2019 – Bethesda Big Train 8, Silver Spring-Takoma Park Thunderbolts 1 – Shirley Povich Field

http://www.bigtrain.org/news/?article_id=698

 

Second row, behind the SS-T dugout about halfway down the first base line (general admission)

 

Game notes – Thunderbolts scored first in the top of the 3^rd, which apparently woke up the home team, as they scored in each of the next 4 innings, culminating in a 4-run 6^th … while the Big Train made some great defensive plays throughout, the visitors were somewhat sloppy, allowing two runs to score on wild pitches … Michael Bechtold (James Madison) pitched the first 5 innings for Bethesda … oddly enough, this was the closest of the 4 games so far this season between these two teams … the weather was nice for most of the evening, until a heavy shower as the 9^th inning started sent just about everyone in the crowd towards the exit

 

Other – fundraiser for the Metropolitan Washington Ear (so I threw one of the four first pitches)

Two views of Elizabeth Warren’s re-emergence

Politico reports that she may wind up as an acceptable compromise candidate for the anybody-but-Bernie faction of the party.

 

Meanwhile, Max Boot in the Post makes the point that having lots of ideas isn’t necessarily the same as having lots of good ideas …

In first states to legalize pot, teen use triggers concerns

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/potent-pot-vulnerable-teens-trigger-concerns-in-first-states-to-legalize-marijuana/2019/06/15/52df638a-8c9a-11e9-8f69-a2795fca3343_story.html?utm_term=.1d9cdbc4cab2

 

I’ve always been in favor of holding off on marijuana legalization until we have a better idea on how things go in the states that took that action at an early stage. These results from Colorado and Washington are not encouraging.

June 16, 2019 – Nats 15, Diamondbacks 5 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/matt-adams-homers-twice-nats-split-series-with-d-backs

 

Weather: 83 degrees, Overcast.

Wind: 8 mph, Out To LF.

Umpires: HP--Barber, 1B--Marquez, 2B--Bellino, 3B--Rackley.

Time: 3:14

Attendance: 29,032

 

It was a warmer and more humid day than Saturday, but not as bad as expected – the shade reached our seats before the end of the first inning, and the threatened thunderstorms held off. Baseball-wise, things had to be better than the previous day, and they were.

 

Ketel Marte couldn’t lead off today with a homer (he was second in the order), but he nevertheless managed to park one off Anibal Sanchez in the first inning. If you’re keeping count, that was his 20^th HR of the season; prior to 2019, he had a total of 22 in almost 1400 career at-bats.

 

Once again, the home team responded in the bottom of the first. Singles by Eaton and Rendon and a walk to Soto loaded the bases, and Kendrick singled in the tying run. After an Adams popup, Kurt Suzuki notched a huge two-out single to score two more.

 

Today, however, Sanchez allowed only one more Arizona run over the next 5 innings, while Washington would get its offense into high gear, as the visitors’ attempt to steal a win using just its bullpen fell flat. Eaton’s second single scored Turner (who had walked and stolen second) and knocked out opener Archie Bradley, who recorded only 4 outs. Zack Godley induced a double-play grounder to end the 2^nd, but the Nats weren’t done. Matt Adams hit a 3-run HR in the 3^rd, Suzuki knocked one out of the park in the 5^th, and Rendon hit a 2-run shot in the 6^th to complete the damage off Godley. Two innings later, Washington added an exclamation point, scoring  5 with two outs on another bases-loaded single by Kendrick, followed by an Adams grand slam. At this point, Diamondbacks catcher Caleb Joseph took the mound and got a grounder from Yan Gomes to retire the side.

 

With the game well in hand, Arizona did manage 3 meaningless late-inning runs off the Nats’ bullpen. Of somewhat greater concern, Suzuki had to leave the game in the top of the 7^th, after a Tanner Rainey pitch bounced and hit him in the neck.

June 15, 2019 – Diamondbacks 10, Nats 3 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/stephen-strasburg-gives-up-four-homers

 

Weather: 82 degrees, Partly Cloudy.

Wind: 14 mph, Out To CF.

Umpires: HP--Rackley, 1B--Barber, 2B--Marquez, 3B--Bellino.

Time: 3:30

Attendance: 38,044

 

Section 116, Row SS, Seats 5-6 – 3 rows below the main concourse, about 2/3 of the way down the 3^rd base line

 

The weather was perfect. The game was not. Even The Force couldn’t save the good guys this afternoon.

 

Arizona’s Ketel Marte set the tone by homering on Strasburg’s very first pitch. Adam Jones knocked another one out later in the inning to give the visitors a quick 2-0 lead.

 

The Nats did respond impressively in the bottom of the frame. Turner tripled to start things off, and quickly scored on Eaton’s sac fly. Soto and Adams hit back-to-back shots with two out to give Washington a 3-2 lead.

 

Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks continued their assault on Stras as soon as he got back on the mound. They once again led off with a home run (Christian Walker this time), and regained the lead on a Nick Ahmed triple and a Carson Kelly single.

 

At this point, with 5 dingers in the first inning and a half, we thought the teams might break the all-time major league record of 13 in a game, set the previous Monday when Arizona visited Philadelphia. Unfortunately, only one team continued to hit, and it wasn’t the hometown favorites. Strasburg retired the first two D-backs in the 3^rd, but two singles and a double produced one more run, and Marte struck for Arizona’s 3^rd leadoff homer in 4 innings (and his second of the game) an inning later. Strasburg finally kept them off the board in the 5^th, before yielding to the Washington bullpen.

 

After the first inning, the Nats kept putting runners on base against rookie starter Taylor Clarke, but failed to score any. Approaching 100 pitches, he was removed from the game with 2 down in the 5^th, just one out away from getting credit for the victory. Andrew Chafin came in to fan Soto on 3 pitches, and Washington didn’t fare much better against the other 3 relievers they faced.

 

Meanwhile, Javy Guerra blanked Arizona for the next two innings, but Kyle Barraclough could only retire one of the five batters he faced in the 8^th. With 3 more runs on the board and the game out of reach, Davey turned to Trevor Rosenthal, who had actually turned in two shutout innings in his first post-rehab appearances. After he appeared to be reverting to his early-season self by walking the first two batters and allowing a single to load the bases, I decided to head for the exits.

 

Since there were only 10,000 Obi-Sean-Kenobi bobbleheads to be had, I arrived around 1:20 for the 4:05 start. Although I certainly wasn’t the first in line – it took 15 minutes once the gates opened for me to get in and get mine – I was probably excessively cautious; an hour later would have worked fine. Also have to mention the fine early-inning bare-handed catch by a young fan (maybe 13?) who was sitting just one row in front of us, 6 seats away.

Why airport face scans are a privacy trap

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/10/your-face-is-now-your-boarding-pass-thats-problem/?utm_term=.33d69c20c263

 

Great column by Geoffrey Fowler, at least for those of us who still think at least some of our privacy is worth preserving. U.S. citizens have the right to opt out of face scans at airports; there’s a link to a companion piece that explains how.

In majors, there’s plenty of plunk

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/06/14/with-highest-velocity-most-hbps-mlb-history-its-never-been-more-painful-be-hitter/?utm_term=.78b8c966521b

 

If you’ve been getting the idea that more batters have been getting hit by pitches in recent years, you’re absolutely right. Dave Sheinen explores some of the possible reasons.