As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

August 13, 2023 – Nats 8, A’s 7

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS202308130.shtml

 

Time: 3:09

Attendance: 19,240

 

For Jeter Downs, once a highly-regarded prospect, 2023 hasn’t exactly been a banner season, divided into brief periods with the Nationals during which he seldom left the bench, and an extended stay in AAA, during which he registered a sickly batting average of .175.

 

Things changed for at least one day Sunday, when he both started (by leading off with a 6-pitch walk) and ended (with a walk-off single over the infield) the home team’s improbable 6-run 9th-inning rally to complete a weekend sweep of the (admittedly pathetic) Oakland Athletics.

 

The rally validated two well-known baseball sayings:

1.      “Keep the line moving” – as outs were precious, everyone played it safe and advanced one base at a time, except when pinch-runner Blake Rutherford scored the tying run from second base on an error by the Oakland shortstop.

2.      “Take what they give you” – in this case, 3 walks and a passed ball, in addition to the error.

 

Prior to that, not a lot had gone right for the home team. Starting pitcher Trevor Williams dug a 3-run hole for his teammates in the top of the first and wound up not making it through the 5th, taking the MLB lead in homers allowed in the process. Relievers Robert Garcia and Andrés Machado conspired to allow the final two Oakland runs in the 7th. Meanwhile, the Washington offense managed just two tallies, while stranding numerous runners in scoring position.

 

The Red Line down was less crowded than for Saturday night’s bobblehead giveaway game*, but it was noticeably slower than usual due to weekend single-tracking. I still arrived in plenty of time to have a leisurely lunch at Chopt. I can’t speak for Metro on the way back, since a couple of friends graciously offered me a ride back to Shady Grove.

 

* - I also attended the Saturday night game, but left as planned after about two hours to get a good night’s sleep prior to the Sunday afternoon game. For the record, Keibert Ruiz hit the first pitch of the bottom of the 9th out of the park to give the Nats a 3-2 win.

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