Shuffle #74 (November 1, 2015)

Mama Wants To Barrelhouse All Night Long – Bruce Cockburn

Breakout – Swing Out Sister

Theme From Shaft – Isaac Hayes

Walking In The Rain – The Ronettes

16 Candles – The Crests

Only So Much Oil In The Ground – Tower Of Power

Burning Down The House – Talking Heads

Gonna Move – Paul Pena

The Land Of Milk And Honey – The Vogues

Serendipity #47

Flake – Jack Johnson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d18LEY_fO6I

Heard 10/30/2015 around 9:50, at Wegman’s (Germantown)

Serendipity #46

Better Be Home Soon – Crowded House

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQOlwMKpmvQ

Heard 10/20/2015 around 6:00, at Jerry’s Subs (Fallsgrove)

Shuffle #73 (October 4, 2015)

Gone Daddy Gone – Violent Femmes

We’ll Sing In The Sunshine – Gale Garnett

Turn Down Day – The Cyrkle

Pretty Good – John Prine

Cross My Heart – Billy Stewart

Turning To You – Charlie

Same Love – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

The Troubles – U2

Domino – Van Morrison

Don’t Wait Too Long – Madeleine Peyroux

Shuffle #72 (October 3, 2015)

Because – The Dave Clark Five

Paper Thin – John Hiatt

Piano Man – Billy Joel

Heartbreaker – The Crystals

Something About You – The Four Tops

Sunday Girl – She & Him

Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry

Bring Me Some Water – Melissa Etheridge

Plastic Flowers – Don McMinn

What About Me – Lake Street Dive

Havana Daydreamin’ – Jimmy Buffett

Spring Fever -- Orleans

September 27, 2015 – Phillies 12, Nationals 5 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/151934548/nats-stung-by-big-9th-in-loss-to-phillies

 

Attendance: 28,661

Game Time: 3:02

Weather: 69 degrees, cloudy

Wind: 6 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Bill Welke, First Base - John Hirschbeck, Second Base - John Tumpane, Third Base - James Hoye

Seventh-inning stretch song: Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson f/ Bruno Mars

 

Quite a Fan Appreciation Day, in the wake of the Nationals fragging their manager

 

Aaron Harang actually pitched well for the Phils, going 6 innings and only allowing back-to-back dingers in the second by Desmond and den Dekker … Gio blanked Philadelphia through 5, before exiting with the dreaded “Gonzalez pitched to 5 batters in the 6^th” (3 singles followed by 2 bases-loaded walks) … Nats retook the lead with 2 in the bottom of the seventh, but it quickly vanished half an inning later, when Casey (“I think I underachieved a little bit”) Janssen served up a two-run tater to Jeff Francoeur … Papelbon recorded the final out of the eighth, which meant he was in the dugout for the fateful tussle with Harper … Pap was sent back back out for the ninth and gave up a two-run shot by noted slugger Andres Blanco (10 HRs in 800+ major-league at-bats), as the Phils put up an 8-spot … in addition to the promotional item of the day (red Nationals gloves), I snagged one of the caps that they were tossing into the Red Porch area in CF after the game ended

Let the inmates run the asylum

Perhaps the only positive aspect to yesterday’s little Papelbon-Harper scuffle in the Washington Nationals’ dugout is that it diverted attention from the club’s deeper problems. These are best demonstrated by a column in yesterday’s Washington Post, in which several Nats players anonymously stab their manager in the back with a week still left to go in the season.

 

Regardless of the job Matt Williams has done as manager -- and it's been far from perfect -- what does this say about the character of the team and its “veteran leaders”? If you’re unhappy about your boss, there are plenty of professional ways of dealing with the situation. This is clearly not one of them, and is the sort of thing that damages the organization both with the fans and in the eyes of quality players or other staff that the team might like to add.

 

Matt should take the high road and resign right after the season, apologizing for the team's failures and his contributions to them, and thanking Rizzo and Harper for their support. He should be thankful to be out of such a toxic environment.

 

Rizzo (assuming he still has a job after his inspired addition of Papelbon at the trade deadline) should then convene a meeting of the gutless wonders and let them pick their own manager for next season. That way, if they tank again the way they did for both Davey and Matt, they will have no one to blame but themselves.

September 20, 2015 – Nationals 13, Marlins 3 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/150648910

 

Attendance: 28,444

Game Time: 2:57

Weather: 72 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 3 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Adam Hamari, First Base - Angel Hernandez, Second Base - Chris Conroy, Third Base - Ted Barrett

Seventh-inning stretch song: It’s Not Unusual – Tom Jones

 

Highlights – Judy Collins did the National Anthem and God Bless America … another dominating start by Strasburg (7 IP, 2 runs, 10 Ks, 1 BB, plus a hit and run scored as a batter) … on the second Sunday of the NFL season, Nats put up 2 FGs and a TD, stranding only 4 runners in the process … 2-run double by Werth in the first … after Marlins pulled within 3-2 in the top of the sixth, Nats put it away with 7 runs in the bottom of the frame, keyed by a 3-run Tyler Moore HR and later a bases-clearing double by Escobar (both with 2 outs) … catcher Pedro Severino had a major-league debut to remember, doubling and scoring in the Nats’ 3-run 8^th

 

Other – Ichiro struck out 3 times against Stras, marking the first time since June of 2010 that he had fanned multiple times in consecutive games

 

Another blown promotion: Nats had been aggressively running ads for this series in the Post, including $1 ice cream coupons. (I cut out 4 of them.) 35 minutes before the game even started, I went to one Nats Dog stand – no ice cream. They sent me to the stand in back of Section 314, where I was informed that the ice cream (for the weekend, apparently) was “all gone”. They did give out free small bags of salty snacks on the way out, perhaps in an effort to kiss and make up.

September 18 – Rays 8, Orioles 6 – Tropicana Field

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20150918150351032?game_pk=415846

 

Attendance: 10,697

Game Time: 2:51

Weather: indoors

Umpires: Home Plate - Sean Barber, First Base - Dale Scott, Second Base - CB Bucknor, Third Base - Lance Barrett

 

Section 104, Row M, Seat 7 – just to the right of home plate, about 8 rows from the field, second row back from the obviously-retrofitted luxury seats (wider, padded, with waiters)

 

Highlights – fan favorite Carlos Pena was honored before the game, after signing an honorary contract and officially retiring earlier in the day … Tim Beckham’s two-run homer in the bottom of the second took much of the sting out of J.J. Hardy’s 3-run blast in the top of the frame … Rays took the lead for good with 6 in the bottom of the fifth, pounding Tyler Wilson and Chaz Roe with a single and 4 doubles, with the biggest blow a bases-clearing double by Grady Sizemore out of the cleanup slot … Rays bullpen held the Os to one run over the final 3.1 innings to seal the win … rookie Mikie Mahtook went 5-5 with two doubles for Tampa Bay

 

Other – after fanning the first 4 batters he faced, winning pitcher Drew Smyly gave up the 3-run homer to Hardy in the second, and was lifted after Steve Pearce belted a 2-run shot in the sixth

September 17 – Orioles 4, Rays 3 – Tropicana Field

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20150917150141360?game_pk=415836

 

Attendance: 9,617

Game Time: 2:56

Weather: indoors

Umpires: Home Plate - Lance Barrett, First Base - Sean Barber, Second Base - Dale Scott, Third Base - CB Bucknor

Musical highlight – Melting Pot by Booker T. & The MGs, played during an 8^th-inning mound conference

 

Section 102, Row Q, Seat 1 – directly behind home plate, maybe 11 rows back from the field

 

Highlights – great start by Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore (7 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 9 Ks) … Rays scratched out 3 runs in the first 6 innings, including a John Jaso HR that got stuck in one of the catwalks hanging from the dome … former Nat Steven Souza Jr. played the whole game without an official at-bat, drawing 3 walks and getting hit by a pitch

 

Other – reliever Alex Colome wiped out Moore’s fine work in the eighth, giving up 4 singles with 2 out and 1 on as the Orioles took a 4-3 lead

 

Dome sweet dome -- It was good that the Rays could play ball indoors, as it was raining both when I walked to the Trop and after the game when I walked back to the hotel. The experience certainly wasn’t terrible: the seats were reasonably comfortable and the scoreboard actually provided more information (pitch counts for both pitchers visible at all times, type of pitch as well as speed) than at Nationals Park. The Cubano unfortunately was pre-made rather than grilled to order (pork BBQ Friday night was better), and the between-innings race between 3 bottles of different Pepsi products was not particularly inspiring. The fans who were there were enthusiastic; I imagine the noise level for a postseason game would be impressive.