#121 Ramblin’ Rose – Nat King Cole (1962)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mae_NJ_12sc

 

Obviously I don’t need to explain the rationale for this one. Until I started the blog, however, my favorite by Nat King Cole was actually “Looking Back” (1958), which is still pretty great in its own right.

#120 It’s Not Unusual – Tom Jones (1965)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yca2BCwAnBQ

 

This is another one that’s really grown on me over the years. The Nats started playing it some a few years ago at random times, such as during mid-inning pitching changes, and the crowd always had a great reaction, which made me think that it would be a good choice for the seventh-inning stretch. Someone must have agreed, since it’s been turning up in that position on a regular basis during the past two seasons.

June 11, 2016 – Nationals 8, Phillies 0 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/183449438/tanner-roark-leads-nationals-over-phillies

 

Attendance: 38,044

Game Time: 2:56

Weather: 84 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 5 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Tripp Gibson, First Base - Jerry Layne, Second Base - Scott Barry, Third Base - Gabe Morales

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

 

Section 129, Row PP, Seats 1-2 – lower level, just inside first base, far enough back towards the concourse that we were in the shade for the first 3 innings or so

 

Highlights – Tanner Roark tossed 7 scoreless innings on an extremely hot day, pitching out of a couple early-inning jams … Nats got more than enough runs with a 4-spot in the bottom of the 2^nd off Aaron Nola, and added 4 more off the Phillies’ bullpen (with the biggest blow being a two-run double by Rendon in the fifth)

 

Other – Nola uncharacteristically struggled with his command, and didn’t make it through the 4^th inning … Phils started off the second with a single and double, then failed to score when the next 3 batters fanned … Tommy Joseph, who’s relatively new to first base, prolonged the fatal second inning by trying unsuccessfully to make the play at home on Roark’s sac bunt, rather than taking the sure out at first … leaving early (9:45) was again the trick to minimizing GW Parkway traffic … the grilled chicken peri-peri sandwich from Change-Up Chicken was good, but certainly didn’t pack much heat … appearance of the lemon ice vendor halfway through the game was greatly appreciated

Shuffle #87 (June 9, 2016)

Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces – The Jayhawks

Long, Long Winter – The Impressions

Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man – The Bob Seger System

Wonderful! Wonderful! – Johnny Mathis

Accidents Will Happen – Elvis Costello

Green Flower Street – Donald Fagen

Jackie Wilson Said – Van Morrison

Don’t Wait Too Long – Madeleine Peyroux

Let The Rough Side Drag – Jesse Winchester

The Look Of Love – Dusty Springfield

Comic of the Day #2 – June 5, 2016 (originally June 8, 1969)

Peanuts – “I’m A Terrible Manager”

http://www.peanuts.com/search/?pubdate=06%2F05%2F2016&sort_by=bydate&seasonal=&selectcharacter=&keyword=&type=comic_strips#.WF2JXREixt8

 

Probably my favorite Peanuts ever. Almost makes me wish I hadn’t retired, so I could put this one up on my office door.

June 7, 2016 – Frederick Keys 8, Carolina Mudcats 4 – Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20160607&content_id=182642006&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t493&sid=t493 (story)

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2016_06_07_cmcafa_frdafa_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t493 (box)

 

Umpires: HP: Chris Scott. 1B: Chris Marco.

Weather: 81 degrees, sunny.

Wind: 5 mph, R to L.

First pitch: 11:03 AM.

Time: 2:19.

Attendance: 5,711.

 

Section 207, Row J, Seat 1 – behind first base, second to the last row back in the second level (my usual Frederick “shade seats” were all taken)

 

Highlights – aided by some sloppy play by the visitors (3 errors for the game), the Keys struck for 2 runs in the first after their first 4 batters reached base … essentially put the game away with 5 more runs in the second, punctuated by a 3-run HR by right fielder Conor Bierfeldt … Keys starter Lucas Long allowed 3 runs in his 5 innings, while 3 relievers held the Mudcats to a single run over the final 4 frames while fanning 6

 

Other – grilled chicken wrap from the Kitchen Kreations stand was quite good … naturally there was a little rain starting in the middle of the 8^th inning (enough to send most of the crowd heading for the exits, but not enough to delay the game) … STEM Day for Frederick County sixth-graders accounted for most of the unusually large weekday crowd (not a problem, except that the long lines at the sponsor booths that provided answers to some of the questions on the students’ worksheets meant that it was nearly impossible to navigate the center section of the concourse)

Shuffle #86 (June 4, 2016)

And When I Die – Blood, Sweat & Tears

Believe In Humanity – Carole King

Amsterdam – Guster

Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) – The Offspring

The Rebel Jesus – Jackson Browne

Don’t You Wish It Was True – John Fogerty

Cars And Girls – Prefab Sprout

Sweet & Sour – Firefall

Good Intentions – Lyle Lovett

May 29, 2016 – Nationals 10, Cardinals 2 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/180926614/strasburg-moves-to-9-0-as-nats-rout-cards

 

Attendance: 38,898

Game Time: 3:12

Weather: 84 degrees, cloudy

Wind: 6 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Jeff Kellogg, First Base - John Tumpane, Second Base - Alan Porter, Third Base - Mark Carlson

Seventh-inning stretch song: The Sweet Escape – Gwen Stefani

 

Highlights – Strasburg went to 9-0 with 6 innings of one-run ball … after Brandon Moss briefly gave the Cards the lead with a homer in the top of the 4^th, the Nats struck back with 3 in the bottom half, keyed by a two-out, two-run single by Wilson Ramos … the Cards made things closer in the top of the 7^th by eking out a run (could have been much worse), only to see the Nats put things away with a 5-spot after the stretch (leadoff homer by Rendon, followed 5 batters later by a Jayson Werth pinch grand slam) … Ramos capped his perfect day with a two-run shot the next inning

 

Other – not the hottest day at the park ever, but the humidity was through the roof, making it feel like sitting in a sauna for most of the game … a little rain finally showed up near the end of the game, so we decided to leave our (uncovered) seats and watch the final 3 outs from the concourse … took about an hour to get there despite leaving at 10:30, as traffic taking the ramp to Arlington Memorial Cemetery slowed traffic on the GW Parkway … return trip started inauspiciously when “Highway To Hell” was the first song that came up on the radio, but after the first few blocks things were pretty smooth (55 minutes total), although the backup on the Parkway to get onto the Legion Bridge was much longer than usual … made first visits to both The Bullpen (across from the Metro station) and the Budweiser Brew House (formerly the Red Porch Restaurant)

Shuffle #85 (May 28, 2016)

Night Fever – The Bee Gees

Happy Boy – The Beat Farmers

Baltimore – Randy Newman

Love Her Madly – The Doors

Pain Lies On The Riverside – Live

Wall Of Death – Richard & Linda Thompson

Let Her Dance – The Bobby Fuller Four

Fly Like An Eagle – Steve Miller Band

Susan – The Buckinghams

How Can I Be Sure – The Rascals

May 23, 2016 – Mets 7, Nationals 1 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/179840442/mets-hit-three-home-runs-to-defeat-nationals

 

Attendance: 31,264

Game Time: 2:33 (start was delayed 1 hour and 10 minutes due to rain)

Weather: 61 degrees, cloudy

Wind: 1 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Bill Welke, First Base - Vic Carapazza, Second Base - D.J. Reyburn, Third Base - John Hirschbeck

 

Section 409, Row F, Seats 3-4 – upper level, looking down the right field line (sort of the mirror image of our old section 416, but just to the third base side of the press box)

 

Highlights – smooth trip down on Metro … arrived in plenty of time to snag the “Max Scherzer No-Hitter Bobblehead (piece #1 of 2)” … weather wasn’t bad once the game started, with none of the predicted thunderstorms … Nats jumped out to a quick lead on first-inning singles by Werth, Murphy, and Zimmerman

 

Other – tarp was on when we arrived, with rain starting shortly thereafter (our seats were under the overhang, but wind managed to blow the rain in anyway) … Mets struck for 5 in the third, on a 3-run David Wright homer followed by 3 straight singles and a sac fly … added 2 more in the fifth on back-to-back homers by Cespedes and Walker … headed out in the top of the 7^th to have plenty of time for Metro trip back … missed Red Line train by about 30 seconds, so had to wait 22 minutes for the next one … almost didn’t get out of the Shady Grove parking lot since the machine didn’t want to react to either of our Smart Trip cards (fortunately my Visa card worked)