Harvest For
The World – The Isley Brothers
Heard
9/12/2016 around 5:45, at Potbelly (Rockville)
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Monday, September 12, 2016
September 11, 2016 – Nationals 3, Phillies 2 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 31,805
Game Time: 2:49
Weather: 84 degrees, partly cloudy
Wind: 9 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Chris Segal, First
Base - Paul Emmel, Second Base - Larry Vanover, Third Base - David Rackley
Notes – to our surprise, the game moved
along quickly with efficient efforts from both Gio Gonzalez and Adam Morgan;
the game had reached the bottom of the seventh before we had to leave for the
second half of our split doubleheader … Nats took the lead in the first when
Turner singled and scored on Murphy’s double … Phillies tied it in the top of
the seventh on a Tommy Joseph HR … Nats took the lead with two in the bottom of
the seventh … Freddy Galvis led off the top of the eighth with a homer on Koda
Glover’s first (and only) pitch of the afternoon to cut the lead to 1, but
Perez, Treinen, and Melancon shut the visitors down the rest of the way … Roman
Quinn made his major league debut in CF for the Phils, going 0-3 with a walk …
impressive and moving pregame ceremony in recognition of the 9/11/2001
terrorist attacks
September 10, 2016 – Nationals 3, Phillies 0 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 36,152
Game Time: 3:05
Weather: 88 degrees, partly cloudy
Wind: 4 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - David Rackley, First
Base - Chris Segal, Second Base - Paul Emmel, Third Base - Larry Vanover
Section 111, Row JJ, Seats 15-18 – full original
crew was here for the first time since Opening Day, nice lower-level seats on
the aisle down the left-field line, out of the sun
Notes – biggest crowd of the series, for the
Oktoberfest beer stein giveaway … came down early and stopped by TaKorean
before the game … another pitcher’s duel, with both starters putting up goose
eggs (Scherzer struggled with high pitch counts early but lasted into the
seventh, while Jerad Eickhoff for the Phils needed only 82 pitches to get
through six before leaving for a pinch-hitter … Phils center fielder Odubel
Herrera kept the shutout going in the bottom of the fourth by throwing out
Robinson trying to score from second on a Lobaton single … Nats finally broke
the stalemate in the eighth when lefty specialist Patrick Schuster entered for
Philadelphia with one on, promptly giving up a walk to Murphy and a 3-run blast
to Harper
Friday, September 9, 2016
September 8, 2016 – Phillies 4, Nationals 1 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 25,412
Game Time: 2:48
Weather: 93 degrees, clear
Wind: 5 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Paul Emmel, First Base
- Larry Vanover, Second Base - David Rackley, Third Base - Chris Guccione
Seventh-inning stretch song: Build Me Up
Buttercup – The Foundations
Section 232, Row M, Seats 5-6 (free tickets
from August food drive) – upper level in far right field, just in foul
territory (so couldn’t see deep right and right-center field). Almost had the
entire row to ourselves, did have some Phillies fans a little farther back.
Very hot until the sun dipped below the opposite stands early in the game,
relatively comfortable thereafter.
Notes – Phillies ended 9-game losing streak
to the Nats … all of their offense came in the third, with a solo homer by Peter
Bourjos and a 3-run shot by Ryan Howard … Nats starter A.J. Cole needed only 78
pitches to get through 5 innings before departing for a pinch-hitter, fanning 8
… Alec Asher made his season debut for the Phils and blanked Washington for 6 innings,
although they hit quite a few balls hard, deep, or both … Nats loaded the bases
with one out in the eighth off Hector Neris, followed by a Murphy sac fly and a
Harper strikeout (the first Nat to fan all evening) … about 65-70 minutes to
drive down (typical for weeknight games) … took advantage of coupons (2 for 1
Nats Dogs, $2 Cracker Jack) … buyer beware: frozen custard from Shake Shack is
delicious but insidiously messy … made quick escape from The Parking Lot Formerly
Known As HH and got back to Rockville before 11:00
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
September 5, 2016 – Nationals 6, Braves 4 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 26,005
Game Time: 2:59
Weather: 86 degrees, cloudy
Wind: 5 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Todd Tichenor, First
Base - Carlos Torres, Second Base - Rob Drake, Third Base - Gerry Davis
Seventh-inning stretch song: Can’t Stop The
Feeling – Justin Timberlake
Highlights – 3 hits (1st inning
double, 2-run homer in the 3rd, single in the 4th) and 3
RBI for Trea Turner … Chris Heisey followed Turner’s shot with a 3-run
round-tripper later in the third inning … Scherzer wasn’t at his sharpest but
held Atlanta to single runs in the second and sixth, pitching out of deeper
trouble each time and talking his way into pitching the seventh
Other – Turner, Espinosa and Rendon were the
only regulars in the lineup, as the team didn’t arrive in DC until 3am
following the Sunday night game in New York … Melancon made things interesting
by allowing 4 hits and 2 runs in a ninth-inning non-save situation … with a
Monday game rather than a Signature Sunday, we came down early to beat the
traffic and had a pregame lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings … subsequently tried the
gelato (they seemed to have plenty of cups) … traffic getting out of our usual
parking area was again a mess
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (The River Tour) – Nationals Park, 9/1/2016
Section 403,
Row K, Seats 9-16. Upper level, down the left field line, at somewhat of an
angle to the stage. We were fortunate enough to be under cover, as there was a
little rain both early and late. We relied a lot on the big screens on either
side of the stage, as the figures on the stage were tiny even with binoculars.
Oddly, the screen showed Bruce himself almost the entire time, even when
someone else was doing an extended solo.
Music-wise,
this was definitely the best Springsteen concert I’ve been to this century.
(Can’t remember all that much about the time I saw him in 1974 in Carlisle.) He
wasn’t touring behind a new album, as he was when he first played Nats Park on
the Wrecking Ball tour, and although
this was still officially “The River Tour”, he had stopped performing that
two-record set in its entirety. (In fact, only 3 of its songs made this night’s
setlist.) Instead, the early part of the show was Bruce in wayback mode,
featuring 5 consecutive tracks from Asbury
Park and 4 of the 7 from E Street
Shuffle. He also managed to get to all 5 of the non-single cuts from Born In The U.S.A., while doing only 2
of that album’s 7 Top Ten hits (“I’m On Fire” and the obligatory “Dancing In
The Dark”). I was a little concerned about the sound quality during the opening
“New York City Serenade”, but it was fine during the rest of the show. The
crowd was generally enthusiastic, and Bruce and the band seemed to be having a
great time throughout (along with Katie Ledecky).
Traffic wasn’t
too bad on the way down, although it was a tight fit for 6 of us along with all
our tailgating equipment and supplies in the brand-new Kia Sorrento. Our
reservation for the parking lot on Half Street (about three blocks north of the
park) proved to be a good choice, as the concert ended at 11:45 (started at
8:00) and we got back to Rockville just a few minutes after 1:00.
Highlights –
“No Surrender”, “Spirit In The Night”, “Kitty’s Back”, “Rosalita” (the last
song we listened to while tailgating), “The Promised Land”, “Hungry Heart”, “Jungleland”,
“Bobby Jean” (which concluded the evening)
Key line
from the excellent Washington Post review: [Springsteen] has been trying to
make America great again for years in a way that’s antithetical to those who
co-opt his progressive songs for conservative purposes.
Key line
from the great writeup at Backstreets.com: Patti [Scialfa] elevated
"Because the Night" with her unique vocal stylings.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
August 28, 2016 – Rockies 5, Nationals 3 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 28,124
Game Time: 2:52
Weather: 86 degrees, sunny
Wind: 3 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Mike Muchlinski, First
Base - Marty Foster, Second Base - Mark Wegner, Third Base - Mike Winters
Seventh-inning stretch song: The Twist –
Chubby Checker
Highlights – Trea Turner led off the bottom
of the first with his fifth home run … other two Nats runs also came on leadoff
homers, by Ramos in the seventh and Harper in the ninth
Non-highlights – Lucas Giolito struggled in
the first but only allowed one run … with two out and none on in the third,
Giolito allowed a single to Carlos Gonzalez, followed by back-to back homers by
Nolan Arenado (who finished a double short of the cycle) and David Dahl … final
Rockies run came in the eighth on a Koda Glover wild pitch that nailed home-plate
umpire Mike Muchlinski on the left shoulder, allowing Daniel Descalso to score
from second … Bryce was having trouble with the sun in right field most of the
game, most notably on Arenado’s fifth-inning triple (which was initially scored
an error) … Zimmerman fanned in all three appearances against Rockies starter
Chad Bettis
Other – was third in the section 129/130
pre-game autograph line, but A.J. Cole didn’t come out to sign until we’d been
in line in the sun for about 50 minutes (12:05-12:55), after Glover had already
finished signing for the luckier folks in the other line … tried the chicken
and biscuit sandwich from Virginia Country Kitchen (not too bad) … worst
traffic ever getting out of the parking area by the Homeland Security offices
Bonnie Raitt w/ Richard Thompson Trio – Wolf Trap, 8/27/2016
Row U, Seats
28-29 – last row of the Front Orchestra section (farthest back we’ve been in a
while)
When the
show started around 9:00, I initially figured we were in for a
good-but-not-great evening – I’ve always thought the cover of “Need You Tonight”
on her latest CD was somewhat misguided, and the crowd didn’t seem to warm up
to “Used to Rule the World.” However, things really got rolling 5 songs in with
“Shakin’ Shakin’ Shakes”, followed by Richard Thompson’s guest appearance for “Not
the Only One” and “Dimming of the Day”, and didn’t let up from that point on. I
had forgotten how great a singer she can be, particularly on ballads such as “Dimming”
and “Angel From Montgomery”. The four-song encore was especially wonderful,
starting with “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and continuing with “Nick of Time”, a
version of “You Got the Love” that threatened to out-funk the Rufus original,
and concluding with the sublime “Your Sweet and Shiny Eyes” (from 1975’s Home Plate).
Setlist
The Richard
Thompson Trio delivered a regrettably short (under 40 minutes) but satisfying
opening set to the enthusiastic sellout crowd, most of whom were already in
their seats. The song selection emphasized the rock side of his repertoire,
particularly a cover of “Take a Heart” (originally done in 1965 by British band
The Sorrows) and an extended version of “Tear Stained Letter” to close the set.
Setlist
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
August 17, 2016 – Rockies 12, Nationals 10 – Coors Field
Attendance: 25,308
Game Time: 3:52
Weather: 85 degrees, sunny
Wind: 4 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Clint Fagan, First
Base - Brian Gorman, Second Base - Quinn Wolcott, Third Base - Mark Carlson
Seventh-inning stretch song: Hey Baby – DJ Otzi
Section 236, Row 11, Seat 1 – club (2nd)
level, looking down first base line, in the shade, more limited concessions
selection than main concourse and not quite enough seating in the “club”,
although the air conditioned refuge would have been great in rainy, hot, or
freezing weather
Finally, a real Coors Field kind of game!
Highlights – Nats kept battling back from
their 7-0 first inning deficit … two-run Harper homer in the fifth traveled 461
feet and made the score 9-6 … Pedro Severino and Chris Heisey also homered (the
first of Severino’s major-league career) … Jayson Werth ran his consecutive
game on-base streak to 45
Other – Strasburg was torched for 7 in the
bottom of the first on a combination of walks and scorched line drives, and
gave up 2 more before being lifted with two outs in the second … splurged on
the carved turkey sandwich for $12.00 (OK, with a pickle and chips), and
grabbed a Dollar Dog later
August 16, 2016 – Rockies 6, Nationals 2 – Coors Field
Attendance: 29,209
Game Time: 2:54 (delayed 2 hours and 4
minutes in the bottom of the third inning due to rain)
Weather: 84 degrees, cloudy
Wind: 7 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Mark Carlson, First
Base - Clint Fagan, Second Base - Brian Gorman, Third Base - Quinn Wolcott
Seventh-inning stretch song: Hey Baby – DJ Otzi
Section 137, Row 31, Seat 1 – lower level, section behind the visitors dugout, far enough back (just under the overhang) that I only got slightly wet when the storm hit
Seventh-inning stretch song: Hey Baby – DJ Otzi
Section 137, Row 31, Seat 1 – lower level, section behind the visitors dugout, far enough back (just under the overhang) that I only got slightly wet when the storm hit
Highlights – Werth set the Nats team record
by reaching base in his 44th consecutive game (franchise record is
46) … singles by Werth, Murphy, and Ramos gave the Nats a 2-0 lead in the top
of the third
Other – Rockies came right back to tie in
the bottom of the third on a Blackmon double and LeMahieu homer off Gio … after
play resumed, Nats were blanked for the final 6 innings, while the Rockies
notched 4 runs in 5 innings against 4 Washington relievers … apparently if I
take a road trip to see the Nats, there will be a two-hour rain delay … had a
large burrito bowl for $8.00, and an overly large serving of gelato for $5.75 …
over 700 canines for Bark in the Park, complete with a pre-game parade (not
sure how they handled the rainstorm and delay)
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