October 7, 2016 (NLDS Game 1) – Dodgers 4, Nationals 3 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/205330526/dodgers-hang-on-to-win-game-1-of-nlds/

 

Attendance: 43,915

Game Time: 3:46

Weather: 72 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 7 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Dan Bellino, First Base - Chris Guccione, Second Base - Ron Kulpa, Third Base - Tom Hallion, Left Field - Jeff Kellogg, Right Field - Manny Gonzalez

Seventh-inning stretch song: You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC

 

Section 305, Row E, Seats 21-23 (our seats for all home NL playoff games) – same level as usual but 3 sections away (about halfway down the left-field line) … only 2 seats away from the aisle, making the relocation a reasonably good trade-off

 

Highlights – injured catcher Wilson Ramos threw out the first pitch, as Livan Hernandez was unable to make it up from Florida due to Hurricane Matthew … after falling into an early 4-0 hole against LA ace Clayton Kershaw, the Nats got a 2-run single in the third by Rendon (following a Harper double, Werth walk, and a double steal), and got one more back the next inning, when Pedro Severino doubled, advanced to third on a Scherzer ground out, and scored on Turner’s sac fly … Scherzer (who went 6), Solis, and Melancon blanked the Dodgers over the final 6 innings

 

Other – Max gave up a solo homer to Corey Seager in the first, and 3 more runs in the top of the third, keyed by a 2-run Justin Turner shot … Nats got plenty of hits off Kershaw, but only one with a runner in scoring position … Espinosa fanned in each of his 3 at-bats, with 2 men on each time … Nats managed only 1 hit in 5 innings off the LA bullpen … Metro acquitted itself well in both directions (although on the way back we just missed getting on a crowded Red Line train that was waiting as we arrived) … getting out of the park after the game (at the same time with 40,000+ other folks) took forever, as our experiment of taking the left field ramp was not a great success

Rod Temperton

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37565125

 

According to the BBC story above, British songwriter/producer/musician Rod Temperton “was nicknamed The Invisible Man because of his low profile”. No kidding – I’m not sure he even got his 15 minutes of fame, in spite of writing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and a couple big hits for James Ingram, as well as the tracks listed below. I did mention him earlier on my blog, since he also wrote one of my all-time favorite songs (which unfortunately is even more obscure than he is).

 

Favorite songs:

Mystery

Rock With You

Off The Wall

Sweet Freedom

Always And Forever

What’s really behind Trump’s appeal

Nice column by Chris Cillizza, elaborating on Chris Matthews’ take on the subject

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/its-all-about-the-heart-not-the-head-for-the-average-trump-supporter/2016/10/02/df61a56a-88b1-11e6-8a68-b4ce96c78e04_story.html

October 2, 2016 – Nationals 10, Marlins 7 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/204648956/max-scherzer-allows-5-marlins-runs-wins-20th/

 

Attendance: 28,730

Game Time: 3:36

Weather: 73 degrees, overcast

Wind: 2 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - John Tumpane, First Base - Alan Porter, Second Base - Brian O'Nora, Third Base - Jeff Kellogg

Seventh-inning stretch song: Can’t Stop The Feeling – Justin Timberlake

 

Highlights – Max won his 20^th game, ending his 5 innings by fanning his final 2 batters to strand the go-ahead run at third base … he also drove in 4 runs (!) with 2 2-run singles … Espinosa hit his 24^th homer in the bottom of the fifth as the Nats scored 3 to retake the lead … Solis recorded the final out in the top of the eighth by fanning Jeff Francoeur after the Marlins got back within one run … Spencer Kieboom made his major-league debut in the bottom of the frame, walking and scoring a run … Turner (who also walked twice and stole his 33^rd base) and Revere had eighth-inning RBI singles to give Melancon some breathing room for his 47^th save

 

Other – Scherzer wasn’t at his best on the mound, yielding 2-run homers to Miami rookies Destin Hood (Nats second-round draft choice in 2008) and Tomas Telis, the first major league HR for each … Nats outdid themselves on Fan Appreciation Day, as all 3 of us got autographs from Mike Rizzo … didn’t win in the “jerseys off their backs” giveaway, but did get some swag in the traditional toss-goodies-into-the-stands event after the game (an XL “One Pursuit” T-shirt for me)

September 30, 2016 – Marlins 7, Nationals 4 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/204278716/justin-bour-marlins-beat-nationals/

 

Attendance: 30,857

Game Time: 3:08 (start was delayed 1:46 due to rain)

Weather: 63 degrees, drizzle

Wind: 13 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Brian O'Nora, First Base - Jeff Kellogg, Second Base - John Tumpane, Third Base - Alan Porter

 

Section 222, Row P, Seats 12-15 – upper level, about halfway down the right field line between first base and the foul pole

 

Highlights – back-to-back homers by Rendon and Drew kicked off a 4-run fourth inning for the Nats … Trea stole 2 more bases … nice pregame tribute to Jose Fernandez

 

Other – Nats starter A.J. Cole dug an early hole by giving up 4 runs in his 3 innings (although only 2 were earned) … offense was completely shut down by the Miami bullpen, whose members fanned 10 of the 16 batters they faced … Harper struck out in all 4 of his at-bats … due to taking Metro and the delayed start, we headed out in the sixth, after Dee Gordon drove in the decisive run on an infield single … on “Election Night”, they eventually ran out of donkey figurines as expected, while some elephants were still left

#130 Big Yellow Taxi — Joni Mitchell (1970)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94bdMSCdw20

 

“They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.”

 

Joni Mitchell is one of her generation’s finest songwriters, and I doubt that she (or anyone else) has ever packed more of a lyrical punch into such an amazingly short (2:16) song. Still timeless over 40 years later, I’m sure people will continue singing this one for a long, long time.

 

“You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

#129 Girl Come Running — Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (1965)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skto7GZ2A4M

 

The Four Seasons pretty much got lost in the shuffle in 1965, with the continuing dominance of the British Invasion and Motown, not to mention Dylan going electric and James Brown basically inventing funk with “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag”. Perhaps that’s why this one peaked at a modest #30 on the national charts.  I’m not entirely sure why this is my all-time favorite song of theirs; it may be because it was the one in rotation when I first started seriously listening to Top 40 radio.

 

Classic YouTube comment: “Anybody know what note Frankie hits at 1:40?  I can't hear that high.”

#128 Songbird — Jesse Colin Young (1975)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nIGz7IivFc

 

Just to prove that Jesse Colin Young was just as mellow in his solo days as he was with the Youngbloods.

#127 Sunlight — The Youngbloods (1969)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYO0d6y2mQI

 

I initially fell in love with the studio version of this song when it was first released in 1969. (They tried again two years later; neither version even reached the Hot 100.) But the live version on the 1971 Ride The Wind LP (one of my all-time favorites) is even better. Just put this on, lie back on the grass on a warm spring afternoon, and gaze at the clouds. Follow with “Groovin’” by the Rascals, War’s “All Day Music”, and the Isley Brothers’ “For The Love Of You”. Repeat ad libitum.

#126 The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore) – The Walker Brothers (1966)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q11ium_-Lv8

 

This vocal trio sure looked British (check the haircuts) and had some big hits on that side of the ocean, but they actually were from California. Only three of their songs (all great) hit the charts over here, including perhaps the best version of the Bacharach-David classic “Make It Easy On Yourself”. Admittedly they sound more like the Righteous Brothers than the Stones or the Kinks, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.