March 25, 2017 – Nationals 4, Astros 1 – West Palm Beach FL

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/220907504/daniel-murphy-tanner-roark-help-nats-in-win/

 

Attendance: 4,354

Game Time: 3:07

Weather: 76 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 17 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - John Libka, First Base - CB Bucknor, Second Base - Greg Gibson, Third Base - Mike Estabrook

Seventh-inning stretch song – Deep in the Heart of Texas

Section 109, Row R, Seat 7 (same seat as Thursday)

 

Tanner Roark and Daniel Murphy made their first game appearances since returning from the World Baseball Classic, so the Nats had what looked like a regular season lineup on the field. (Although Houston used Carlos Beltran as their DH, Washington elected to let Roark hit for himself.) Tanner was in fine form, allowing only one run before exiting with one out in the sixth after 73 pitches to a standing ovation. Solis, Kelley, Romero, and Treinen blanked the Astros the rest of the way.

 

The batter’s box wasn’t an especially safe place in the first few innings. Roark plunked Bregman in the first and Gurriel in the second. In the top of the third, after Murphy beat the shift with a one-out single to left, Houston starter Lance McCullers got Harper and Rendon (although Bryce wanted to decline the base and take his swings). Werth then put the Nats on the board with a long sac fly.

 

Washington broke things open and chased McCullers the following inning. With one out, following a Zimmerman double and a Wieters single (and a wild pitch advancing Matt), Turner grounded to second – Zim looked like an easy out, but somehow managed to avoid the tag at the plate. Murph then doubled into the right-field corner to easily score Wieters and Trea.

 

This was a home game for Astros in their shared ballpark, which meant Astros programs on sale and plenty of appearances by quirky-but-cute green mascot Orbit. No Racing Presidents, and the Washington player photos didn’t appear on the scoreboard when they batted, although there seemed to be more Nats than Astros fans in the stands.

 

Splurged on a “Diablo Burger” (lettuce, tomato, pepper jack cheese and jalapenos) – large and tasty, but definitely not a bargain at 12 bucks.

 

I arrived at the complex around 11:15 and got to see the last several innings of a pitchers’ BP contest – starters (Max, Stras, Gio, Ross) vs. relievers (Guthrie, Albers, Worley, Nathan). No infielders or baserunning (except for ghost runners), with the two teams taking turns batting and playing the outfield. Coach-pitch until the last two innings, when they used the machine. Quite competitive, as the final score was 20-19, with Gio making a game-saving catch in right to end it.

March 24, 2017 – Cardinals 3, Nationals 1 – West Palm Beach FL

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/220715242/dexter-fowler-triples-in-cards-win-vs-nats/

 

Attendance: 5,078

Game Time: 2:42

Weather: 74 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 19 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Ryan Additon, First Base - Mike Estabrook, Second Base - John Bostwick

Section 110, Row M, Seat 1 – next section to where I was yesterday, just a bit down the first base line. “Dugout Box”, so somewhat closer, and more in the sun.

 

No weather issues today, but the Washington offense continued to struggle. They did load the bases with two out in the first against Cards starter Michael Wacha, but failed to score, and went down in order in each of the next 4 frames. They finally broke through in the sixth on singles by Turner, Harper, and Werth off Trevor Rosenthal, but Eaton fanned with the bases loaded and two out to end the threat.

 

Jeremy Guthrie started for the Nats and held the Cards hitless through his 4.1 innings. They finally broke through off closer candidate Koda Glover, plating two in the 6^th keyed by a Dexter Fowler triple, and adding another in the 7^th. Glover, who’s typically more of a one-inning guy, wound up facing 9 batters, retiring 5 and allowing 4 hits.

 

For lunch, I decided to try a “PB half smoke”, which it turns out is topped by pulled pork, BBQ sauce, and cole slaw. Actually good, not quite as messy as expected, and a relative bargain at $7.00.

March 23, 2017 – Nationals 1, Mets 0 – West Palm Beach FL

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/220541248/nats-erick-fedde-outduels-robert-gsellman/

 

Attendance: 6,086

Game Time: 2:26 (start delayed by 42 minutes due to rain)

Weather: 73 degrees, cloudy (but it got significantly cooler later in the game)

Wind: 12 mph (and up)

Umpires: Home Plate - Angel Hernandez, First Base - Chris Conroy, Second Base - Nick Mahrley, Third Base - Shane Livensparger

Seventh-inning stretch song: I Got You (I Feel Good) – James Brown

Section 109, Row R, Seat 7 (“Infield Box”) – Lower level (as are virtually all the seats at The Ballpark of The Palm Beaches), almost exactly behind home plate. I purchased “Dugout Box” tickets, which are $3-5 more expensive, for a couple other games, but only got a few rows closer to the action)

 

It was nice and sunny up until about 12:30, when a thunderstorm arrived. Fortunately it didn’t last too long, but the game started closer to 2:00 than the scheduled 1:05. Rain event #2 came an hour or so later, in the middle of the 5^th inning; it wasn’t hard enough to stop play, but the wind whipped up to such an extent that most of us cleared out of the stands until it stopped. We had a little more in the final couple innings, by which point quite a few of the fans had already left the building.

 

After Hall of Famer Tim Raines threw out the first ball, Erick Fedde and 5 Nats relievers combined to hold the visitors to 4 hits, without walking a single batter. Fedde was particularly good, throwing a ton of ground balls during his 5-inning stint. The only baserunners he allowed were on two one-out singles in the 4^th, but he retired Curtis Granderson and Neil Walker to end the threat. Closer candidate Blake Treinen handled the ninth, retiring Michael Conforto and Juan Lagares with the tying run in scoring position.

 

The Nats didn’t do much better against the Mets pitchers, but did manage to scratch out an unearned run in the 3^rd, as Trea reached on an error by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and scored on a two-out double by Tony Two-Bags.

 

Cabrera provided a little more excitement a half-inning later, as he managed to get tossed after his one-out single. Apparently he complained a little too much about being denied a timeout prior to the previous pitch. He got a little bit of revenge with his exit, strolling slowly from the third-base dugout across the middle of the field to the visitors’ clubhouse beyond right field.

 

My first glance at the concession selection and prices at the Nats’ new spring home left me less than overwhelmed. The $8.00 pair of grouper tacos was pretty good, however.

Chuck Berry

Long live rock & roll!

 

Rolling Stone obituary

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame entry

 

Favorite songs:

Brown-Eyed Handsome Man

Roll Over Beethoven

Johnny B. Goode

Back In The U.S.A.

Rock And Roll Music

Almost Grown

School Days

No Particular Place To Go

Sweet Little Sixteen

Nadine

 

Favorite covers of Chuck Berry songs:

You Never Can Tell (C’est La Vie) – Emmylou Harris

Memphis – Lonnie Mack

Roll Over Beethoven – Electric Light Orchestra

#141 The Dark End Of The Street – James Carr (1967)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC3AXQ8dPJM

 

The first time I ever heard this soul classic by Chips Moman and Dan Penn was when it was performed in the 1991 movie The Commitments.  It’s been recorded by Percy Sledge, Don Dixon, Eva Cassidy, and many others, but somehow never managed to become a hit. The original version by James Carr was the only one to appear on the Hot 100, peaking at a modest #77.

#140 The Windows Of The World – Dionne Warwick (1967)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjNNijd4t0Q

 

Dionne Warwick, of course, made a career out of recording songs written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. This one unfortunately wasn’t a big hit, but it’s one of their best, and almost certainly the most poignant. (Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders later did a great cover version as well.)

Shuffle #95 (March 12, 2017)

Running On Empty – Jackson Browne

Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It – Will Smith

Summer In The City – The Lovin’ Spoonful

All Alone Am I – Brenda Lee

Shattered Dreams – Johnny Hates Jazz

I Want A New Drug – Huey Lewis & The News

This Is My Country – The Impressions

I Wanna Be With You – The Raspberries

Sunshine Of Your Love – Cream

Boom Boom Pow – Black Eyed Peas

Dawes – Lincoln Theatre, 3/8/2017

Row J, Seat 109 (general admission) – center section, middle seat

 

I saw Dawes do two truly great shows in 2015, first at the Warner and several weeks later at XPNFest. This one didn’t reach that level, although it had some great moments, especially in the second set. With no opening act, the amount of music was certainly generous, with a couple dozen songs spanning about 105 minutes across the two sets and two encore numbers.

 

The biggest issue for me was the volume. Most of the band’s repertoire sounds about right at a relative sound level of about 8, but they had things cranked up to 11 through most of the show, pounding their more subtle and melodic material (including one of my favorites, “A Little Bit Of Everything”) into complete and utter submission. Basically, THEY SOUNDED LIKE THEY WERE YELLING MOST OF THE TIME.

 

The first set really didn’t do much for me, until they got to “When My Time Comes” and “Less Than Five Miles Away” at the end, both of which worked well with things cranked up. However, their performance of “Somewhere Along The Way” lacked the stunning two-guitar interplay of  the 2015 shows, and they chose to short-change “Time Spent In Los Angeles” by segueing into “Most People” after the first verse. And I’ve already mentioned their treatment of “A Little Bit Of Everything”.

 

Nevertheless, I decided to stick around for the second set, and was rewarded when they went acoustic for the first 2½ songs. “From A Windowseat” was a highlight shortly thereafter, and the crowd rose to its feet during “If I Needed Someone” and remained standing for the rest of the show. After ending the set with the title cut from We’re All Gonna Die, they encored with a rave-up version of the normally placid “Peace In The Valley” from their debut album, and concluded with a heartfelt rendition of “All Your Favorite Bands”, at the end of which the crowd added an extra a cappella version of the chorus.

 

Setlist

Where to eat and drink near the Verizon Center

Nice listing from The Post. I’d certainly recommend a number of these, including Chinatown Express (where we ate last week prior to a Wizards game) and Nando’s Peri-Peri.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/going-out-guide/wp/2015/10/09/where-to-eat-and-drink-near-the-verizon-center/?utm_term=.ed93ea8ed075&wpisrc=nl_buzz&wpmm=1

Shuffle #94 (March 6, 2017)

(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville – R.E.M.

Bits And Pieces – The Dave Clark Five

Silver Wheels – Bruce Cockburn

Boogie Oogie Oogie – A Taste Of Honey

Pocketful Of Sunshine – Natasha Bedingfield

Sunday Bloody Sunday – U2

Hello In There – John Prine

One Step Up – Bruce Springsteen

Nick Of Time – Bonnie Raitt