Ahem, Washington Nationals. Hot dogs at Citizens Bank Park are $4.00.
The Ravens are lowering theirs to $3.00. You just raised your price to $7.00. Get with the program!
Saturday, June 2, 2018
#187 It Makes No Difference – The Band (1975)
Robbie
Robertson doesn’t get nearly enough credit as a songwriter, and this is one of
his best. Rick Danko nails the lead vocal on what one critic has called “one of
the most devastatingly beautiful heartbreakers in rock and roll history”.
Friday, June 1, 2018
#186 Should I Cry – The Concords (1964)
Absolutely
fantastic up-tempo doo-wop, every bit as good as the Del Vikings’ “Come Go With Me”. The former hit the top 10 in 1957, while this one, like “Morse Code Of Love” and “Rainy Day Bells”, had the misfortune to come out after doo-wop’s
popularity had peaked. Life is like that sometimes.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
May 27, 2018 – Blue Jays 5, Phillies 3 – Citizens Bank Park
Attendance: 24,182
Duration: 2:50
Weather: 68 degrees, Cloudy
Wind: 11 MPH Right to Left
Umpires: HP: Tim Timmons. 1B: Mark Ripperger. 2B: Joe West. 3B: Doug
Eddings.
Section 143, Row 10, Seats 7-10 – left field, definitely in home run
territory (but no luck)
Game notes – Nick Pivetta got off to a rough start, throwing away a
pickoff attempt in the first and giving up two runs in the second on a pair of
walks and a double (with two wild pitches mixed in) … settled in and faced the
minimum number of batters over his final 3 innings of work … after Pivetta was
lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 5th, Adam Morgan gave
up a two-run double to Dwight Smith Jr. … Phils finally broke through against
J.A. Happ and cut the deficit to one run in the bottom of the 6th on
4 straight singles, accompanied by 2 Toronto errors … unfortunately those were
the final hits of the game for the home team … Hector Neris allowed a Curtis
Granderson homer in the 9th for the final margin
Other – Phillies had moved up to first place in the NL East after
winning Saturday, but dropped back to
second as the Braves hammered the Red Sox … the threatened rain didn’t
materialize during the game, but it did rain most of the way home, especially
on I-95 south of Baltimore, with 3 flash flood alerts coming up on my phone …
parked in Lot W rather at the Holiday Inn Philadelphia Stadium, as it turns out
that the facility is being razed in preparation for a new
hotel/casino/entertainment complex
It’s not just Republicans who are fiscally irresponsible
For example: “Democrats have put ourselves at a longtime, strategic
disadvantage,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who has introduced a bill
that would make most college free but has waved off questions about the cost.
“We have to pay for progressive priorities, and they borrow money for theirs. After the tax cut, there’s almost no
enthusiasm for worrying about how to pay for new proposals.”
Hey Alexa, come clean about how much you’re really recording us
Hey, Alexa (and friends) – you’re NOT welcome in my home!
Friday, May 25, 2018
May 24, 2018 – Keys 5, Salem Red Sox 1 -- Nymeo Field
Umpires: HP: Mark Bass. 1B: Mike Snover.
Weather: 76 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 3 mph, Out to LF.
First pitch: 11:03 AM.
Time: 2:11.
Attendance: 5,373.
Section 203, Row J, Seat 1 – my preferred location for the Keys: second
section on the first base side, as close to the concourse as possible (3 rows
down), on the aisle. In the sun for the whole game, as were pretty much all of
the seats in the stadium.
Game notes – Frederick starter Cristian Alvarado baffled the visitors
for 7 innings despite not pushing the stadium radar gun past the mid-80s,
fanning 7 while giving up just 3 hits, 1 walk and an unearned run … second
baseman Preston Palmeiro (son of Rafael) provided more than enough offense with
a 3-run homer in the third
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
May 20, 2018 – Dodgers 7, Nats 2 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 40,201
Duration: 3:08
Weather: 86 degrees, Partly Cloudy
Wind: 10 MPH Out to Right
Umpires: HP: Chad Fairchild. 1B: Bruce Dreckman. 2B: Mike Estabrook.
3B: Kerwin Danley.
Mama said there’d be [weekends] like this
Game notes – Nats managed only 4 hits, and took their only lead in the
third on Difo’s single and Turner’s HR … Strasburg pitched into the seventh,
giving up a solo homer to Yasmani Grandal in the second and a 2-run shot to
Kike Hernandez in the fifth … Suero and Kelley each gave up 2 runs in an inning
of work to put the game out of reach … 19-year-old phenom Juan Soto made his
debut as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, getting a nice round of applause despite
striking out
Other – due to scheduled off-days and unscheduled but nearly-constant
rain, the Nats played only 5½ innings from Monday thru Friday … lost both games
of the resulting doubleheader Saturday, and Howie Kendrick went down for the
season with a ruptured Achilles … hot, but no rain so won’t complain … traffic
was fine coming down, but heavy on the way back … reminder to self: BBQ pork
sandwiches at Nats Park are extremely messy
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
May 6, 2018 – Nats 5, Phillies 4 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 30,611
Duration: 3:33
Weather: 68 degrees, Cloudy
Wind: 5 MPH Left to Right
Umpires: HP: Sean Barber. 1B: Mike Winters. 2B: Rob Drake. 3B: Mike
Muchlinski.
Game notes – Jake Arrieta got through 6 innings on only 75 pitches,
allowing just one run on a 2nd-inning homer by the red-hot Matt
Adams … Phils fanned 15 times against Scherzer, but ran his pitch count up
enough to get him out of the game in the 7th with one out and one on
… went on to score 3 runs in the frame on a single by Nick Williams (hitting
for Arrieta) off Solis, followed by a Hoskins double and Herrera single off
Kintzler … stretched their lead to 4-1 in the top of the 8th on a
Franco HR off Carlos Torres … Nats closed the gap in the bottom of the inning
when Philadelphia relievers walked 2 consecutive batters, who both scored on Rendon’s
bases-loaded single … Washington completed the rally in the bottom of the 9th
as Neris imploded (leadoff single, errant pickoff attempt, hit batter,
consecutive walks to force in the tying run) and Difo hit a walk-off single
with the Phils deploying a 5-man infield
Other – Nats lost all 4 games I saw on their first home stand (3-7
overall), and won all 4 this time around (overall 7-3) … Signature Sunday featured Moises Sierra and Pedro Severino … the
expected rain never arrived
Saturday, May 5, 2018
May 4, 2018 – Nats 7, Phillies 3 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 35,497
Duration: 2:49 (39 minute rain delay)
Weather: 86 degrees, Mostly Cloudy
Wind: 13 MPH Out to Left
Umpires: HP: Rob Drake. 1B: Mike Muchlinski. 2B: Sean Barber. 3B: Mike
Winters.
Section 311, Row D, Seats 7-9 (usual section, one row back)
Nats notch sixth straight win
Game notes – Phils wound up with the bases loaded and two outs in the
top of the first, after two walks and an error, but failed to score … Nats
battered Nick Pivetta for 3 in the bottom of the first on Harper’s leadoff HR,
two walks, and RBI singles by Zim and Wieters … he fared no better in the
second, as Difo walked, Harper hit another one out, and Turner singled … Drew
Hutchison replaced Pivetta and promptly gave up a homer to Matt Adams, but
pitched through the end of the 6th with no further damage … Gio
blanked the visitors for his 5 innings, with a rain delay in the middle … Phils
finally broke through off Trevor Gott in the 6th on Altherr’s
infield single, followed immediately by homers by Santana and Franco, at which
point Gott left the game with what turned out to be a sprained ankle … Wander
Suero, Madson, and Kintzler kept the Phils off the board for the rest of the
game, while Zac Curtis pitched two scoreless frames for Philadelphia
Other – we took Metro and arrived in plenty of time to get our Max
Scherzer bobbleheads
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