Columnist Michael Gerson on Trump: “Perhaps behind the compulsive,
simplistic, narcissistic exterior, there is a compulsive, simplistic,
narcissistic interior.”
Friday, March 29, 2019
Ranking Roger
Born Roger Charlery, he was a vocalist and toaster for two of the
leading “two-tone” bands of the late 1970s and early 80s (The English Beat and
General Public), which came up with two of my all-time favorite songs (“I Confess” and “Tenderness”, respectively).
March 28, 2019 – Mets 2, Nats 0 – Nationals Park
Weather: 56 degrees, Partly Cloudy.
Wind: 3 mph, R to L.
Umpires: HP--Miller, 1B--Eddings, 2B--Torres, 3B--Conroy.
Time: 2:44
Attendance: 42,263
Section 112, Row TT, Seats 14-15 – lower level, somewhat beyond 3B,
near the top of the section.
Although Scherzer was dominating for most of his 7.2-inning
performance, allowing only 2 hits and fanning 12, the Nationals failed to take
advantage of their opportunities against Jacob deGrom, and managed only one
baserunner in the final 3 innings against the New York bullpen. 2018 Cy Young
winner deGrom and runner-up Scherzer did make some history by becoming only the
second pair of opposing pitchers to each notch double-digit strikeouts on
Opening Day.
In a game where every run was likely to be precious, Max fanned the
first two Mets he faced, but missed his spot on a changeup to Robinson Cano,
who knocked it into the seats in left-center. Over the next 6 innings, however,
he allowed only 3 more baserunners, none of whom got as far as second base. With
the Nats still trailing by a run, Martinez raised some eyebrows by allowing him
to hit for himself with two out and none on in the bottom of the seventh, his
pitch count into the 90s. In the top of the 8th, he sandwiched a
walk to Dominic Smith between two more Ks, which proved costly when Justin
Miller and Matt Grace allowed consecutive singles to Pete Alonso and Cano,
respectively, to score what proved to be the final run of the afternoon.
The Nats had some bad luck in the bottom of the first, when Zimmerman
lined a shot right at the third baseman with 2 on and 2 out. Two innings later,
they had their best scoring chance of the afternoon when Victor Robles led off
with a double and went to third on a single by Eaton. Turner, who had singled
and stolen second two innings earlier, fanned on a high fastball. Rendon hit a
relatively slow grounder to third, but Robles was indecisive on the basepaths,
getting caught between third and home to retire the side after the Mets got the
force at second.
Washington’s final chance came in the bottom of the 6th.
Turner got his second single of the game and reached third via two steals with
one out, but Soto fanned and Zim flied out to right.
Our Metro trips were uneventful, albeit packed, in both directions.
Armed with coupons, we descended upon the nearby Subway, which proved prescient
given the lengthy and slow-moving concession lines inside the park.
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Scott Walker
I can’t say I know anything about Scott Walker’s days as an “experimental”
musician, who was apparently a major influence on Radiohead and presumably
others. I do remember him as the lead singer of the Walker Brothers, who were
neither related nor born with the surname Walker. As Wikipedia notes, “they
provided a unique counterpoint to the British Invasion by achieving much more
success in the United Kingdom than in their home country, a period when the
popularity of British bands such as The Beatles dominated the U.S. charts.”
Nevertheless, the managed to release three singles (“Make It Easy On Yourself”,
“My Ship Is Coming In”, and “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)”) that rivaled
the best blue-eyed soul that the Righteous Brothers (or anyone else) could come
up with.
March 25, 2019 – Nats 5, Yankees 3 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 22,735
Game Time: 2:50
Weather: 59 degrees, Cloudy.
Wind: 11 mph, In From RF.
Section 306, Row D, Seats 3-4 – out just beyond 3B
In their annual final exhibition at Nationals Park before the real
season starts, the Nationals fielded a reasonable approximation of their
regular lineup and came away with a 5-3 victory. They never trailed in the
game, starting off quickly in the bottom of the first on a one-out Turner
single and a two-out Rendon homer, his 5th of the spring. They
loaded the bases with none out in the 4th, scoring runs on a Suzuki
sac fly and a Dozier single. Matt Adams homered two innings later to complete
the Washington scoring, just before Martinez gave most of his starters the rest
of the day off.
Anibal Sanchez turned in a relatively uneventful outing for the Nats,
giving up a Troy Tulowitzki homer in the 3rd and walking the leadoff
hitter in the 6th. Comeback kid Aaron Barrett relieved Sanchez with
one out and allowed the inherited runner to score on a Greg Bird double.
Barraclough, Rosenthal, Grace, and Doolittle finished up, with the visitors
notching one more run in the 8th.
As usual, the non-baseball side of the operation had numerous kinks to
work out prior to Opening Day. Most of the concession stands were open, but
numerous menu items were not available. At least one stand experienced a computer
systems outage, and my eCash couldn’t be read off my phone when I went to get
pizza. The scoreboard operator had quite a bit of difficulty keeping up with
New York’s defensive substitutions. On the brighter side, my Nats Park Lanyard
Radio worked like a champ to bring in the play-by-play from 106.7.
Perhaps as many as half of the 22,000 fans came disguised as empty
seats. The good news weather-wise was that the “light intermittent rain” held
off entirely until midway through the game, and never became much of a problem.
On the other hand, the combination of temperature and wind made it feel much
colder than the listed 59 degrees, so much so that I finally pulled out my
gloves, and we left the building entirely after the 6th inning.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Devin Nunes’s udderly silly cow flap
This column by Dana Milbank is the funniest piece I’ve read all year.
(The photo at the top is pretty great as well.)
March 18, 2019 – Cardinals 4, Phillies 1 – Jupiter FL
Attendance: 7,666
Game Time: 2:50
Weather: 75 degrees, Partly Cloudy. (dodged yet another bullet
weather-wise)
Wind: 16 mph, L To R.
Section
204, Row 5, Seat 14 – about a third of the way down the first-base line, four
rows from the top, middle of the row (even single tickets were hard to come by)
Although the Phillies crew that traveled across Florida for this 2-game
East Coast series featured far more Triple-A depth guys than regulars, they
nevertheless had chances to score against St. Louis starter Dakota Hudson. They
loaded the bases in the top of the 3rd on two singles and an error,
but Aaron Altherr and Nick Williams struck out swinging to end the threat. Two
innings later, Drew Butera reached third with one out, but Hudson fanned Cesar
Hernandez and Odubel Herrera to end his impressive outing. The visitors finally
pushed across a run in the 9th against Cardinals flame-thrower
Jordan Hicks, when Gift Ngoepe drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on
Trevor Plouffe’s single, and scored when the next two batters grounded out.
Like Hudson, Phillies starter Zach Eflin went 5 innings. He got quite a
few swings and misses, but the Cardinals did hit several fly balls hard,
including a solo homer by Tyler O’Neill to lead off the 2nd and a
2-run shot by Paul Goldschmidt with 2 out in the 5th. Three
relievers finished things up, with Yacksel Rios giving up the final St. Louis
run in the 7th.
It was close to a full house; the first thing I encountered after
entering the stadium was a long line of people waiting to get into the team
store. The trio of mahi tacos was somewhat messy, but well worth the $11.00
price. Getting out of the parking lot was easier than I had expected, with
drivers politely taking turns despite the absence of anyone directing traffic.
Monday, March 18, 2019
March 17, 2019 – Nationals 10, Mets 5 – West Palm Beach FL
Attendance: 6,345
Game Time: 3:12
Weather: 81 degrees, Partly Cloudy. (Sun was actually out for most of
the game, despite the ominous forecast.)
Wind: 7 mph, Out To RF.
Section
111, Row U, Seat 2 – just to the right of home plate (although I spent most of
the game in section 120 with the Gowen crew)
Once again, the Nats got off to a fast start against the Mets, batting
around and knocking out starting pitcher Hector Santiago before he could finish
the frame. With one out, the carnage proceeded as follows: Suzuki single, Soto
homer, Adams single, Jake Noll single, Stevenson bunt single, Difo
bases-clearing double, Adrian Sanchez RBI single. Santiago did fan Strasburg,
but then hit Robles with a pitch to end his afternoon.
While Soto added two doubles later, his first-inning round-tripper made
one fan especially happy, as prior to the game he had picked Juan to hit the “Dinger
of the Day”. After four quiet innings, the Washington offense added a run in
the 6th on Adams’ RBI double, and 3 more in the 8th, with
journeyman outfielder Tyler Goeddel hitting a 2-run pinch-homer in his first
(and perhaps only?) major-league plate appearance of the spring.
Strasburg held the visitors hitless through the first three innings,
but gave up a 2-run homer to Michael Conforto in the 4th, and three
consecutive singles in the 5th. He was lifted after Robinson Cano
doubled and Conforto walked to start the 6th. Power-hitting rookie
1B Pete Alonso, whose arrival in New York is eagerly anticipated by Mets fans,
hit a 2-run shot off Henderson Alvarez in the top of the 7th for the
final New York tallies.
March 16, 2019 – Cardinals 8, Nationals 5 – West Palm Beach FL
Attendance: 6,377
Game Time: 3:08
Weather: 78 degrees, overcast. (Had a little sun in the middle innings,
a few drops of rain in the 8th)
Wind: 5 mph, In From RF.
Section 107, Row T, Seat 1 – just to the left of home plate, several
rows from the back
Perhaps it was an omen that the whiteboard at the entrance to the
ballpark where the lineups are posted was blank for 45 minutes or so after the
gates opened. Although their spring base in Jupiter is only about 15 minutes
from West Palm Beach, the Cardinals brought no regulars whatsoever to the game.
No Yadi Molina, Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Carpenter, or Marcell Ozuna. Not even
Kolten Wong or Paul DeJong. (Maybe none of them were eager to face Scherzer?)
Instead, their lineup featured the likes of Randy Arozarena, Tommy Edman, and
Evan Mendoza. Meanwhile, the Nats rolled out what could very well be their full
Opening Day lineup, with the exception of Wilmer Difo getting the start in center.
So it was somewhat surprising when the visitors jumped on Max for a
quick run, when Edman led off the game with a triple and Jose Martinez
immediately singled him home. Perhaps a bit annoyed, Scherzer allowed only 2
singles in the remainder of his 6 innings of work, fanning 9 and earning a
standing ovation from the crowd when he exited.
Yan Gomes, who homered twice on Friday, added a solo shot in the bottom
of the 2nd to tie the score. (He settled for singles in his
remaining two plate appearances.) Washington completed its scoring for the day
with a four-run 4th, featuring a two-run double by Trea Turner.
The home team’s 5-1 lead, unfortunately, didn’t survive the departure of
Scherzer (and the rest of the Nats’ starters) at the end of the 6th.
Nolan Gorman and Arozarena went back-to-back off Barraclough in the 7th
to cut the lead in half. Trevor Rosenthal survived the 8th despite
allowing a couple of baserunners. Doolittle got 2 outs in the 9th
after a leadoff single, but then allowed a double, walk, and single to tie the
score. Davey decided to let him pitch to one more batter, and Andrew Knizner
hit one out of the park to plate the Cardinals’ final 3 runs.
Saturday, March 16, 2019
March 15, 2019 – Nationals 11, Mets 3 – Port St. Lucie FL
Attendance: 6,599
Game Time: 2:40
Weather: 81 degrees, cloudy (had some rain driving up, but it was dry
and comfortable for the game)
Wind: 13 mph, R To L.
Section 205, Row U, Seat 1 – just to the right of home plate, 3 rows
from the top of the stadium
Washington’s offense started out in high gear and continued slugging
through the 4th, with 7 home runs in their first 23 plate
appearances. Adam Eaton led off the game with the first dinger, and the Nats
added 4 more tallies in the frame, climaxed by a 3-run shot by Yan Gomes. They
piled on with 3 more runs in the 2nd off Steven Matz, with Rendon
and Zimmerman going back-to-back. The explosion continued even after Matz’s
departure, as Gomes hit his second of the day in the 3rd, while
Rendon (again) and Matt Adams went deep in the 4th off New York closer
Edwin Diaz to finish the Nats’ scoring for the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Hellickson pitched his usual efficient 5 innings,
allowing just 2 runs. (An error by Victor Robles, who also looked shaky on an
earlier fly ball, made one of the two unearned.) Matt Grace, Jimmy Cordero,
Henderson Alvarez, and Justin Miller went an inning each to close things out.
It was a little sad to see Danny Espinosa, who played with the Nats
from 2010-2016, lead off the bottom of the 9th for the New Yorkers.
(He grounded out to second.) Now 32 years old, Espinosa is in the Mets minor
league camp and has just 2 hits in 29 at-bats this spring.
Best points about First Data Field – lots of covered seats (so you’re
unlikely to be sitting out in the bright sun or rain), good pizza, friendly
staff
Worst points about First Data Field – narrow concourse, long concession
lines (so get your lunch early), hard-to-read scoreboard (dim red lights for
most of the critical items)
Traffic exiting the field winds up in two lines, which are forced to
turn either left (the way most people come in, with lots of slow traffic) or
right. I wound up in the “turn right” line, which did feature periodic
directional signs for I-95. I finally realized that these were sending me to a
different interchange, north of the usual one (and thus farther away from West
Palm Beach). Naturally I wound up getting behind a school bus, stopping for a
train at a grade crossing, and enduring a mile or two of slow traffic when a
lane was closed for road work (on the section of I-95 that I normally wouldn’t
have even been on). Other than that, traffic was smooth until I got to West
Palm Beach, where it crawled for the last 4-5 miles (normal Friday rush hour?).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)