August 13, 2023 – Nats 8, A’s 7

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS202308130.shtml

 

Time: 3:09

Attendance: 19,240

 

For Jeter Downs, once a highly-regarded prospect, 2023 hasn’t exactly been a banner season, divided into brief periods with the Nationals during which he seldom left the bench, and an extended stay in AAA, during which he registered a sickly batting average of .175.

 

Things changed for at least one day Sunday, when he both started (by leading off with a 6-pitch walk) and ended (with a walk-off single over the infield) the home team’s improbable 6-run 9th-inning rally to complete a weekend sweep of the (admittedly pathetic) Oakland Athletics.

 

The rally validated two well-known baseball sayings:

1.      “Keep the line moving” – as outs were precious, everyone played it safe and advanced one base at a time, except when pinch-runner Blake Rutherford scored the tying run from second base on an error by the Oakland shortstop.

2.      “Take what they give you” – in this case, 3 walks and a passed ball, in addition to the error.

 

Prior to that, not a lot had gone right for the home team. Starting pitcher Trevor Williams dug a 3-run hole for his teammates in the top of the first and wound up not making it through the 5th, taking the MLB lead in homers allowed in the process. Relievers Robert Garcia and Andrés Machado conspired to allow the final two Oakland runs in the 7th. Meanwhile, the Washington offense managed just two tallies, while stranding numerous runners in scoring position.

 

The Red Line down was less crowded than for Saturday night’s bobblehead giveaway game*, but it was noticeably slower than usual due to weekend single-tracking. I still arrived in plenty of time to have a leisurely lunch at Chopt. I can’t speak for Metro on the way back, since a couple of friends graciously offered me a ride back to Shady Grove.

 

* - I also attended the Saturday night game, but left as planned after about two hours to get a good night’s sleep prior to the Sunday afternoon game. For the record, Keibert Ruiz hit the first pitch of the bottom of the 9th out of the park to give the Nats a 3-2 win.

Robbie Robertson

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/robbie-robertson-dead-the-band-1235692172/

 

I love this quote from Robertson describing The Band’s sound: “I always thought, from the very beginning, that this music was born of the blues and country music, Southern stuff. The Mississippi Delta area, and the music came down from the river and from up the river and met, and it made something new. I always looked at that as kind of the source of the whole thing.”

 

Aside from The Band, Robertson is best known for his soundtrack work with Martin Scorsese. However, he also released a handful of solo albums. I picked up the first of these (which is self-titled); the critics loved it more than I did, but “Somewhere Down The Crazy River” is certainly worth hearing.

 

A couple of gems from the excellent Variety obituary: The Band’s second album was recorded “in the pool house of Sammy Davis Jr.’s Hollywood Hills home,” and the group “became the first American rock act to be featured on the cover of Time magazine”.

 

Favorite songs written by Robertson, performed by The Band:

It Makes No Difference

The Weight

Up On Cripple Creek

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Rag Mama Rag

The Shape I’m In

Ophelia

Acadian Driftwood

King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Chest Fever

 

Bonus holiday track: Christmas Must Be Tonight

Is it a crime to be Trump?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/03/trump-jan-6-arraignment-jack-smith/

 

Fascinating take from David Von Drehle.