October 13, 2016 (NLDS Game 5) – Dodgers 4, Nationals 3 – Nationals Park

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/206007428/dodgers-beat-nationals-in-nlds-to-go-to-nlcs/

 

Attendance: 43,936

Game Time: 4:32 (!)

Weather: 67 degrees, clear

Wind: 11 mph

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

Seventh-inning stretch song: We’re Not Gonna Take It – Twisted Sister

 

Highlights – Nats took a quick lead in the bottom of the second, when Murphy singled, stole second, and scored on an Espinosa single … Max held LA scoreless until the seventh, pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth … after the Dodgers took the lead with 4 in the top of the seventh, the Nats rallied after the stretch, cutting the lead to one on a leadoff walk by Espinosa and a pinch-HR by Chris Heisey

 

Lowlights – in the bottom of the sixth with two outs, Nats 3^rd-base coach Bob Henley attempted to score Jayson Werth from first on a Zimmerman double (He was out. By a lot.) … Scherzer’s only pitch in the seventh was hit out of the park by Joc Pederson … 5 Nats relievers (!) allowed 3 more runs before the inning was over, keyed by a pinch RBI single by Carlos Ruiz and a two-run triple by Justin Turner … LA put closer Kenley Jansen in the game with one on and none out in the bottom of the seventh … after Jansen walked two in the bottom of the ninth, Clayton Kershaw came in after pitching into the seventh inning two days earlier to retire Murphy and last-man-standing Wilmer Difo to end Washington’s season, losing yet another first-round series despite having home-field advantage

 

Other – Livan Hernandez got a nice round of applause for throwing out the first pitch … in typical Nats fashion, they ran out of paper towels in one of the men’s rooms before the game even started, and ran out of pizza on the upper level in the fifth inning … we all booed the “last call” announcement for Metro in protest of WMATA’s decision not to extend the midnight closing time … game lasted 45 minutes longer than September’s Springsteen concert … getting out of DC seemed to take forever; it was past 2am when we finally got back to Westat

 

 

The GOP’s venomous charlatan

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-trumps-vile-candidacy-is-chemotherapy-for-the-gop/2016/10/10/73e40f30-8f05-11e6-9c85-ac42097b8cc0_story.html?utm_term=.18774f9ead40

 

Very seldom am I a fan of George Will’s political columns (as opposed to his baseball columns, which are fantastic), but I did enjoy this one.

 

Question: Is DJT on his way to taking down more people along with him than anyone since Samson? (Please forgive me for mixing Trump and a Biblical reference in the same sentence.)

#131 Home Is Where The Hatred Is – Gil Scott-Heron (1971)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtzlFO19m3k

 

Although I’d heard a few Gil Scott-Heron cuts (“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, “Johannesburg”) back when they came out, I didn’t become aware of this one until Kanye sampled it for “My Way Home” on his Late Registration album. (In case you’re wondering, I bought that album because another one of its tracks, “Hey Mama”, sampled “Today Won’t Come Again,” by folk singer-songwriter and WAMA Hall-of-Famer Donal Leace.)

Shuffle #93 (October 11, 2016)

Rocket Love – Stevie Wonder

Black And Blue – The Secret Sisters

Dreams – Fleetwood Mac

America – Simon & Garfunkel

Tobacco Road – Lou Rawls

I’m The One Who Loves You – The Impressions

When My Time Comes – Dawes

Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) – Martha & The Vandellas

October 9, 2016 (NLDS Game 2) – Nationals 5, Dodgers 2 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/205513796/nationals-even-nlds-after-game-2-victory/

 

Attendance: 43,826

Game Time: 3:55

Weather: 62 degrees, sunny

Wind: 8 mph

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

Seventh-inning stretch song: Jump – Van Halen

 

Highlights – Nats catcher Jose Lobaton turned the game and series around with a 3-run homer in the bottom of the fourth (after ending an earlier bases-loaded threat with an inning-ending double play and dropping a throw at the plate as LA scored its second run) … Daniel Murphy had 3 hits and a walk, driving in insurance runs in the fifth and seventh … Trea had two singles, a stolen base, and a run scored … Roark was not at his best but limited the damage to 2 runs in 4.1 innings … 5 Nats relievers blanked the Dodgers on 1 hit the rest of the way

 

Other – first inning was déjà vu all over again, as Seager hit a solo homer for LA and all 3 Nats batters fanned in the bottom of the frame … enjoyed an early lunch at the “Budweiser Brew House” (fish tacos, pizza, wings, hot cider, and hot chocolate) … the sun made it surprisingly comfortable during the game in the upper level, despite windy conditions on the field … not sure whether official crowd figure counted the many pigeons that decided to attend … our chauffeur won the Designated Driver of the Game drawing; we all chuckled when his prize turned out to be a Nationals beer stein … game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but they decided to postpone it about 5 minutes after we arrived (we had expected a delayed start but not a postponement)

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