July 26, 2017 – Nats 8, Brewers 5 – Nationals Park

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/244657254/nats-rally-past-brewers-with-seven-run-eighth/

 

Attendance: 35,296

Game Time: 2:58

Weather: 84 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 8 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Chris Segal, First Base - Mike Everitt, Second Base - Jordan Baker, Third Base - Bruce Dreckman

 

Notes – Brewers jumped on top in the first on a monster HR by Domingo Santana and a second run when Travis Shaw doubled, stole third with no resistance and scored when Wieters couldn’t corral a third strike … Gio blanked Milwaukee for the next 6 innings, fanning 8 and allowing only 3 more hits and 1 walk … after being shut out Tuesday night, the Nats continued their offensive futility for most of the game against Jimmy Nelson, who fanned 10 … Murphy finally broke the spell with a seventh-inning homer … Nelson was pulled after walking Wieters to lead off the 8^th, and the Nats tied things up on a Goodwin double and Difo single … with 2 outs, Zimmerman gave the Nats the lead on a 2-run double, although Difo fell on the way home and barely managed to get there safely … after an intentional walk to Murphy, Nats extended their lead on run-scoring hits by Rendon, Lind, and Pedro Severino … in the middle of everything, Harper struck out, threw a temper tantrum and was ejected for the 10^th time in his career and the 4^th in the past two seasons … Brewers made things a little interesting in the 9^th, as Doolittle yielded a walk, homer, single, and double before finally getting the final two outs

 

Other – another long, slow drive to the park (about an hour and three-quarters), with a circuitous route to our usual parking area as the southern section of Half Street SW is now closed due to construction work on the new stadium for DC United

#154 Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet (1991)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n12OBlcHx9E

 

The quote from the CD packaging – “Don’t be afraid to play it loud!” – couldn’t be more appropriate, at least when applied to the title track from Sweet’s 1991 album. The song itself and Sweet’s vocals are great, but what really makes the track is the searing guitar work by the late (and largely unknown) Robert Quine. If you ever feel like entering an air-guitar competition, you couldn’t go wrong with this.

#153 Dark Necessities – Red Hot Chili Peppers (2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0oIoR9mLwc

Intro that gradually builds for 40 seconds. That bass line. Ominous lyrics. Best song in the Chili Peppers’ 30+ year career.

Yes, despite rumors to the contrary, rock and roll is still alive and well.

#152 Train In The Distance – Paul Simon (1983)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YUEziX25DQ

 

In commercial terms, 1983’s Hearts and Bones album is one of Simon’s least successful, both in terms of its own sales and its failure to produce a Top 40 single. It did produce my two favorite Paul Simon songs of all time: the title cut and “Train in the Distance”. I avoided choosing between them for a long time, and even then it was basically a coin flip. Simon apparently liked them as well, as he included both in his 1988 collection Negotiations and Love Songs (whose title is taken from the lyrics of “Train in the Distance”).

James Taylor / Bonnie Raitt – Nationals Park, 7/14/2017

FL 3, Row 15, Seats 27-28 (on the field, 15 rows back from the right edge of the stage)

 

Bonnie Raitt – playing with her longtime bandmates, was in fine voice and form throughout her 11-song one-hour opening set, starting with “Unintended Consequence of Love”, the best track from her most recent album … “Something to Talk About” and “Angel From Montgomery” were particular crowd favorites … Taylor, after introducing her, came back at the end of her set to join her on “Thing Called Love” … I missed “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, but she atoned by doing “Nick of Time” and Mose Allison’s “Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy” 

Setlist

 

James Taylor – Taylor and his aptly-named “All-Star Band” gave a wonderful performance, over 90 minutes prior to the 3-song set of encores, with mostly original material spanning his entire career … effective use of the huge video wall behind the band, notably mid-set on “Mexico” followed by “Steamroller” … other personal favorites included “Never Die Young”, “Sweet Baby James”, and “Your Smiling Face” 

Setlist

 

Other – we were extremely fortunate weather-wise, as it rained hard during much of our drive through the District and they kept people out of the seating areas until close to the scheduled 7:00 start, but the rain stopped for good shortly thereafter and the storms brought the temp down into the 70s … getting our wristbands was quicker than I expected, although actually getting onto the field was still a somewhat slow process

 

July 9, 2017 – Nats 10, Braves 5 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/241232082/nationals-beat-braves-in-first-half-finale/?topicId=27118414

 

Attendance: 35,030

Game Time: 3:32

Weather: 80 degrees, sunny

Wind: 9 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Bruce Dreckman, First Base - Mike Everitt, Second Base - Chad Whitson, Third Base - Jordan Baker

Seventh-inning stretch song: Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations

 

Highlights – Nats jumped out in front with 3 in the first, keyed by a 2-out, 2-run double by should-have-been-All-Star Anthony Rendon, who reached base 4 times … after the Braves tied it in the third, Washington outscored them 7-2 the rest of the way … top of the order (Goodwin/Difo/Harper) reached base 8 times and scored 6 of the 10 runs … Murphy put things out of reach with a 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom of the 8^th

 

Other – Nats starter Joe Ross gave up a 3-run homer to Nats-killer Freddie Freeman in the 3^rd, then left an inning later with triceps tenderness (and sub-par fastball velocity)

Rain? We don’t have no stinkin’ rain!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/for-nationals-the-rain-delay-that-wasnt-leaves-everyone-unhappy/2017/07/07/945dc58a-6349-11e7-8adc-fea80e32bf47_story.html?utm_term=.5f47eb009482

 

At this point, I’m sure that thousands of words have been written and tweeted about the Nationals’ 3-hour “no rain” delay this past Thursday night. Chelsea Janes provided a nice summary here, hitting on the biggest failure with the following: “The rain delay was one thing. The lack of updates was another. With no explanation about why they were not playing despite the lack of precipitation, those inside the clubhouses and out were left to wonder about the Nationals’ motives.”

Serendipity #68

Feel It All – KT Tunstall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Be2Xq_-YwQ

Heard 7/8/2017 around noon at Roti (Pike & Rose)

Comic of the Day #7 – July 5, 2017

A little blogger humor

 

http://shermanslagoon.com/comics/july-5-2017/

July 4, 2017 – Nats 11, Mets 4 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/240394836/daniel-murphy-nationals-beat-mets/?topicId=27118414

 

Attendance: 37,120

Game Time: 3:17

Weather: 84 degrees, cloudy

Wind: 3 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Carlos Torres, First Base - John Libka, Second Base - Dana DeMuth, Third Base - Paul Nauert

Seventh-inning stretch song: Living In America – James Brown

 

Section 220, Row H, Seat 17 – club level (a long story) behind first base, in the shade

 

Highlights – after giving up a homer to the first batter he faced and allowing multiple baserunners in each of the first 4 innings, Joe Ross completed 7 innings, allowing only 2 runs … Nats started scoring in the third on 2-out RBI singles by Harper and Murphy … also put up curly numbers in the 5^th, 6^th, and 8^th, notching double-digit runs for the 14^th time this season … Met-killer Murphy wound up with 4 hits and 5 RBI … Rockettes put on a short performance before the game, and another one between innings

 

Other – “be sure to drive over the white box on the way out of the parking lot”