September 3, 2021 – Mets 6, Nats 2 (10 innings)

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/mets-vs- nationals/2021/09/03/632617#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=632617

 

Weather: 76 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 4 mph, in from LF

Umpires: HP--Diaz, 1B--May, 2B--Welke, 3B--Hoberg.

Time: 3:49

Attendance - 26,779

Seats: Section 314, Row E, Seats 1-2. One section over from our usual location, on the opposite side of the aisle.

 

Trois étoiles:

#3 – Kevin Pillar, with three hits, including a two-run double that extended New York’s lead from 3-2 to 5-2 in the top of the 10^th.

#2 – Mets relievers Seth Lugo, Aaron Loup, and Jeuris Familia, who kept Washington off the board in the 7^th, 8^th, and 10^th innings respectively, combining to allow only a single baserunner.

#1 – New York starting pitcher Rich Hill, who provided six shutout innings.

 

The Nats apparently wore themselves out scoring 16 runs in their previous three-game series against the Phillies. (OK, they also gave up 26 runs and lost all three games, but who’s counting.) They managed only four hits and two walks through the first 8 innings; baserunning blunders by Lane Thomas and Luis Garcia didn’t help. Things finally changed in the bottom of the 9^th off New York closer Edwin Diaz. Soto got things started with a first-pitch blast to left. After Bell fanned, Zim drew a four-pitch walk and Riley Adams doubled him home, advancing to third on a throwing error. That’s where the good news ended, however. With the potential winning run on third and only one out, Diaz blew away Carter Kieboom on three pitches and induced Garcia to hit a routine grounder. The Mets wound up scoring four in the top of the 10^th, sending the home team to yet another deflating defeat.

 

Zim got a nice round of applause on what was supposed to be his Bobblehead Day (explaining our presence), although the bobbleheads that were to be distributed upon entry to the game were delayed due to an unspecified “transporation challenge”. An even larger ovation came later, however, when now-retired former Nat Gio Gonzalez’s visit to the park was announced.

 

August 30, 2021 – Phillies 7, Nats 4

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/phillies-vs- nationals/2021/08/30/632691#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=632691

 

Weather: 82 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 6 mph, out to RF

Umpires: HP--Barry, 1B--Iassogna, 2B--Bacon, 3B--Rehak.

Time: 3:37

Attendance - 17,353

 

Trois étoiles:

#3 – First baseman Brad Miller, with two walks and three hits, including a 5^th inning solo HR.

#2 – The Phillies bullpen (!). The combo of Connor Brogden, Archie Bradley, and Jose Alvarado protected the visitors’ lead through the final three innings, despite allowing multiple baserunners in the 8^th and 9^th.

#1 – Bryce Harper, who ignited the Philadelphia offense with a two-run homer in the first, and singled to start their 3-run rally an inning later. (Boo that, haters!)

 

The heavily-hyped debut of the Nats’ “battery of the future” turned out to be a dud. Catcher Keibert Ruiz, making his Washington debut, did manage an 8^th-inning single in his fourth AB, but fellow ex-Dodger Josiah Gray, who had been effective in his previous Nats starts, lasted only four innings, giving up three-spots in the first and third. That proved too much for the home team to overcome, allowing Phillies ace Zack Wheeler to get the W despite giving up 4 runs in 6 innings.

Favorite Best-Of Albums: The Housemartins – Now that’s what I call quite good

In spite of being “odd birds even by English rock standards” (from the 1992 edition of the Rolling Stone Album Guide), the Housemartins may be the best band that almost no one on this side of the pond has ever heard of, a “sweet-voiced quartet whose albums blended gloriously melodic guitar pop with stridently moralistic lyrical invective. … [Their first LP] sheathes its political agenda in an almost irresistible string of melodies, casting the songs in such energetically tuneful terms that you almost don’t notice the pro-temperance message of ‘Happy Hour’ or the anti-conformity diatribe hidden within the lush harmonies of ‘Sheep’”.

 

This compilation pretty much has it all, with its 24 tracks pushing the limits of the CD medium at over 78 minutes. “Happy Hour” and “Every Day’s The Same” are the most upbeat musically; the former did get plenty of airplay on WHFS (and presumably on other similarly-progressive counterparts). “Flag Day” is the most biting and passionate, while “Caravan Of Love” and “He Ain’t Heavy” demonstrate what they could do with a capella renditions of songs originally written and performed by others; the former actually hit #1 in the UK. Despite the frequent bleakness of their lyrics, the band maintained a sense of humor: the liner notes for this compilation document the number of copies several of their singles sold in New Zealand (80 for “Sheep”), and the CD version of their first album features on its cover the phrase "16 songs – 17 hits!".

 

Trivia note: bassist Norman Cook went on to become much better known as DJ and producer Fatboy Slim.

 

Favorite Tracks:

Flag Day

Happy Hour

Caravan Of Love

Every Day’s The Same

Think For A Minute!

He Ain’t Heavy

Bow Down

Build

Hopelessly Devoted To Them

Sheep