April 10, 2022 – Nats 4, Mets 2

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/mets-vs-nationals/2022/04/10/662570#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=662570

 

Time: 3:01

Attendance: 23,158

 

We won!!!

 

Start with the pitching. Erick Fedde became the first Washington starter to complete 5 innings, holding the Mets to a pair of runs in the 4^th. The Nats’ four top relievers (Steve Cishek, Sean Doolittle, Kyle Finnegan, and Tanner Rainey) combined to blank the visitors over the final 4 frames.

 

After getting off to a relatively fast start with a Nelson Cruz homer and a Josh Bell single in the bottom of the first, the home team offense reverted to its early-season futility, failing to get a single hit in the following 6 innings off Carlos Carrasco and Chasen Shreve. Things finally changed in the 8^th, when the Nats placed runners on the corners with no outs on singles by Yadiel Hernandez and Maikel Franco. Shortstop Lucius Fox, making his major-league debut, then brought the crowd to its feet with a perfect bunt that plated the tying run. Two outs later, Cruz singled up the middle to score Fox and César Hernández.

 

The weather wasn’t the greatest – no rain, but low 50s temps and a strong wind that led me to keep my gloves on for most of the afternoon. (This may have led to some ticketholders staying away altogether, as the number of people in the park seemed well short of 20,000.) Our experiences with Nats Park concessions were actually positive, probably because we stayed away from online ordering. That was fortunate, given our lunch debacle at a well-known (and heavily patronized) sports bar across the street from the stadium. Suffice it to say we arrived around 11:30 and left shortly after 1:00, without my sandwich order making an appearance.

 

April 7, 2022 – Mets 5, Nats 1

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/mets-vs-nationals/2022/04/07/662571#game_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=662571

 

Time: 3:31 (1:16 delay)

Attendance: 35,052

 

This was not exactly an auspicious start for the Nats’ 2022 season, either baseball-wise or otherwise. Fill-in Mets starter Tylor Megill kept the home team off-balance for the first 5 innings with high-90s heat and a mix of offspeed stuff, allowing no walks and just 3 hits while fanning 6. The visitors’ top 4 relievers pitched an inning each to finish off the game, with the only damage being a massive shot by Juan Soto in the bottom of the sixth. (Three innings earlier, however, the face of the franchise fanned with runners on first and third and only one out.)

 

Washington starter Patrick Corbin, coming off two rough years following his 2019 heroics, started off well but failed to retire anyone in the top of the fifth, hitting James McCann with his final pitch to force in the first run of the game. Victor Arano did well in his Nationals debut, inducing two quick ground balls to limit the damage to one more run. The New Yorkers subsequently padded their margin by tacking on 3 more runs off Austin Voth and Andrés Machado.

 

The Nats’ defense did look solid, especially shortstop Alcides Escobar and catcher Keibert Ruiz. Ruiz was certainly the player of the game for Washington, throwing out leadoff hitter Starling Marte attempting to steal second and three innings later making a great play at the plate to tag out New York slugger Pete Alonzo trying to score from first on a two-out double. He also brought his hot bat back from Florida, doubling in the second for the home team’s first hit of the season and adding a sixth-inning single.

 

The game was originally scheduled to kick off at 4:05, but the team wisely announced Wednesday night that the start would be pushed back to 7:05, which was approximately when the day-long rain was expected to end. We left at 3:15, had a relatively uneventful drive, parked in our usual lot, enjoyed an early dinner (taco platters) at the nearby Él Bebe restaurant, and got to Nats Park around 5:45, all while staying dry. Unfortunately, the rain was not done with us; one more shower was on its way, and so the start time was again delayed, with the game finally getting underway at 8:20 after the usual Opening Day ceremonies. Of course, it was in the 50s with wind, so even without getting wet – I didn’t actually open an umbrella once all day – it was a pretty miserable experience weather-wise. And not surprisingly, given our past history, glitches abounded in ordering and paying for food, beverages, and Team Store items. (In their defense, the new clear-bag entry process went well, as did the distribution of free bags to us season plan members.) The actual crowd was well short of the paid attendance, and it dwindled steadily, pretty much in line with Washington’s chances for a win. We left at the end of the eighth and made it back in a record 27 minutes.

 

Karla Bonoff – AMP, 4/1/2022

First indoor show since the before-times! The venue continued to insist on mask-wearing, plus proof of either vaccination or a recent PCR test, so it didn’t seem especially unsafe, despite local case counts that have once again been creeping upward the past couple of weeks. No food or beverages were available, although you could bring in bottled water.

 

It was an excellent show, well worth the parking hassles (see below), as Bonoff combined high-quality material (mostly self-written) with an expressive voice and an engaging stage presence. She moved back and forth between acoustic rhythm guitar and piano, accompanied on (mostly) electric guitar by the indispensable Nina Gerber. Almost without exception, their renditions sounded even better than the more-fleshed-out studio takes.

 

Highlights included “Someone To Lay Down Beside Me,” a personal favorite of mine dating back to when Linda Ronstadt included it on Hasten Down The Wind; the upbeat “Trouble Again”; “Please Be The One,” a moody ballad that brought to mind Chris Isaak; and her lovely cover of Jackson Browne’s “Something Fine”, accompanied only by Gerber’s quiet acoustic guitar work. Both encores were also great.

 

I arrived a good half-hour before the listed 8:00 start time, only to spend 15-20 minutes fruitlessly circling (along with others) through the multi-level attached parking garage looking for an empty space. The garage across the street also had a long line waiting to get in, so I was close to giving up on the whole thing. As I was aimlessly driving out of the main retail area, however, I saw another big lighted “P”, with no line and the illuminated digital promise of many spaces available. I parked, hustled back toward the club, managing somehow not to get lost – it was now well after sunset – and picked up my ticket and got checked in, a few minutes after 8:00 but about 5 minutes before the show actually started. I spotted a pair of empty seats in the back row of the “premium” section, and quickly grabbed the one on the aisle. It appeared to be a near-capacity crowd, with only scattered empty seats.

 

Setlist