First Ladies of Baseball

Posts from the “The Experience” Category

Before it’s too late

By on October 11, 2012

Once again I could make an excuse about being a terrible blogger.  I could apologize for not posting my September predictions.  For not posting anything really at ALL during the month of September.  For not having the time to acknowledge the amazing things that this team has done (other than clinching the postseason back on September 20).

Instead I’ve been at games – doing the thing I promised I was doing instead of posting.  I’ve been a fan – eating hot dogs, drinking beer, cheering myself hoarse, high-fiving strangers.  I’ve still been taking lots of pictures and thinking critically about this team, but without the pressure of “How will I write about this for the blog?” I’m able to enjoy this last and sweetest part of the season, and everything amazing that has happened all year long.

I promise to do more later.  There may be some catch up posts with links to pictures if I ever get them from my computer to our picture site.  For now – have this one.  It’s totally out of focus.  But I think it expresses a little bit of the exuberance that was palapable even from the “cheap seats”.  The Nats are going to Game 5.  They’re still in it.  The season isn’t over yet…and I think they can do it!

 

Fans First

By on September 3, 2012

Hey guys -

Apologies on not posting anything for a while. But Ashley has been busy with an upcoming move that is taking up a lot of her time…and I have no excuse.

But really, what we’re feeling like now goes like this: we are first and foremost Nationals fans. We haven’t stopped going to games just because we haven’t been posting. I am sure none of you thought that, but I wanted to clarify. So, what has kept us from posting? Well – have you seen this team? If you haven’t, why are you reading this blog? Seriously though, I think we’ve both been so caught up in the fever of being excited fans this season, that it makes it hard to force yourself to sit down and write? Why sit down and upload a whole mess of photos, when instead you could go to a game, or sit and watch the game on TV?

Because every game is now must-see. Today, our Nats won game number 82 of the year. They’ve achieved their first winning season as a Washington Franchise, the first winning season Washington has seen in baseball since 1969.  And there are still 28 games to go – things can only get better.

We’re just going to sit back and enjoy it – but we promise to get back to blogging when we can.

Nationals at Braves, 7/1/2012

By on July 2, 2012

Ashley’s down in Atlanta for the week, so she took her brother to Turner Field to watch the Nats take out the Braves. It was a brutal summer day (official game temp was 101), but with lots of water, ice cream, and a win, the day turned out to be fun.

It’s hard to come into another stadium and be the lone fan cheering for your team. Ashley’s done it before in college, but it’s different when you grew up with the home team and have become a traitor (according to the brother). The tomahawk chop was still going strong, and the Braves uniforms haven’t changed in years. However, Ashley stuck to her guns and cheered when the rest of the crowd booed.

There were a lot of things that made this game great, but what really stuck out to me was how the overall game experience was so much better than going to a game at Nationals Park. Let’s go through a few of them:

1) Parking – it took us less than 30 minutes to get door to door. The Braves stadium is about 3 miles further away from home than Nats Park, but parking is available right at the stadium and there wasn’t crazy traffic. Yes, we went on a Sunday afternoon during a holiday week, but traffic has been so bad in DC on a weekend that we’ve turned around before. Parking was $10 in advance (plus fees) or $15 in cash.

2) Seating – the seats at Turner Field are slightly steeper, which means that you’re closer to the field. We sat in the 200s, which would be like an upper 100s seat. However, because of the way the seats were situated, I felt like we had a better angle on the field. Turner field holds about 49,000 (vs 41,000 for the Nats), but it didn’t feel like the stadium was bigger. Also, our seats were in the shade the entire game (for a 1:35 start).

3) Concessions – the food seemed of better quality (including a lot of local restaurants) and was cheaper. My brother got basic chicken tenders, which were delicious (even on a HOT day) and only cost $7. I grabbed a small cup of ice cream – $3. And my small had two scoops crammed into it. It was also Mayfield, which elevates it to a whole other level.

4) Season Ticket Holder (STH) Perks – wow, this really showed a difference in the two parks. The Braves had a lounge area set aside for STHs, and all STHs get 33% off concessions all year. It made me want to snap up a season pack.

5) Music – when visiting batters step up to the plate, the Braves organist tries to play something special for them. On Sunday we got “Send in the Clowns” for Harper, OUT spelled out in morse code for Morse, and “Never Gonna Give you Up” (by Rick Astley) for Ankiel. If you ever make it to a game in Atlanta (or are watching on TV), you can follow @bravesorganist on Twitter to give suggestions or find out what he’s thinking for our boys.

6) The Big Screen – in between innings, the music and videos definitely had a Southern flare. I had forgotten just how much I like country music in fact. The best thing they did though was show a montage of clips from a game last year where the Braves rallied back from 4 under to tie, and ultimately win, the game. “We did it before, and we can do it again…” was the basic theme, and then led into the tomahawk chop. I think that’s a great way to motivate the fans.

Overall, the game was one of the more fun, relaxed baseball outings I’ve had in a while. I didn’t realize how much Nats games actually stress me out. Dear Nationals, please take a look at this and try to find ways to make your game experience better. I felt like I was there to watch baseball, not there to make money for the owners. Even if the Braves had won, I still would have had a great day.

(Just to be fair, the one thing the Nats do better is cameras. I can bring an 8 inch lens to Nationals Park, but only a 5 inch lens to Turner Field. Hence, no awesome telephoto pics this time.)

Full album is here.

June 15, 2012: Nationals vs Yankees

By on June 20, 2012

I didn’t think I was going to make it to the Yankees series.  But I had a little luck on my side – Ashley and her husband were out of town for a wedding, and my brother was their dog sitter.  As part of his payment, he received baseball tickets, so I obviously begged to be his date for the game.  Being a generous young man, my brother acquiesced.  How nice!

Of course, after that game, maybe I didn’t want to see the Yankees.  And no – it wasn’t because I was going to see Gio again.  It was because the Nationals played some piss-poor baseball defense.  They’d played so well in Boston and Toronto, sweeping both of those teams, but the team that showed up in Washington this past Friday was not the same team.  Maybe it was the toll of playing hard to close things out for 6 games, or maybe they’d had too good a time at the ZiMS benefit the night before.  Whatever the reason this past weekend was not great.

Things were decently close for 6 innings.  But then after allowing 1 runner to reach at the top of the 7th, Gio was pulled in favor of the recently-returned-from-the-DL Brad Lidge.  Lidge did very little of use – he walked 2, and allowed a single that put the Yanks up by 2.  In 1/3 of an inning, he allowed as many earned runs as Gonzalez did in the previous 6 innings.  CRAZY.  Everyone sitting around me complained, and when I heard later in the weekend that Lidge had been DFA’d, I was not surprised.

I wish that this post were the kind where you know that our team won the next game, so there was no reason to be sad.  But as of the writing, the Nats have not won since.  They’re still more than 10 games over 500, but considering how well they’ve been doing, and how they’ve got guys back in the lineup, you’d hope they’d do better.  How many times can I use the word “they” or a contraction thereof in a sentence?  Apparently 4.

ANYWAYS.  Nationals.  Baseball.  It’s June 20.  It’s officially summer.  Enjoy the good baseball times, be sure to drink lots of water, and put on your sunscreen, or you might end up like this lobster which tackled Teddy!

Full photo set here.

June 2, 2012 – In Which We Make a Choice

By on June 8, 2012

Last Friday night was a rainout.  Stephen Strasburg was supposed to pitch, so for whatever reason, they decided to just shift his start to Saturday instead of skipping him in the lineup and having Gio Gonzalez pitch like he was supposed to.  This was VERY exciting for me.  I’ve had the “luck” this year of so far only seeing two of the Nationals – Gio and Edwin Jackson.  They’re both fantastic pitchers, and I’ve really enjoyed the games I’ve been to, but there have been 4 other guys taking the mound in the first inning, and I wanted to see someone else.  Seeing Strasburg would be a cherry on that cake.  I called Ashley, invited her to come with me, and said I’d pick her up at 2:30, with the expectation that we’d park my car at 3 or 3:15, get to the ballpark by 3:30, and buy ourselves some $5 beers before heading up to my seats.  This was not to be.  Traffic along the 270-spur and the beltway delayed my arrival to Ashley’s house until 3:10.  We got on US-50 (because every other route into the city was clogged) and made our way towards 395…only to be greeted with standstill traffic when we reached that on-ramp.  We looked at traffic on Google Maps, listened to WTOP, and tried to make a detour through Arlington.  We called my mother, and it was at that time (4:00pm) that I made the executive decision that I wasn’t going to sit in traffic for potentially hours to miss the game, and not even see Strassy pitch.  We would make alternate plans.

And so, it was with a heavy heart that Ashley and I drove back towards her apartment, but along the way, Ashley had a great idea.  If we couldn’t watch the game in person with cheap beer, we’d watch it on tv at a bar with GREAT beer.  So that’s how we ended up at Mad Fox Brewing Company in Falls Church.  If we couldn’t be at the game, this is where we wanted to be.  We enjoyed fantastic brews, amazing bartenders (who were sympathetic to our plight), and great people surrounding us at the bar who were interested in talking about the Nats.  Ashley was as happy as it was possible to be in our situation.

I was not.  In fact, I was so sulky, that as I drank my Diabolik Belgian Strong Ale, I kept a list of all the things that made me sad that I wasn’t at the game.  Here is that list:

  • Michael Morse returns (along with the return of a-ha’s Take on Me as his fantastic at bat music)
  • Strasburg (we’ve already discussed this)
  • Beautiful day (probably the most obnoxious part of listening to the radio broadcasters was how many times they reiterated that it was beautiful, perfect baseball weather)
  • Zim in tall socks (we are suckers for this particular uniform choice)
  • Harper crazy eyeblack (from the TV it looked like it was worthy of high-school Harper)
  • Flores home run (I love to jump up and high five everyone around me)
  • Game time 2.5 hours for a win!!! (because 1) it’s a win, and 2) it’s short enough where you can still do stuff in the evening)

So that’s our excuse for not having a gamer for the June 2 game.  Do you think we made the right choice?  Has anyone around here ever sat in crazy traffic for hours for a Nats game?  Are there situations where I would have waited?  Sure – if it were a playoff game.  But it wasn’t.  Speaking of the traffic – does anyone know what caused the city-wide standstill on Saturday?

PS (top photo is honor of today – the 2 year Strasiversary!  Photos from that game here)

4 Comments

May 21, 2012: Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners

By on May 30, 2012

So, last week I was in Seattle for a conference for work. It was a good conference, and Seattle is a nice town.  Too bad the humidity, wind and rain do not agree with my headaches.  Fortunately, I was there for just long enough to experience a beautiful clear night, and even more luckily, that night coincided with the evening I’d chosen to attend a Mariners game.

First off – Safeco field is close to downtown.  If the weather had been nice, I might have considered walking since it’s only about a mile away.  Since it was initially a little wet out, I decided instead to take the light rail, which was super convenient.  The stadium station is fairly close, and it’s easy enough to follow the crowds towards the field, which looms over you along with CenturyLink Field (the football stadium).

I walked up to a ticket counter (fact: I’m not great at negotiating, and thus avoided the scalpers), and had a nice chat with the lady at the ticket counter about where to sit for how much money I was interested in spending.  I was trying to decide between the 1B/RF side, or the 3B/LF side, and the ticket lady recommended 1B/RF because I would get to see Ichiro closer up, and the first baseman (Justin Smoak) was younger and cuter than the third baseman.  Little did she know that I was very interested in seeing Dustin Ackley (the second baseman) because he is a product of the UNC baseball system (and I’m a UNC grad!).

Anyways, on the recommendation of Cheryl Nichols (of District Sports Page) who is a Mariners fan alum, I decided to visit the Mariners Hall of Fame (history museum).  It was really interesting to see the development of baseball in the Northwest, and to see the arrival of the Mariners in 1977 – especially since it’s the 35th anniversary season for the team!  Even funnier – the team was doing a 1950s throwback night the next Saturday where they would wear jerseys for the former Seattle Rainiers.

I grabbed some sushi (on Cheryl’s recommendation) – a Seattle Roll which included some really tasty smoked salmon on top.  I made my way to my seat and was quite pleased with myself.  I had a whole bunch of seats empty in front of me (ideal for photography), and was close enough to the action where everything wasn’t in super-zoom-mode.

I got to enjoy a fun pre-game – the Mariners moose was very energetic and ran around the field with great enthusiasm.  A pre-game contest challenged a family to collect 30 jerseys in 5 minutes that were scattered across the outfield and to put them on the youngest family member a boy of about 7.  They managed to collect…18 (I think?), which meant they all won free t-shirts.  If all 30 jerseys had been worn, everyone in the stadium would have been entitled to 10% off jerseys in the team store.  This is a promotion I could get behind!  On the downside, since the Mariners are playing in a stadium that opened in 1999, they are dealing with late 90s display technology, and their video screen is quite small.  It makes me appreciate the abilities of NatsHD and the video and graphics it can display.

As for the game – I got lucky again (not just with the weather!).  Considering the fact that the Rangers had the best record in baseball, and that they had the highly coveted Yu Darvish pitching, things were remarkably lopsided in Seattle’s favor.  Ichiro really started things off by cracking out a triple.  It would not be his only appearance on base, and I got the feeling that Ichiro really wanted to prove that he was the star from Japan to all his visiting fans, and not the recently imported pitcher.

And Ichiro wasn’t the only one playing well.  Pitching for the Mariners was “King” Felix Hernandez was pitching and he was SPECTACULAR in 8 innings of play.  7 strikeouts with just 2 walks.  He was well deserving of the enthusiastic fan base that cheered loudly for him from the left field corner.  They were perfectly matched in bright yellow.  They had the requisite large cardboard heads of players/people that appear at every sports game in recent history.  Every time he got to 2 strikes, they pulled out their K-cards and called for the K.

I really wish I could share more pictures.  Mariners baseball was a lot of fun, and being a National League fan, it was neat to not have a dog in the fight.  I rooted for the home team because it seemed more polite.  I chatted with the local fans who sat next to me about their team and what I should know, and since I was wearing my DC hat, they asked about the Nationals, who are a very hot topic, even on the West Coast.

Kids – get out to ball parks across the country.  The Nats may be our team, but this is our game, and it’s fun to see how it’s played in different regions and to experience all the flavors that our national past-time can produce.

Full album here.

May 18, 2012: Nationals vs Orioles

By on May 26, 2012


Ah, the Battle of the Beltway.  There is nothing like a manufactured rivalry between regional teams to get your hackles up.  At least, that’s how things were in the past.  Both teams were abysmal on a continual basis, which made any kind of rivalry merely a sad competition between who would be the most pathetic that week.  But this year, things were different.  Both the Os and the Nats were sitting at the tops of their respective divisions (and near the tops of their leagues) when they met this year.  A stunning occurrence.  What had once been an opportunity for MASN to show the baseball game on two networks was actually meaningful!

Things did not start out well for the Nats.  Edwin Jackson pitched a great game, but in the first inning, he walked Xavier Avery, allowed Nick Markakis to double (sending Avery to third), and when Adam Jones singled the Orioles scored, putting them up by 1.


Things stayed pretty quiet for a while – the score was 0-1 until the bottom of the sixth when Ian Desmond sent a homer over the left field wall to cheer up the Nats fans.  This run gave us all a chance to breathe and hope that the game would turn out well for the Nationals.

But by the time we reached the bottom of the 9th, nothing more had happened.  And this is not to blame the pitching.  Jake Arrietta lasted 7 innings for the Orioles, and Edwin Jackson went 8 for the Nationals.  Since I haven’t followed the Orioles other than seeing final scores, I can only assume that they have the same occasional droughts in offense that the Nationals do.  Because it wasn’t until the 11th inning that Nick Markakis hit a homer to break the stalemate.

Since it was getting late at that point, I started moving towards the exit, watching the game as I moved towards the exit.  It was at that point that I encountered either the most digusting or most obnoxious Orioles fan I have ever encountered.  At the top of the 11th, with his team in the lead, he yelled loudly, “Don’t **** this up idiots!”  Now, that’s not so bad, but when the Orioles got two outs on a double play, he decided that was the moment to grind against the railing with such force that people at the far ends could feel it shaking.  I continued to cheer on the team as they put two men on base (yay Bernadina and Zimmerman), but then choked with LaRoche at the bat.

And that’s where we see the theme – there weren’t a lot of innings where players got on base, but when they did, they were usually stranded at the end of the inning.  This is a problem.  The Nationals need to work on their offense like you wouldn’t believe.  Occasionally they get outbursts like they showed on the Sunday night game against the Orioles (their only win of this Beltway series), the May 5 game against the Phillies and the May 14 game against the Padres, but more often than not it’s heart attack time until the 8th or 9th inning.  If the Nats want to be the team to watch for the rest of the season, they need to break out on a more regular basis.

While the Nats are out of town, I’m going to share a special American League Baseball experience that I had later in the week, and then we’ll close out the month with an evaluation of the May Predictions, and with any luck, I can convince Drew to do a June prediction post too!

Full album here.

May 16, 2012: Nationals vs Pirates

By on May 22, 2012

We’ll start off this post with an apology: there are posts to be posted, and we haven’t posted them. Life gets in the way. In this case, I have been the one who should have been posting, and I’m currently out of town (and yet, writing this), but the hope is that being out of town may also give you some interesting stuff to read. Curious? Look for a post later in the week that will explain things. For now, we’ll go back 5 days to the Nats’ first game against the Pirates on Wednesday. As a note – I was at the game with my brother and due to a decision to keep score – all photos are taken by him (using my camera).

And there’s nothing like watching the offense work together when things are going well. We got to witness Bryce Harper hustle out his first MLB triple, and then watch as Ryan Zimmerman sacrificed to bring him home and give the Nats the early lead (spoiler alert: they never lost it). It’s good to see the Face of the Franchise working with the Young Gun to make big things happen.

We got to see home runs. LOTS of home runs. There was Ian Desmond leading off the third with a solo shot. And then in the sixth, we got to watch Adam LaRoche and Xavier Nady hit back-to-back bombs.

Later in the game, with the bases loaded, LaRoche would hit a 3-RBI double to earn his 1000th major league hit. Great stuff.

And while the Pirates kept up and were within 1 run for most of the game, everyone on the team played their part to close things out for a curly-W.

On a personal note – the fact that it was Military Appreciation night was special for me. In addition to my brother, my younger sister joined us for the game. She’s been in the Navy for 5 years now, and loved being able to come see her hometown Nats for free (and having an excuse to wear the camo Nats cap)! Spending a perfect night for baseball with my siblings is about as nice a thing as anyone could ask for.

Full photo set from this game can be found here.
And thanks to my bro for playing Jimmy Olsen to my Lois Lane. :)

May 5, 2012: Nats vs Phillies (Natitude Weekend)

By on May 22, 2012

This past weekend was about Natitude. What is Natitude? Well, let’s do a photo essay as a demonstration of what it is based on who has it. Before the game started, warming up in right field, Jayson Werth was confronted with a crowd of Phillies fans who had bought tickets near him with the sole intent of taunting him during the game. What was his response? A tip of the cap. That’s Natitude. Follow that up with a three-run bomb in the bottom of the fifth. Extra Natitude. :)

Who else? Let’s go with the player of the player of the game – Gio Gonzalez. Not only did he pitch seven solid innings, he had a double in the fifth and scored on Jayson Werth’s home run. The best part is seeing Gio smile at his offensive success. Good stuff.

Natitude also means an offensive bonanza. Not only did we get the Werth homer, but we got one from Desmond…

And another from Chad Tracy. The long ball executed multiple times against a hated division rival is SERIOUS Natitude. So much so that it meant that it got the Nats a 7-1 win. Well done!

And it wasn’t just the players. This game was on Cinco de Mayo. In Section 135, this fan in the custom sombrero (a party-store spray-paint job) showed some serious Natitude in leading the crowd with their cheers.

Full face paint means you’re full of Natitude.

And even the kids have the spirit. And just because the official Natitude Weekend is over, that doesn’t mean we can’t keep packing the park as fans and showing our support for this team. We’ll see you back at the park next week!

Full album here.

1 Comment

May 4, 2012 – Nats vs Phillies

By on May 22, 2012

On Friday, Drew and I headed down to Natitude Park to watch the baseball game. Yup, Natitude Park. Every reference inside the stadium, from the scoreboard to the directional signs, had been changed for the weekend. Totally cheesy? Absolutely. Useful? Well, as of right now, the Nats are up 2-0 in the series.

Although I definitely saw Phillies fans, there certainly weren’t as many of them as there have been in years past. They also weren’t able to dominate the stands. We had a rowdy group sitting in our section, and although they tried, they couldn’t get any cheers to catch on. There were just too many Nats fans!

But how was the baseball you ask?

Well, it turned out to be a perfect night. There were scattered showers around DC all day, but they stayed away for all 11(!) inning of play. Oh, and the moon was out too.

Things were heated from the start – the first three Phillies batters were quickly dispatched, and the Nats took a turn at bat. Bryce Harper was walked, and the Phillies manager came out to argue the call. With no umpire at third to check the call at the plate, Charlie Manuel was quickly tossed (there were only three umps for the whole game – one called in sick).

After that, the umps did a decent job until they robbed us of a run in the 8th! (My untrained eyes clearly saw Ankiel safe at home).

In addition to pitching, we saw Strasburg hit a double in the 3rd. He made it all the way to third with the bases loaded before Werth struck out to end the inning. The Nats got lots of players on base, but had trouble actually get them home. Hence, it took 11 inning to get the job done.

I sincerely hope that the Nats continue to do well and can get people to come to games. It’s a different ballpark with the stands full. The high school girls behind us were especially amusing, going from “Look, it’s Harper! He’s so dreamy!” to explaining things like bunts and balks to a friend who tagged along.

Go Nats!

More pictures here.