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)