Thursday will be my final game on this trip. It seems like I’ve been going to a lot of games, but it’s only been 9 games (10 stadiums – toured Target Field). Rain is in the forecast in Washington, DC, but I’ll take my chances with 30% chance of t-storms.
The 240-mile drive north from Salem, VA along I-81 was pretty easy for a while. There was a fog rising from the Blue Ridge Mountains and it made me think of any of the Civil War documentaries - I was basically driving through the battlefields. Maybe my next trip will be a Civil War Tour down through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.
About 15 miles outside of DC, traffic came to a crawl on I-66. I really thought I’d miss the morning rush hour, but at 10:30 am it was still creeping along! So I tried to avoid some of it and took the beltway all the way around from the west side of DC to the southeast corner and managed to avoid some of the mess.
After the air-conditioned comfort of The Juice Box in Houston, I was back in the oppressive heat in Nationals Park in DC. The game between the Nationals and the Atlanta Braves had a 12:35 start.
Washington has a long, but not necessarily good, baseball history. In fact, the National Baseball Club of Washington was founded in 1859.
There were two incarnations of the Washington Senators – the first moved to Minnesota in 1960 and the second to Texas in 1971. So this time around the Nationals name was resurrected and slapped on the lowly Montreal Expos franchise in 2005.
The Nationals played their first three seasons in the dumpy RFK Stadium, then moved into Nationals Park at the start of the 2008 season.
The ballpark is the first to be a LEED Certified green major sports stadium in the US and has a seating capacity just over 41,000.
Beyond the centerfield wall there’s a plaza with lots of concession stands, a team store, and three statues – Walter Johnson of the original Washington Senators...
...Frank Howard of the expansion Senators...
...and Josh Howard of the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues (many of their games were played in DC).
For the last time, I was able to purchase a great seat for a reasonable price.
There were plenty of options for lunch, but I came across a stand that had “healthy food”. Three plus weeks of BBQ, Brats and Beer guilted me into getting a turkey wrap. However…….I did manage to grab a beer. They have “good beer” beer stands all around the park and each one features a different microbrew. I saw the Dogfishhead tap at one, but passed them up since they’re from Delaware and not DC (or MD or VA). I opted for the Dominion Ale – an English Style Ale – from the Old Dominion Brewing Company. I’ve since discovered they are a Delaware brewery too. Oh well. It was good.
A woman from the Broadway show Avenue Q (which was playing in DC) sang the National Anthem and there was something about being in DC and having Service men and women in the crowd - I got a chill, pretty cool.
Chipper Jones is playing in his final season for the Braves. He's spent his entire 16-year career with Atlanta.
I didn't get to see Stephen Strasburg pitch, but I did see Ryan Zimmerman, one of the better players on the Nationals roster.
The heat was pretty bad - two people seated in front of me were taken to the Emergency Services area for dehydration. I did have two bottles of water to go with the beer! But after about four innings dark clouds rolled in blocking out the sun and the breeze picked up. While it was more comfortable, it meant one other thing…..Thunder Boomers!
The 4
th inning brought the Presidents Race, yet one more variation of the Great Sausage Race.
This one features 10 foot tall versions of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt.
The race has taken place every game since 2006 and poor Teddy has yet to put up a W.
He has appeared to win sometimes, but has been disqualified for one reason or another.
Today’s race had Abe jumping out to an early lead,
...but he forgot to turn when getting to the rightfield corner and crashed into the wall. George and Teddy followed Abe into the wall allowing Jefferson to win the race.
With the Nationals up 4-3 after the top of the 6th, the skies opened up and we had what would be a 90-minute rain delay.
Not being a fan of either team and not wanting to hang out in a crowded concourse with 30,000 smelly fans, I took off. In my mind it was an “official game” and I declared the Nationals the winners. When the game resumed, Adam Dunn homered to make it a 5-3 final, Nationals.
* photo from an earlier at bat since I was long gone by this time.
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