So the last road trip for the Nationals did not go too well.  They were on a 5 game losing streak when they arrived back at Nationals Park to play the New York Mets.  We headed out to the game last night hoping for a win and ended up seeing something that supposedly has not happened in a game since 1955! 

Thankfully traffic was not too bad and we were able to arrive at the park early, have dinner (Five Guys, yum!) and get to our seats in time to see Paula Deen throw out the first pitch.  I just love her, she is so cute and funny and she was a great sport hamming it up with Screech before delivering the ceremonial first pitch.

Both starting pitchers were doing well; Livan Hernandez for the Nats and R.A. Dickey for the Mets.  There were no hits, no runs for the first three innings.  Then everything changed in the 4th inning!  Angel Pagan hit a shot to center field that Nyjer Morgan was unable to grab, and he was home before Ivan Rodriguez could tag him.  That guy is fast!  It was his second career inside-the-park homer and was exciting to see in person, even if he does play for the Mets   Fortunately, the Nats were able to score two at the bottom of the fourth and take the lead.   

Then a crazy thing happened in the fifth.  Guzman hit a drive to center field with Hernandez on second and Morgan on first.  I guess it looked like it was going to drop, because both baserunners took off.  Here is where Angel Pagan comes in again.  He makes the catch, overthrows the ball to second, the catcher grabs it and throws to Jose Reyes who touched second base and then threw to first base.  And just like that, the inning was done.  Everyone was shocked, having just witnessed a bizarre triple play!   According to mlb.com, Pagan became the first player since the Phillies’ Ted Kazanski in 1955 to hit an inside-the-park home run and help turn a triple play in the same game.

The Mets tied it up at the top of the sixth.  Then thanks to a sacrifice fly by Kennedy, a triple from Guzman and a single by Zimmerman, the Nats had a three-run seventh inning and ended up winning the game!

It definitely was a fun game to be at.  I was worried about NatsBaby making it through a night game on a school night, but she did pretty well and enjoyed herself!

I’m really hoping the Nats can get another win against the Mets tonight.  We are back above .500 so we just need to keep winning.  Let’s Go Nats! 

Well, my husband surprised me with a wonderful gift this weekend, tickets to the Nats game on Mother’s Day.  And these weren’t just any tickets, they were tickets for seats located three rows behind home plate.  I have always wanted to sit in the President’s Club section, so you can imagine how excited I was to receive this gift!

So my husband and I, along with NatsBaby of course, headed to the park on Sunday to watch the Nationals play the Marlins.  The Nats just had an incredible win against the Marlins on Saturday, when the go-ahead run was walked in after Adam Dunn was hit by a ball with the bases loaded.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day and we were looking forward to another great game!  Since the seats included an all-inclusive buffet, we got there early to enjoy it, and we were not disappointed.  Complimentary in-seat food and non-alcoholic beverage service is available too (which we also took advantage of).  And you get great views of the Nats’ batting cages and the post-game press conference.  If you want the most incredible ballpark experience, check out Nationals Park’s Premium Seating Options.         

And check out the view from our seats:

As we had hoped, it ended up being a great game by the Nats.  Livan Hernandez pitched well through seven innings giving up only one run, a solo homer by Hanley Ramirez in the sixth.  Unfortunately he did not get the win as Florida tied the game with another run in the eighth.  But thankfully that was the only run scored.  And Tyler Clippard is now 6 – 0 for the season.  Can you believe it?  Then Josh Willingham blasted a solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.  When I read this morning that his mom had asked him to hit a home run since he did it last Mother’s Day, my heart melted.  She must have been so proud! 

So it was the perfect Mother’s Day for me, spending it with my two favorite people, watching the Nats win another game.  But how exciting also to see that major league baseball got its 19th perfect game on Sunday thanks to the Oakland A’s Dallas Braden.  The fact that he did it on Mother’s Day and in honor of his mom who he lost when he was in high school just makes it an even more amazing story.  What a great day for baseball and Moms

This is turning out to be a wonderful season.  I returned to my blog just in time!  I just can’t wait until our next game.  Let’s Go Nats!
 

NatsGirl is back!  I know that it has been a while since I updated this blog.  But at the end of the 2008 season, our beautiful baby girl (NatsBaby) was born, and she has been keeping me pretty busy ever since!  We did introduce her to our favorite sport last season and attended a handful of games, which I think she enjoyed, but I just never got around to updating my blog.  And quite honestly, last season was so disappointing, I just never had the heart to. 

Here is our first family photo at a Nats game:   

Now, to this season…

My family and I headed to the day game on Saturday.  It was our first game of the season and we were pretty excited to get back out to the ballpark.  The Nationals were playing the Dodgers, the last time we saw them play, we were in Los Angeles!  And they had just had a great first game of the series, thanks to Adam Dunn’s two homers on Friday night.

Clayton Kershaw was on the mound for LA, which was interesting, because when we saw the Dodgers play in LA two years ago, it was actually his Major League pitching debut.  Kershaw pitched for six innings, allowing 11 baserunners, but only two runs were scored; Washington just kept leaving men on base.

The game ended up being a heartbreaker for us, even though the Nationals fought hard through 13 innings.  There was a baserunning mistake by Nyjer Morgan that ended up costing us, but we played pretty good baseball.  Craig Stammen pitched a nice game despite allowing a two-run homer at the top of the 2nd inning.  The Nats had 14 hits, played great defense including some outstanding catches by Willie Harris, but at the end we just couldn’t get the runs in.  The Dodgers ended up winning 4 – 3.

Fortunately, the Nats went on to win Sunday’s game against the Dodgers, so we remain at .500, which is so exciting!  Usually we have dug ourselves into a hole at this point and are never able to catch up.  It is so fun to have a competitive baseball team in Washington right now.  We need to get more fans out to the games to support our team.  And we just need to keep this up.  Let’s Go Nats!

So, we ended up having two games on Labor Day weekend, Sunday vs. Atlanta and Monday vs. Philadelphia.  The Nats had just won five games in a row, sweeping the Dodgers plus Guzman had hit for the cycle in Thursday’s game, so we were pretty excited about heading back to Nationals Park!  On Sunday, it looked like Atlanta was going to get the win.  The Nationals were down 4-3, when Ryan Zimmerman singled and Elijah Dukes walked.  The bunt sign was on for Aaron Boone, but he ended up fouling the ball away on the first pitch.  So, Manny Acta took the bunt sign off and let Boone swing away.  He ended up hitting a home run sending Zimmerman and Dukes home with him!  The Nats ended up winning the game 8-4, sweeping the Braves and making it six wins in a row! 

Monday’s game was even better!  We had all four of our season tickets, so my Dad and brother joined us at the game.  It was a 3:05 game which was perfect, because we had more shade shielding us from the hot sun.  Unfortunately, we were surrounded by Phillies fans, but the Nats did a great job of keeping them quiet!  They were especially unhappy when they saw that the Mets had won their game.  But I will take the Mets over the Phillies winning the National League East any day.  Mets fans aren’t quite as annoying as Philly fans!

So, about the game…It was all Washington until the sixth inning.  The Nationals had a 6-0 lead and Tim Redding had pitched a no hitter.  In the top of the sixth, things started to go Philadelphia’s way though.  Redding was removed when the bases were loaded, and our bullpen was not able to help much.  But thanks to our offense, Redding was able to get the win, making it his tenth for the season.  The Nationals beat the Phillies 7-4, taking our winning streak to seven in a row! 

The Phillies did end up winning the next night, but we took two out of the three games to win the series.  Things haven’t been going as well in Atlanta these past few days, but we still have two games left in that series.  But Zimmerman has an 11-game hitting streak going on right now and the team’s morale seems to be back up, so I am looking forward to seeing a lot more wins in September.  Let’s Go Nats!    

So, we ventured out to Nationals Park on Thursday for the last game in our series against the Mets, of course hoping that this would be the one we won.  They had just been shut out 0-12 the night before, so it was bound to be a better night, right?  Well, it just was not to be for the Nationals once again.  I consider myself a fan through thick and thin, but it is getting pretty depressing attending these games.  Although the weather was wonderful on Thursday night, so we tried to enjoy finally being at a game where we weren’t sweating to death!

Right-hander Collin Balester was pitching for the Nats.  He gave up five runs on four hits and was able to pitch deep enough into the game to give our bullpen a little break.  It was really in the last three of his six innings pitched when he started to struggle.  Balester just had a tough time throwing strikes, so of course the Mets went to work on him.  And former Nat Brian Schneider hit a two-run homer in the fifth.  It was so sad seeing him in a Mets uniform!  I think this was the first game we had been at with Ryan Zimmerman back in the lineup, so at least we were happy to see him playing again at third base.

The Nats’ offense struggled most of the game against left-hander Oliver Perez. It wasn’t until the seventh inning that Washington scored, scoring three runs in the bottom of the inning off the Mets’ starter. 

We seemed to have the momentum for a bit, but then the Mets were able to get the momentum back in the top of the ninth inning by scoring four runs off our closer Joel Hanrahan.  Two runs were scored on a throwing error by Bonifacio at second base.  So, it was another tough loss for a team that is surely having morale issues.  Since we were swept by the Brewers and the Mets, we have been swept by the Rockies. That makes 10 losses in a row.  Yesterday was the Nats’ day off, so hopefully they will be rested and ready for their road trip to Philly!  At this point, all we can hope for is that we don’t finish the season as the worst team in baseball.  Let’s Go Nats! 

We attended the last Nats game before the All-Star game on Sunday.  The Nats were playing the Astros, and each team had won one game in the series, so we were hoping the Nats would take the Sunday game and win the series.  Unfortunately, things did not go our way again.  We were shut out by Houston as they beat us 5-0 and gave the Nats their 60th loss for the season.  Brandon Backe just pitched a great game for the Astros.  The Nats couldn’t get anything going offensively against him, and we struggled when we did have runners in scoring position once again.  But, it was still a fun game, as baseball games always are!  Plus we got to see Miguel Tejada play again.  He was one of my favorite Orioles players until he was traded to the Astros.

And Austin Kearns was back in the lineup, yeah!  Now if we can just get some of our other injured players healthy and playing again, we might just be able to turn this season around in the second half.

And of course, I just have to add how exciting the All-Star festivities were this year.  Watching Josh Hamilton hit those record 28 home runs during the first round of the home run derby was unbelievable!  I would have liked to have seen him win it, but no one is going to forget his performance that night.  And then the game on Tuesday was just so much fun.  I really thought that the National League would finally take it, but of course the American League prevailed once again!

Okay boys, the break is over.  I hope that you are rested and ready for the second half.  Let’s start by beating those Braves tonight.  Let’s Go Nats!  

I definitely have been a bad blogger for the past month, but I have been in a baseball funk since our Nationals have been struggling so much.  I know that we are a young team and it will take time to build this franchise.  But, it has been disappointing watching loss after loss.  And the injuries that have been plaguing our team have certainly not been helping!

Darren and I did make it to two games in June.  That is usually the best month for baseball, but the hot humid DC weather seems to have arrived a little early this year.  We saw the Giants play the Nats at the beginning of June.  It was Garrett Mock’s Major League debut.  He was doing pretty well until the fifth inning when he walked three batters and forced in a run.  Reliever Saul Rivera did not help the situation by allowing a two run-scoring hit and handing Mock his loss.  The Giants ended up scoring three more runs that game to beat the Nationals 6-3.  It had all started so well too with Lastings Milledge hitting a solo home run in the first inning, but alas it was not to be our day!   

Of course, we did still enjoy our hot day at Nationals Park and alternated between our seats directly in the sun and the cool air-conditioned Red Porch, which also allows for great views of the field.

Our next June game was against the Baltimore Orioles.  Since our Beltway Series game at Camden Yards was rained out, I was looking forward to seeing the O’s play the Nats in Washington.  There is always a great crowd when the O’s come to town, and both teams provided their fans with a good game.  Nationals right-hander Jason Bergmann had an excellent outing, pitching seven innings and only giving up one run on six hits.  But Ronnie Belliard was the hero of the game with his walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning.  Thanks to Belliard the Nationals defeated the Orioles 3-2.  With the Nats taking two out of three games that weekend, the Nationals and Orioles ended up in a 3-3 tie for the Battle of the Beltway.  We will take it!

We are heading back to Nationals Park this Sunday to see the Astros play the Nats, so I will try to stay positive that we will be able to start winning again!  Zimmerman took batting practice yesterday, so hopefully he will be back soon to help our offense.  Until then, here is Tom to get us pumped up and excited for the next game.  Let’s Go Nats!!!

Anyone who knows my husband Darren and I knows that we are huge baseball fans.  One of our goals is to visit each ballpark together, so each season we try to cross a few more off of our list.  This year we planned a trip to Los Angeles to visit my brother and sister-in-law, and we strategically planned it so we could see both the Dodgers and the Angels when we were there.  On Sunday, the Dodgers were playing the St. Louis Cardinals, and we had gotten tickets in the outfield in the “all you can eat” section.  This was a good plan, because not only did we have great seats, but we could eat all of the famous Dodger Dogs that we wanted!  Dodger Stadium is a classic ballpark, built in 1962, and it was returned to the stadium’s original colors in 2006.  There are pretty amazing views of Los Angeles there, and it was exciting for us to visit, because the Dodgers were celebrating their 50th anniversary in L.A.  The weather started out looking pretty gloomy, but fortunately soon turned nice for the game.     

It was a great game!  The Dodgers had called up Clayton Kershaw from Jacksonville, so Sunday’s game was his Major League pitching debut.  His first start was impressive with him striking out seven batters in six innings and giving up two runs.  The Dodgers were ahead when Kershaw left for the dugout, but the Cardinals rallied for a run in the seventh inning, and the game ended up going into extra innings.  The “Boys in Blue” did not let us down though with Andre Ethier getting a two-out run-scoring hit in the tenth inning.  It was so fun finally seeing a game at Dodger Stadium and pretty exciting to see Joe Torre there too.  I am not a Yankee fan, so I am very happy that he is a Dodger now, since I have always really admired him!

Monday was Memorial Day and it turned out to be beautiful weather.  The Angels of Anaheim were playing the Detroit Tigers, and we had club seats for this game.  Angel Stadium is a newer ballpark, since it was renovated in 1998, and it is a really nice stadium!  There are dugout-level suites and incredible landscaping.  We got there early so we could walk around, and it was a very impressive stadium.  Our seats were good too.  We were in the outfield again and had some pretty nice views, especially of the terraced bullpens.  The service in the club section was great and we were able to eat something besides typical ballpark food, which was a good idea since we had stuffed ourselves full of hot dogs and nachos the day before!

It was an interesting game, not a typical one for an American League game, because there were no runs throughout the entire game.  The Tigers and Angels were both 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.  Jon Garland was pitching for the Angels and he was able to keep the Tigers pretty quiet for the 7 1/3 innings he pitched.  So, the game went into extra innings.  The Angels kept up the good pitching and defense and were able to make it to the bottom of the 12th inning.  With the bases loaded, Garret Anderson was walked by Bobby Seay, sending Maicer Izturis home.  It was not quite as dramatic a win as the day before, but winning is always a good thing!

So, now it is time to focus on our Nationals again.  We will be at the game against the Giants on Sunday.  I am so sad that my two favorite players are on the disabled list.  Austin and Ryan, please heal quickly, we need you on the team!  In fact, it seems like half the team is injured right now.  Boy, do I hope that things start improving, or we will never move out of the bottom of the National League East!

Every year, interleague weekend falls on my birthday weekend, so we always plan to go to one of the games in the Beltway Series.  This year, the Nats were playing the O’s in Baltimore, so I was looking forward to heading out to Camden Yards.  As much as I love the new Nationals Park, Camden Yards will always hold a special place in my heart.  It is such a great ballpark!  We arrived there about an hour early to walk around and check things out.  Unfortunately, it was pouring rain, so we knew there was definitely going to be a rain delay.

We waited for an hour during the rain delay, eating, drinking and watching the Brewers/Red Sox game.  Since it looked like the rain was not going to let up any time soon, we decided to head home.  I was so bummed because we had great seats and I knew that the Nats would pull out a win this game after losing the last two.

Of course traffic was miserable for the ride from Baltimore to Reston, but by the time we were close to home, the second hour of rain delay was over, and we were able to listen to most of the game on the radio.  John Lannan pitched an incredible game!  He pitched into the seventh inning and only gave up one run on four hits.  Christian Guzman and Ryan Zimmerman helped him out too.  Guzman hit a nice home run in the third inning and Zim drove Lopez in with a RBI double in the eighth inning.  So, the Nats did end up winning 2 – 1.  We are going to one of the games when the Orioles come to town at the end of June, so I will just hope to see another winning game then!