10 odd things about a Nats game
Good-looking August we've got here. Join us as we step back in time.
After months of delays, dating back to even before her move to town, friend Melissa and I made it to the Nats. The hometown boys beat the Cards, 14-5. But this much was normal. Let us chronicle the oddness.
Looks normal, right? No. Not at all.
1) Two interference calls that were never explained to people in the stands. I'd never been so confused, twice, at a ballgame. Wash Post:
"Home plate umpire Dan Belino called Desmond out for running outside the baseline. That prompted Riggleman to come onto the field for a lengthy discussion. Radison had been expressing his displeasure with the call to first base umpire Rob Drake and was tossed along with Olsen, who had been protesting from the dugout."
… "The Nationals turned the game into a laugher with six runs in the bottom of the eighth that included a two-run homer by Bernadina and a two-RBI double by pinch-hitter Willie Harris. During that outburst, another unusual call surfaced when Nyjer Morgan was out at home because Ivan Rodriguez pushed him back to the plate. Morgan initially had missed the plate, but another player is not permitted to touch a base runner."
2) An upper-deck marriage proposal, using strangers several rows up.
3) This was the first time Melissa had been to a Nats game, and she thought Teddy had a shot. I had to break it to her. #letteddywin
I promptly tweeted Teddy's loss. Replied friend Lisa G: "One of these days you're gonna leap the fence, throw Teddy over your shoulder, and begin the most glorious sprint of your lifetime." It could happen if we get desperate. Replied friend Lindsay J: "Teddy is the Moonlighting effect of baseball. When he wins, the team will move to Vegas."
4) Bruce Hornsby, of all people, was on the Jumbotron. Organist/fake organist plays The Way It Is. 5) A large child or small drunk man runs repeatedly behind first row and manages to start the wave around the stadium. 6) Directly below us, two different people take foul balls to the head. Medics are slow to arrive. People freak. My family sits in that section on Labor Day. I don't tell them. 7) The moon looks great, but either a memory chip or I screw up my phone. The below photos are actual size. 8) I discover the fireworks room and am deeply tempted.
9) We experience The Bullpen. 10) Nats beat Cardinals by so much.
September 8th, 2010 at 10:37 PM
But if Teddy and the fat kid/old drunk guy went head-to-head in a footrace, who would you vote for? That's a really tough call.