Reds prevent being swept by the Nats on Barry Larkin's birthday

Today is Barry Larkin's birthday.  If you don't know who Barry Larkin is, you don't know anything about baseball.  I'm from Ohio, and the Cincinnati Reds play an hour away from where I grew up.  My "first team" was the Reds.

Today the Reds wrapped up their series against the Washington Nationals, and today the Reds won (i.e. preventing a sweep).

It wasn't the most exciting baseball game.  I was late to Nationals Park and by the time I left the Diamond Lounge (i.e. with a full plate of food) the Reds were up 2-0.  Ummm, ok.  Hoping that the Nats would rally back I sat through the rain and some horrible Nats pitching.  Ross Detwiler (i.e. who usually comes through for the squad) wasn't able to get it done.  Don't even start me about Henry Rodriguez's speed and complete lack of accuracy...  At least, I didn't have to see Tyler Clippard on the mound today...  Ugh...

The Nats are off to battle the Atlanta Braves on Monday, and Stephen Strasburg will be on the mound.


THE WIRK

Nats defeat the Braves, 5-4, after 13 innings

I caught the Atlanta Braves v Washington Nationals game on Monday August 20th.  I'd flown back from Singapore, thrown my bags in my apartment, and walked out the door to meet Kathy (aka the world's biggest Chipper Jones' fan) so we could head to the ballpark.

Comfortably seated about 4 rows behind the Braves' dugout, we noticed that they were postponing the start of the game for rain, so off to Ben's Chili Bowl we went.

As we waited by a condiments station for the rain to stop, we witnessed a man reach into the onions to put some on his hotdog.  COME ON, PEOPLE!  If you can't get the onions or any of the condiments to dispense, you DO NOT reach your hand into the ingredient(s).  So gross.

The Nats rookie, Bryce Harper, and the Braves veteran, Chipper Jones

Once the rain stopped and before the start of the game, we settled back into the seats.  Quickly the Nats took a 4-1 lead at the end of the 1st.  Kathy didn't seem worried.  After the amazing comeback from a 0-9 deficit (i.e. at least I think that's what it was) in the last game we attended, I'm sure Braves' fans everywhere weren't scared.

Yes, the Braves rallied and the game was tied at 4 after 5 innings.

In what seemed like a marathon game that ended after midnight (i.e. on a night when I had just flown 24 hours) it seems like everyone was exhausted.  The Nats' bullpen was exhausted, and I was exhausted.  I would've closed my eyes a bit, if I could've, but the thought of getting pegged by a foul ball was enough to keep me up and aware.  ****  Incidentally, the man on my left, picked up a foul ball that was hit our way, after the people in the rows behind us couldn't snag it! 

Nats celebrate Espinosa scoring and the win by a score of 5-4

Chipper Jones heading to the bullpen at the end of the game

It took 13 innings, but Chad Tracy hit a single and Danny Espinosa scored to put the Nats up 5-4.  The Nats earned the victory, and I snagged some great pictures!


THE WIRK

Braves defeat the Nats 11-10, after 11 and Chipper Jones sets 3B RBI record

Friday, I casually pinged my friend, Kathy, to see if she wanted to go to the Washington Nationals' game.  I figured that the odds were good that she'd go, since she's a huge Chipper Jones fan.  Sure enough within about 20 minutes we had tickets to the game behind the Nat's dugout.  She chose that location so she could look into the Braves' dugout!!

Anyway, around the 5th inning and with the Nats up 6-0, the rain started.  It wasn't the torrential downpour that DC has been getting used to, but it was heavy and misty enough that we abandoned our seats and planned to watch the balance of the game on the concourse.  We should've only been standing for about 4 more innings and the Nats should've ran away with the victory, right?  Right?!?!

Wrong.

After 5 complete innings the Nats were up 9-0.  The game should've been over, right?  Right?!?!

Wrong.

As we stood on the concourse, and I ate my Dippin' Dots, Kathy kept rooting for her Atlanta Braves.  She kept saying that the Braves had terrible pitching, but that they could hit.

Stephen Strasburg was the Nats' starting pitcher.  It was his birthday.  He should've walked away with a Nats' victory, right?  Right?!?!

Wrong.

Chipper Jones and the Atlanta Braves played some exciting, amazing, extra-inning baseball to win with a score of 11-10, after 11 innings of action.  Closer to the 9th inning, Kathy and I settled in on the Braves' side of the field and she could hear "her people" (i.e. fellow Braves' fans doing the famous tomahawk chop and chant).  She was on "Cloud 10", until the Nats tied the game after 9 innings.

If you want the box score and/or the play-by-play, you're going to want to hit ESPN.com or another sports website. 

Aside from the score, here's your Chipper Jones' fun fact of the game:  Jones is now the all-time leader in RBI's for a third baseman with 1,598.  I was there.  I saw it. 

THE WIRK

Yankees defeat the Nats in the 1st game of a 3 game series

I know this blog has been quiet lately, because I've been in and out of the country.  Now that I'm "back", lately I've been focusing more on baseball than basketball since I can't stand the thought of the LeBron James and the Miami Heat winning the 2012 NBA Championship...  Come on Oklahoma City Thunder!!!

OK, enough of that.  Back to the point of this post.

Did you know that the New York Yankees hadn't played the Washington Nationals in DC since June 2006?!?!  Those games were played at RFK Stadium.  No wonder people were buzzing...

I have a lot of friends in the DC area who are Yankees' fans and this series was all they could talk about.  When I was playing on the Nationals' ticketing website, I spotted a pair of good seats behind home plate slightly towards the 3rd base line...  Who doesn't want to be closer to A-Rod?!!?  Let's be real.  Alex Rodriguez is much better looking than Derek Jeter.  Needless to say, I grabbed the seats as fast as I could and called my Jetah-loving friend, Teri, to let her know we were golden!

I went to the game, thinking that the Nats would play better than they did.  I was also excited to finally see Bryce Harper play.  Unfortunately, I can't remember him doing anything memorable at the game...

The AL East leading New York Yankees came to DC and beat the NL East Washington Nationals by a score of 7-2 on Friday night, and I was hooked.  After the game I went straight to the ticket window and picked up a ticket in the PNC Diamond Club for Saturday's afternoon game.  ****  If you haven't been to the Diamond Club yet, I think you should go.  It's a great place to watch a game and reasonably priced if you go there hungry and thirsty! 

Hope you enjoy the pictures!