There's something to be said about watching America's pastime in the nation's capital. that something is that it sucks. The Nationals are, not surprisingly, a league worst 48-85, well on their way to losing 100 games. Thank God I don't have any ties to this team other than that I'm a transient DC citizen.
This team is abysmal, just absolutely abysmal. Locals will tell you it's been injuries that have claimed the Nats' season, but injuries are only part of it. Part of it is the failure of highly-touted youngsters, like Ryan Zimmerman and Nick Johnson, to stay healthy and produce at expected levels. But a larger part of it is inept management. This is the team that failed to trade a red-hot Dmitri Young at his (fluky) peak last year for some solid prospects and did the same with Alfonso Soriano the year before. This isn't the place for in-depth baseball analysis -- though I'd be happy to provide links to some great sites if anyone is interested -- but suffice it to say that the Nats are awful now and have no realistic chance of being good in the next five years. I mean, my Tribe has been disappointing this year but hey, at least we've got a bright future. And this guy:
A good experience, that is unless you get screwed out of catching a foul ball by some soulless baby boomer. The ball was hit about five feet to the right of my seat up in right field foul territory, and I had a bead on it the whole way down. Hit by Russel Martin, too -- teh best young catcher in MLB. It smashed directly into this tubby boomer's aluminum bottle of Bud, which was glorious, and rolled on the ground behind his seat. Unfortunately, his grubby sausage fingers outclassed my hand as we fought for the ball. I ended up with nothing but a dirty look from him and his houndstooth jacket-clad d-bag buddy and a giant welt on my shin from slamming into the guard rail in my futile attempt. I watched him as he snapped photos of the ball and the dented beer can and texted his buddies on his two his BlackBerries throughout the remainder of the game. Whatevs. That guy probably hasn't seen his children in months, and catching that ball was the closest he's had to a real feeling since he woke up half-naked and hungover the day after graduation from law school.
But I digress from my digression. Despite the acrid play of the Nationals, a trip to the game is still well worth it. The park is convenient to get to via Metro, and it's fun watching the surrounding Navy Yard area gentrify around it. Don't let the prices scare you away from trying some of the best ballpark food around, as you actually get a pretty good deal, relatively, for your cash. Tickets are reasonable, and there are few bad seats in the house. So go check it out before the season ends. And who knows; maybe they can rattle of 30 straight and make the post-season. Though that's assuming you actually go to root for them rather than just drunkenly taunt the opposing team.
Also! Thanks to Erin for covering the DNC while I was out stuffing my face and taunting Casey Blake.
3 comments:
No problem, I find baseball hard to tolerate when I'm not thoroughly intoxicated, which is too great of an expense at Nat's stadium.
You forgot the Running of the Presidents though! Why is it that Teddy Roosevelt never wins?
Dude, as much as I love drinking, I never drink at games. Baseball represents all that is good and pure.
But yes, Teddy actually lost on purpose last night. He was wearing a Manny Ramirez doo rag, so he purposely acted like a dope and ran the wrong way.
Well Turk, please don't taunt Casey and his beautiful facial hair..secondly please tell me the Running of the Presidents is not as good as the Sugardale hot dog race when Onion always wins..haha:)
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