Take Me Out to the Ball Game ...

About a month ago, when I was still in Maryland, HWMBO and I had the opportunity to visit Nationals Park in Washington, DC, home stadium of the DC Nationals baseball team.  The park is very new, having opened in 2008.  In fact, the DC Nationals are a very new baseball team.  So this was to be our first visit.  Enjoying the evening with us were Son J and Daughter K, here posing with HWMBO and one of the program vendors.

It had been years since I had attended a baseball game.  Usually my baseball visits have been confined to those of the Baltimore Orioles, whose stadium, Oriole Park, is also very beautiful and was opened in 1992, just two years before HWMBO and I moved abroad.   The Orioles are a legendary home team and, before moving to Oriole Park, played at the old Memorial Stadium, the site of many of legendary plays, both by baseball greats and the football greats who played for the former Baltimore Colts, rehoused in Indianapolis after being moved away from Balto in the dead of night by a person who is still anathema to the entire Baltimore community.  Unfortunately, I believe that I may have jinxed the Orioles (known more commonly as the "Os") one year when they were still playing at Memorial Park.  I attended the opening game of the season with HWMBO.  The Orioles lost.  That was clearly a harbinger of the rest of the season.  They lost so many games that year that it got to the point where fans didn't even root for the team to win anymore - they had one of the longest losing streaks ever and that was a record in itself!

So, it was fun to see the various activities going on pre-game, with a few famous historical characters moving through the crowd,

and the Nationals' mascot prowling along the stands.

The park itself was gorgeous,

with scoreboards keeping track of all Major League action that night.

We discovered that the young starting pitcher was making his first Major League appearance that evening, having just been called to Washington from a Minor League team in New York state.

Until he got into some trouble around the fifth inning, he had struck out most of the other team's hitters.  He himself had also hit a home run with a couple Nats on base, so he was responsible for three of the Nationals' scores that night.  As it turned out, even though he did get into trouble and had to be relieved, his performance was good enough to give him the win, as win the Nationals ultimately did.  They did so in style, coming from behind in the bottom of the ninth and scoring the winning run.    All in all, it was a very good game, and we all enjoyed it from excellent seats, just behind the Nationals' dugout.

It was a fun experience and I am glad that I was there to share it!