Day 357/365 - See You Next Season

For a good portion of the baseball season, this is my home away from home. This is my seat at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. Tonight the Nats were facing the New York Mets in their final home game of the season. I stayed in my seat for the first few innings but then I got up and walked around the park, watching the game from different areas and angles.

I was trying to absorb as much as I could before the long, dark winter that is the offseason. Not to mention hitting up all my favorite concession stands one last time. Objectively speaking, the outcome of tonight's game was absolutely meaningless. Neither the Nats nor the Mets were fighting for a playoff spot. Both teams have had terrible seasons and the Nats had already wrapped up the worst record in all of baseball (and earned the accompanying first overall pick in the draft).

But for the Nats players and their fans, tonight's game meant a lot. A victory would seal the three-game sweep of the hated Mets and let everyone go home feeling good after a Hindenberg of a season. Going into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Nats were down 4-2 and were facing the Mets' multimillion dollar closer Francisco Rodriguez. Also known as "K-Rod" due to his propensity for striking out opposing batters, Rodriguez set the single season save record last year.

But the Nats' batters didn't give a damn about K-Rod's reputation. They loaded the bases and drove up Rodriguez's pitch count to nearly 40. Then, Adam Dunn drew a walk to force in a run. Down 4-3 with two outs and the bases loaded, Nats outfielder Justin Maxwell strode to the plate. He worked the count full, fouled off two pitches, and then with the crowd on its feet cheering him on, he hit a walk-off grand slam to seize the win.

It was AWESOME. Let's go Nationals! I'll see you next season.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 318/365 - Hammering

It was raining again at Nationals Park tonight. The Nats aren't going to set a record for losses this year (thank heavens), but it's starting to look like they may set a record for rain delays. If it weren't a bobblehead night, I probably would've just stayed home.

It was though, so I ventured over to the ballpark, picked up my Frank Howard bobblehead, bought a Jesus Flores t-shirt from the team store, had a beer and an order of chili cheese fries to counteract the salad and diet Snapple I had for lunch, and then gave up and came home.

It was raining when I left the ballpark and still raining when I got home. Hang on, let me check and see if they've gotten around to starting the game yet...

Yikes! It's the second inning and Milwaukee is ahead 7-0. So much for turning on the tv to watch the game. I originally intended for the title of this post to be a bit of a play on both the rain coming down and the blistering Frank Howard's statue at Nats Park is giving the ball in the photo above. Now I guess it's also a reference to what's happening to the Nats on the field. Bummer.

I'm not really sold on this statue or its two brethren (Walter Johnson and Josh Gibson), btw. They're all done with the same "motion tracking" style. Big Frank's statue is supposed to capture his swing and give a sense of energy to what is typically a very static art form. It's a good concept and all, but it really just makes him look like the six-armed bastard child of a Hindu deity with seaweed clinging to his bat.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 304/365 - Bobblehead Night at Nats Park

Tonight the Nats had their first bobblehead night of the season. They gave away Adam Dunn bobbleheads and if that wasn't reason enough to leave the ballpark happy, they also beat the Arizona Diamondbacks to secure their seventh straight victory. I believe that may be their longest winning streak since the inaugural 2005 season when they won ten in a row. Be still my beating heart -- the Nats are actually playing winning baseball.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 300/365 - Sweet!

This was the helmet sundae (chocolate-vanilla swirl with hot fudge) I had at the ballpark tonight, where the Nats came back from an 0-4 deficit to beat the Marlins for the first time this season! And to make matters even sweeter, this is Day 300 of my 365 Project. Only a little over two months left to go. I've only got to hang in there until October 8th and then I'll be done. Whew!

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 287/365 - Rockin' the Red Loft

Our office, including our summer interns, headed out to Nationals Park tonight to catch the game against the Mets. We got there about 90 minutes before first pitch and hung out in the Red Loft bar drinking and gabbing. It was a fun night out and it got even better when the Nats beat the Mets 3-1!

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 269/365 - Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day, everyone -- from a guy born and raised in a town named Independence. I'm not going to any cookouts today, but I did have a hot dog, beer, and cheeseburger at the ballpark this afternoon. I love going to Nats games on the Fourth of July. The national pasttime should always be played in the national capitol on the national birthday. Period.

To make things even better, the Nats pulled off a 4-run comeback in the bottom of the 8th inning today and hung on to beat the Braves 5-3. Now if I can just manage to get some decent shots of the fireworks tonight it will be a perfect Independence Day. Fingers crossed...

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 253/365 - At New Yankee Stadium

It was a simple plan: take a day off work, train it up to NYC, catch the Nats afternoon game against the Yankees at their new ballpark, train it back to DC, and get to bed in plenty of time to go to work the next day. So much for the plan.

It was pouring down rain in the Bronx when I got to new Yankee Stadium. That led to a 5 1/2 hour rain delay. I nearly threw in the towel and went home a couple times, but I stuck it out. I passed the time until the game started seeing Monument Park and the Yankees Museum, walking around the stadium, browsing the team store, reading, listening to my iPod, napping in my seat, and having lunch (a hot dog and order of cheese fries) and dinner (two big slices of cheese pizza).

And then the game finally began and it all turned out to be worth the wait as the Nats beat the Yankees 3-0 and took the series 2 games to 1. The new Yankee Stadium is a nice ballpark, apart from the outfield section which seems a bit half-ass and unfinished. It's a pretty good place to watch a game and I much prefer it to the Mets new ballpark.

After the game I headed to Penn Station to catch the train back to DC only to discover that the last train of the day left 45 minutes earlier (at 10:00 p.m.) and the next train didn't depart until 3:00 a.m. So much for going to work the next day. With no other real options, I bought a ticket for the 3:00 a.m. train, wandered up to Time Square, had a couple cups of coffee and a ginormous slice of cheesecake, and tried to come up with something to do to pass the time for the next 4 hours.

To be continued...

(Taken with my Nikon D90)

Day 246/365 - No Beer Goggles Needed

The Nats actually won! It had been so long since that happened that I had forgotten what it was like to be happy at the end of a game. And there wasn't even a rain delay. Go figure.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 154/365 - Weary Wednesday

Today was my follow-up appointment at the dentist's office. She drilled out and replaced three old fillings and then filled two new cavities. Plus they took a mold of my teeth for a mouthpiece thing I have to wear at night. Apparently I grind my teeth. It took about two and-a-half hours all together. My jaw is sore from being pried open that long and my gums are sore from all the pressure that was placed on my teeth.

My teeth themselves feel fine and they certainly look a lot better. The dentist used tooth-colored filling material and it seems weird now to open my mouth and not see my old silver fillings at the back. Plus she was able to spackle over the tooth toward the front of my mouth that was missing a sizeable chunk off the side, so now I shouldn't have to worry about any more bits of it crumbling away. No more food getting caught in the gap, either.

Evidently I have a good tolerance for pain. The dentist said she could count on one hand the number of male patients she's had who didn't flinch or squint when she shoved the needle into their gums to benumb their mouths (and that was after she'd already deadened the surface of the gums a bit with a topical anesthetic). Women patients hardly ever flinch at that, she said. I didn't react when she jabbed me with the hypo, so she told me I could take a shot like a woman. I did grunt a couple times though when she was using the drill and she got fairly deep in the tooth. She just backed out, gave me a couple more shots, waited a sec for it to kick in, and then went back to work.

The photo above is from the centerfield gate at Nationals Park. I was a bit early for my dental appointment, so I stopped by the ballpark on the way and peered through the gate (there were some men working on the centerfield restaurant) and pressed my face against the glass of the team store (it was completely empty) like a hungry man searching for a morsel of food. Less than a month left now until the home opener! To make things even better, the word is that President Obama has agreed to throw out the first pitch. I'm betting I'll enjoy that much more than the two times I saw his predecessor throw out the first pitch, and astronomically more than the year Vice President Cheney filled in.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)