This evening was the first game in a long homestand for the NL East leading Washington Nationals, with the contending Central division opponents, the St Louis Cardinals coming to town off a beating from Pittsburgh where they were shut out the last two games. The good news for St Louis was that they scored a run in this game ...
This is my third trip to Washington to see the Nationals play. The first was several years ago now in the rust-bucket RFK Stadium, which was truly an appalling experience, but at least I avoided scraping my knees on the rusty bolts. The second was in 2009 in the new ballpark which was so much better, despite the performance of the team. Now, they have a team worth watching - the atmosphere at Nationals games is so much improved over my last visit here. Strasburg is an exciting pitcher, who sadly I won't see this year as he pitched early in the week and is next due to go on Sunday, and Zimmerman the pitcher, due to pitch on Saturday so I won't see him either. However, Bryce Harper is an exciting player who I did see...
This was my first opportunity to see Bryce Harper, Washington's exciting teenage rookie, in person. He hit two home runs yesterday, and today he did not disappoint. Leading off the bottom of the 1st inning, Jayson Werth walked and then Harper hit a line drive homer into the right field bullpen for an instant 2-0 lead. Werth led off the third with a single, and then Harper slammed a ball to deep centre where much to everybody's disappointment, it was caught - up against the wall where the 402ft marker is. However, the cheers he gets every time he comes up to bat are incredible, even when he makes an out.
Later in the game he made a great over the shoulder catch as he raced back towards the wall, too.
The Nationals just kept adding on one and two runs at a time, and the Cardinals looked destined to be shut out for the third straight game, until all of a sudden, their 28 inning stretch of offensive futility came to an end on a throwing error by Washington's Ryan Zimmerman who airmailed a throw into the stands, allowing an unearned run to score. The game finished 8-1.
This is my third trip to Washington to see the Nationals play. The first was several years ago now in the rust-bucket RFK Stadium, which was truly an appalling experience, but at least I avoided scraping my knees on the rusty bolts. The second was in 2009 in the new ballpark which was so much better, despite the performance of the team. Now, they have a team worth watching - the atmosphere at Nationals games is so much improved over my last visit here. Strasburg is an exciting pitcher, who sadly I won't see this year as he pitched early in the week and is next due to go on Sunday, and Zimmerman the pitcher, due to pitch on Saturday so I won't see him either. However, Bryce Harper is an exciting player who I did see...
This was my first opportunity to see Bryce Harper, Washington's exciting teenage rookie, in person. He hit two home runs yesterday, and today he did not disappoint. Leading off the bottom of the 1st inning, Jayson Werth walked and then Harper hit a line drive homer into the right field bullpen for an instant 2-0 lead. Werth led off the third with a single, and then Harper slammed a ball to deep centre where much to everybody's disappointment, it was caught - up against the wall where the 402ft marker is. However, the cheers he gets every time he comes up to bat are incredible, even when he makes an out.
Later in the game he made a great over the shoulder catch as he raced back towards the wall, too.
The Nationals just kept adding on one and two runs at a time, and the Cardinals looked destined to be shut out for the third straight game, until all of a sudden, their 28 inning stretch of offensive futility came to an end on a throwing error by Washington's Ryan Zimmerman who airmailed a throw into the stands, allowing an unearned run to score. The game finished 8-1.
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