I went along to this game half an hour early, saw President Jefferson on the concourse and got into the air-conditioned club area as soon as I could after picking up my free NATIONALS WONK t-shirt. I went along to the carvery today and had what is, basically, a beefburger but constructed with freshly carved sirloin of beef with lots of fresh vegetables and chutneys. I make it sound like a kebab, but it was actually high quality and really nice and filling, just what I needed.
Some of the inter-inning entertainment here wouldn't have been out of place in the Generation Game, I feel. For example, the Sausage Toss game with two competing teams of two people, where one person has a bucket stuck on their head (open side up) and the other has to toss sausages into the bucket from a distance, with the winner being the team with the most sausages in the bucket in 20 seconds. The saner entertainment included the famous Presidents' Race, which is always a fan favourite.
Thankfully, it had cooled down a bit by game time (7pm). At first pitch, it was only 35C/94F! Now, sitting back in my hotel room at 11pm, it's still 32C/90F outside and everybody seems to be wilting. Luckily, my room is a nice 20C/68F, and the water+ice I put in the fridge is still nice and cold.
The optimists in the media thought that St Louis getting that unearned run last night to break their scoreless inning streak at 28 could be just what they needed to kickstart their offence and that with Wainwright on the mound they had a real chance tonight ... but Washington chased him in the third inning after scoring 6 and Gio Gonzalez pitched a gem of a 5-hit complete game shut-out against them, as the Nationals blanked them with a final score of 10-0.
There was more excellent defence tonight, too. Adam LaRoche took a difficult ball on the half-volley that had been flipped over by pitcher to record a close out. Bryce Harper was involved in many of the runs scored, as last night, and grabbed the final out to finish the game. But he wasn't the player of the game tonight - that honour went to Gio Gonzalez as that was his first career shut-out. The post-game procedure in Washington is for the player of the game to be interviewed on the field for TV, which is also shown on the big scoreboard. The key arrangement here is that the TV host stands on the left looking at the player and past him into the dugout, whilst the player is on the right looking at the interviewer and out to left field with his back to the dugout ... which means he can't see his "friends" coming. Half way through his interview, Gio suddenly found himself wearing a large Gatorade bucket over his head as well as its contents. It's imperative that the TV host and crew doesn't give the game away, as they can see what's coming, and the TV host did a good job of not jumping out of the way until it was too late.
This was very funny. The interview continued, and then the surprise custard pie arrived too! The best bit was how the interviewer forged on with more questions whilst Gio was trying to towel himself off and recover some dignity. However, I think he'll take it - after all, these are the things that happen when you put in a special performance, and that's what I saw here tonight.
The Washington Nationals team is highly dangerous with or without Stephen Strasburg and I can see no reason why they shouldn't win the NL East at a canter. Atlanta is going to have to pull off something extraordinary to catch them in the final month of the season.
The optimists in the media thought that St Louis getting that unearned run last night to break their scoreless inning streak at 28 could be just what they needed to kickstart their offence and that with Wainwright on the mound they had a real chance tonight ... but Washington chased him in the third inning after scoring 6 and Gio Gonzalez pitched a gem of a 5-hit complete game shut-out against them, as the Nationals blanked them with a final score of 10-0.
There was more excellent defence tonight, too. Adam LaRoche took a difficult ball on the half-volley that had been flipped over by pitcher to record a close out. Bryce Harper was involved in many of the runs scored, as last night, and grabbed the final out to finish the game. But he wasn't the player of the game tonight - that honour went to Gio Gonzalez as that was his first career shut-out. The post-game procedure in Washington is for the player of the game to be interviewed on the field for TV, which is also shown on the big scoreboard. The key arrangement here is that the TV host stands on the left looking at the player and past him into the dugout, whilst the player is on the right looking at the interviewer and out to left field with his back to the dugout ... which means he can't see his "friends" coming. Half way through his interview, Gio suddenly found himself wearing a large Gatorade bucket over his head as well as its contents. It's imperative that the TV host and crew doesn't give the game away, as they can see what's coming, and the TV host did a good job of not jumping out of the way until it was too late.
This was very funny. The interview continued, and then the surprise custard pie arrived too! The best bit was how the interviewer forged on with more questions whilst Gio was trying to towel himself off and recover some dignity. However, I think he'll take it - after all, these are the things that happen when you put in a special performance, and that's what I saw here tonight.
The Washington Nationals team is highly dangerous with or without Stephen Strasburg and I can see no reason why they shouldn't win the NL East at a canter. Atlanta is going to have to pull off something extraordinary to catch them in the final month of the season.
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