Showers were forecast for the evening and it was hot and very sultry (never dropped below 30C all night). Fortunately the rain stayed away (as it did for me last week at Wolf Trap twice).
The game was exciting early on with Phillies scoring 2 in the opening innings, and the Nationals responding with a home run, a double and the another home run to go into the lead 3-2. A very promising start, given the Nationals have the worst record in Major League baseball this season.
As you can see, we had great seats between home and first plate and got some great views of both the pitching and batting throughout the night.
During the break between innings there's various sorts of entertainment, and one is a race between the 4 presidential mascots (George, Tom, Abe and Teddy). George won tonight.
The Nationals have only been in the DC area for a few years (were the Montreal Expos), and this is the first season in the new stadium built for them (they previously played at RFK stadium, built in the late 1960s for football, but now only used for soccer - DC United). The new stadium was built in record time using design-build, where the first section is designed and built while the next section is still being designed. Saves time and actually works.
They have retired one number - and those who know me well know the significance of this number.
Unfortunately, after 3 scoreless innings, the Phillies scored 5 runs without losing an out, thanks to some poor pitching and an error (missed pass) which caused more runs.
As you can see, it's a spectacular ground. It even has facilities such as a Playstation area and Build a Bear Workshop! But we were there for the game.
And it ended badly for the Nats again!
