Baseball

Woo bloody hoo !!  I went to my first baseball game here in DC. This is my second game ever with the first being to Yankee Stadium last year on our holiday. I committed to supporting New York Yankees but, Washington Nationals 'Nats' are the local team so I have to follow the home team. Besides, there are two baseball leagues in the US and the Yankees are in the other league so I will never get to see them. The best of each league playoff at the end for the series though. So, the Yankees will keep a soft spot and be my second team but, for now, it's the Nats !! Today, they played the Philadelphia Phillies.

I went with a mate who's here enjoying the 'good time' like me and it was great. The day was raining and the game start was delayed. But it stopped raining and just stayed cold. I was very excited to get my hat - everyone has a hat ! It's amazing the number of people who come to the game - do they not work?

Everyone gets the train (metro) there and you just follow the crowd of red hats. I love the buzz in the air both before and after the game with everyone on the train. I learnt a lot about the game and was yelling and waiting to catch a flyball should one come screaming our way. Plenty of flyballs but none for us. Was praying one wouldn't hit me in the head. 

 

The game opens with the US national anthem and as always, I was left with goose bumps. They are sooooo patriotic here and rightly so.  There is all kinds of entertainment and never a dull moment. At Nats stadium, they have the racing Presidents. You can see them in the pictures above. At some stage in the game, they come onto the field and a have a running race - it's quite funny. And apparently, at EVERY ball game, in the seventh innings, they do the 7th Inning Stretch.  The seventh-inning stretch is a tradition that takes place between the halves of the seventh inning of a game – in the middle of the seventh inning. Fans generally stand up and stretch out their arms and legs and sometimes walk around. It is a popular time to get a late-game snack as well. Also vendors end alcohol sales after the last out of the seventh inning. The stretch also serves as a short break for the players. Most ballparks in professional baseball mark this point of the game by playing the crowd sing-along song 'Take me out to the Ball Game' (courtesy of wiki). The words show on the big screen and loudly we sign along. It was great.

I had to get a hotdog and it was good. There was every kind of food stand you could think of - mexican, burgers, dogs, pretzels, popcorn, crab cakes, pizza and the beer.

So the game was good. It moved at a good pace but it was zero-all until the 9th innings when the Phillies got 3 runs and the Nats couldn't score. So we lost ! For info, there is never a draw so if nobody scores after 9 innings, I think both teams keep playing until one team scores. Sometimes, this could take hours. Today's game took about 4 hours which is average.

I now have to research some terminology as there are so many names for the different ways to pitch a ball - fastball, slider, sinker, curveball and knuckle curve just to name a few. The staff guy at our seating area noticed my Aussie accent. He then tells me he loved Dundee and that he really loved Steve Irwin. He also says he loved Miss Fishers Mysteries. I never heard of it and said are you sure it's Australian - he reassured me that it was. I have since checked and now know which show it is. Later when I came back from another break he said hey again, you're the Australian, by the way I love Ian Thorpe too, we love Ian Thorpe here. He was so funny.

Well, that's about all the excitement for my mid-week post. Oh except, Trump had a big success at the latest primaries on Tues so he is getting very close to securing the Republican nomination - O-M-G !