Nationals vs Reds, Nationals Park, 4/15/2012

Well I enjoyed the stay we had at the Westin which was just out of DC in VA.  I was able to get a great cardio workout in, studied for my LCSW test for an hour in the hot tub, had a few beers and had shrimp/chicken skewers in a restaraunt called Padella, they were great.  The beds were awesome too, I sunk into that and slept soundly.  When I got up I drank the good Starbucks coffee they had and started getting ready to have some redemption from the previous game.

Here I am in Reds gear in the hotel lobby.

You wana know what really got me going tho.  Let me tell you, when we took a wrong turn from our usual route to Washington D.C. and I saw the Washington Monument, damn.  Instant motivation, a symbol of freedom, the Constitution, and the American Way babe!  Even an inspiration to some to ballhawk, I was psyched.

When we got to the gates things were tense for a bit, I hadnt even purchased a ticket until we heard from a head security guard that there would be batting practice today.  Erik and I ran and got tickets, but there would be no action for quite a long time.

I noticed while Erik and I were throwing in the street a lady bug on my hand, at that point I was feeling a little more hopeful about things.

The only opportunity was to wait for the Nationals up high, real high!  While I waited for the Nats pitchers to warm up I took a pic of a part of the scoreboard that I like.

After a long time of waiting and the majority of the pitchers leaving the field ignoring any requests for baseballs, I was able to get the attention of who I thought was Ross Detwiler because thats the name I was screaming out to him from the upper deck and it was thrown to me for Ball 1, and a big relief.  I would later find out that Ross Detwiler was the starting pitcher, so that couldnt have been Ross, Eriks theory was that he may have thought I said Boss, but either way I was relieved, and alls well that ends well.

While I waited that long time to get on the board I noticed one of the fat bullpen coaches toss two balls up, right to that section above in the pic, that rolled down to the front row.  So I quickly ran down and found out I could enter there at noon.  I ran into line, and ran into the section finding one of the balls for Ball 2 on the day.  I told Erik that there was likely two in the area as we both ran in and he found the other.

The final ball I would get on the day was a fairly easy scrum of a Brandon Phillips home run in LF.  I grabbed it just as a younger girl reached for it so I gave her the easter egg game ball I had, so I would end things at three on the day.  I was happy to have gotten that given the very unballhawk friendly confines of the Nationals ballpark, I dont plan on being back here for a very long time.  I got a pic of myself in my Reds gear which helped me avoid breaking my streak from the BP toss up.

On my way out of the stands, on Jackie Robinson day, I noticed a teenager in a Ken Griffey Jr t-shirt.  Griffey is above and beyond my fav player of all time.  It reminded me that even when you have a bad game, or a bad ballhawking day, a bad anything you should be happy to be a part of the game, you should also play hard in the game, and you should always keep your head in the game.  I had to get a pic.

So that was it.

I walked out to the CF gate and took some time to check out the statues that are just inside the CF gates.  And how did I always miss these statues, cause Im always running, right past them.  Well I noticed that two of them were the Pittsburgh native Josh Gibson who played for the town that I work in, Homestead, he played for the Homestead Grays and the Pitsburgh Crawfords.  He is known by some to hit a ball out of right center in old Yankee Stadium and had 800 some home runs in his career.  Hes known to have hit home runs further then anyone, ever, and he is from Pittsburgh, baby!!

And then I took a pick of one of the greatest pitchers, Walter Johnson, Big Train.

And that was it, and like I said before.

Washington Nationals park has went downhill.

Day-3

Year-40

Career-1134, thats a creepy number!