I can't begin to explain how impressive Stephen Strasburg (not Strausburg-sorry for misspelling it the last few days) was in his debut. For those who were able to see it on TV, it was that much more incredible in person. This kid is the real deal. I took a video of his first pitched and kept it wide in fear of missing it. For those of you who have seen my amazing video on top Mt. Vesuvius, you know my photog skills. His fastballs reached triple digits with crazy movement, plus he has a nasty slider (clocked in the low 90's), has ridiculous breaking balls and a change up that drops in the low 80's. Granted it was the Pirates, but he struck out 6 of the first 9 batters then ended his night with 8 more strikeouts in his final three innings, including seven straight. Plus, after struggling to find the strike zone early in the first, he did walk a batter and threw nearly 70% of pitches for strikes. He set a Nationals record for K's in a game with 14, the second most in HISTORY by a pitcher in his debut only trailing J.R Richard (Houston 1971). And with the help of back to back HR's from Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham in the 6th and the Nats win 5-2. Dunn's homer was an upper deck bomb 416 feet. Side note: This is second time I have seen the Pirates in the last week and they have a good young player as well. Their second baseman, Neil Walker has be really impressive in both games going 3-8 with a run, RBI and SB, but also made phenomenal defensive plays in both games. Keep an eye on this 24 year old.
Pregame tailgating lacked, which was disheartening after I had so much fun the previous night in Philly. A
s far as Nationals Park goes, I was a little disappointed with a place that is so new. I think they have too many tiers making it look very tall and steep. Plus, the seats were rather uncomfortable and narrow. I felt like I was on top of the people next to me. The 40,000+ in attendance in not typical so I assume that there is a little more room during a routine match-up. The corridors were full of family activities to do but I thought the actual field/stands area lacked the personal flair that most stadiums possess, i.e. the Chick-Fil-
A cow in Atlanta, and giant Liberty Bell in Philly. Some of the cool features in the outer part of the stadium was a live band performing for a couple of hours before the game which I could hear from the parking lot, and the monuments of former Washington Senators greats. This is a cool fact-more than half the crowd will walk straight off of the street into their seats, without ever climbing elevators, escalators, ramps or stairs because the field is 24 feet below street level and the main concourse is at the same height as the sidewalk.
s far as Nationals Park goes, I was a little disappointed with a place that is so new. I think they have too many tiers making it look very tall and steep. Plus, the seats were rather uncomfortable and narrow. I felt like I was on top of the people next to me. The 40,000+ in attendance in not typical so I assume that there is a little more room during a routine match-up. The corridors were full of family activities to do but I thought the actual field/stands area lacked the personal flair that most stadiums possess, i.e. the Chick-Fil-
A cow in Atlanta, and giant Liberty Bell in Philly. Some of the cool features in the outer part of the stadium was a live band performing for a couple of hours before the game which I could hear from the parking lot, and the monuments of former Washington Senators greats. This is a cool fact-more than half the crowd will walk straight off of the street into their seats, without ever climbing elevators, escalators, ramps or stairs because the field is 24 feet below street level and the main concourse is at the same height as the sidewalk.
The President's race was a little more intense then normal. If you can see the picture, not only did the Presidents race, but also the Pierogies that race in Pittsburgh and some random guys on Segways. However it was Thomas Jefferson that edged out Teddy Roosevelt at the end.
Tomorrow up in the road to Camden Yards where the Orioles host, and hopefully beat, the Yankees.
Shoutouts:
NJ for being so cheap both with a place to stay and $13.68 cases of beer and $20 handles of alcohol. At the same time understand why they charge a $4 toll to leave NJ to Philly but to enter is no charge.
Ed Mitchell of Duke Realty for the ticket
Mike Stanton for not letting Marlins fans down in his debut tonight, however, the Marlins pitching found another way to lose.
Randoms:
114 miles, 27 songs
Song of the day: Eminem "Toy Soldiers"
Billboard on just south of Philly that was black with white print simply reading "I Hate Steven Singer" which also put the website on the bottom. Curious I wanted to know why someone would pay to advertise that they hate someone. Did Steven give them the clap? Did he cheat on someone? Turns out the website is a a marketing ploy for a jewelry company. I felt cheated.
Wondering why so many of these cities in the NE do not have turning lanes on city streets. It makes for a pain in the ass to make a left and causes immense back ups because those lanes also go straight.
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