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Into the seventh inning, things were looking good for the Washington Nationals in their home opener Monday afternoon against the Philadelphia Phillies. The largest crowd in the 83-game history of the place - 40,386 - came down Half Street and cheered lustily at the "opening pitch" which was not thrown by the sitting President; but by one representative of each of the five services to five different Nationals.
Opening day in Major League Baseball has certain traditions which must be observed. The visiting team must be introduced. The home team must be introduced. American flags must be displayed and aircraft must fly over.
It's all great stuff and the Nationals got almost all of it right.
Last year, the new stadium was christened by the President, George W. Bush, throwing the ceremonial first pitch. There was some confusion, earlier this week, as to whether or not the current President, Barak Obama, would do the honors. The Nationals appeared to have suggested that would be the case. The White House appeared to have no problem saying, "Not on your life."
It is not clear if the President would have made the trip had the Nats been at .500 or above, but he certainly wasn't having anything to do with an 0-6 team. Or maybe he can't throw a baseball from the pitcher's mound to home plate with any consistency.
Wait'll next year.
As it turned out the first "pitch" was thrown by a representative of each of the five services which the crowd thought was just swell and cheered for about five minutes.
(Photo: David Vincent)
The fly-over was conducted not by jet planes but by helicopters which have the advantage of being able to hold up and wait until just the right moment.
At the end of the National Anthem the helicopters appeared over the center field scoreboard and were pretty damned impressive, although there was a certain "Apocalypse Now" element to the whole excerise.
(Photo: Rich Galen)
The game itself was fun to watch. In spite of three errors and leaving the bases loaded after scoring only one run in the first, the Nats moved into the seventh inning tied 4-4.
I have watched all or parts of most of the previous six games which were on the road. The Nationals have developed a pattern of coming from behind, catching up, then allowing the other team to take away the momentum in the next inning.
When the Nationals tied the game in the fifth inning, I leaned over to my next door neighbor in the press box, Official Scorer David Vincent, and said: "If the Nationals can hold the Phillies in the top of the 6th they'll win the game."
The Nats did hold the Phillies after Manager Manny Acta made pitching changes like it was the seventh game of the World Series, not the seventh game of a 162-game season.
In the following inning, still tied at four, Manny brought in reliever Saul Rivera who hit the first batter he faced. Then he hit the second batter he faced. Then he faced the third batter, Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, who hit Rivera for a three-run homer. By the time the seventh inning was over the Nats trailed 8-4 and a chill fell over the stadium that had little to do with the 50 degree temperatures which had enveloped the crowd under late-inning clouds.
In the ninth, the Nationals' marquee player, Ryan Zimmerman blasted a two-run homer over the centerfield wall nearly reprising his game-ending ninth-inning home run of a year ago. Unfortunately, this year, the Nats were three runs behind at the time and so lost the game 9-8 for their seventh consecutive loss.
It was a game which featured 11 Major League pitchers, six home runs, five "first pitchers," four errors and 40,386 fans.
All in all, a pretty good way to spend three hours on a Monday afternoon.
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