The Washington Nationals just swept the San Francisco Giants, leading to many people suggesting a weather and Nats correlation and perhaps, even causation.
THURSDAY
Throwbacks! (Uni-Watch) Dressed as the 1924 Washington Senators, the Nats defeated the “New York Giants” on a walk-off fielders choice? Adam LaRoche hit a double-play ball, but the Giants first baseman couldn’t handle the throw and Bryce Harper scored the winning run. He had a big game:
While the throwbacks much of the attention (DC Sports Bog links to several galleries), the atmosphere was highly praised on twitter for the lack of piped in music and the crowd enthasiasm and noise. There is a less there Andy Feffer. In a way, I kind of wish I went to this game rather than the July 4 one.
The Nats had fallen behind 5-1 but rallied with back to back homers from Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa.
As for the New York Giants throwback, guest prognosticator David had this to say:
I think Giants fans are indifferent on the point. Earlier this year the team had a turn-back-the-clock night and they wore NY Giants jerseys. Everyone seemed to get into it. If I recall, Cain pitched that day and threw a one-hitter. Maybe they are looking for some mojo.
Break out the accordion to celebrate another Senators win…
WEDNESDAY
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of the few things Major League Baseball has consistantly done right for the Natss is including a July 4 home game on their schedule. My wife and I took in the Independence Day game for the second time. The first time included an epic walk-off home run by Ryan Zimmerman (the blog account, sadly lost to the ages in a database crash) before about 23,000 at RFK Stadium. This time, Zimmerman homered again (nearly twice in fact) but the suddenly prolific D.C. offense meant 9th inning heroics were not needed. After falling behind by 3 runs off of Edwin Jackson in the 1st inning, the Nats offense exploded in 3 runs in the third, another run in the fourth and three more in the fifth innings. All runs were charged to Madison Bumgarner, whose record dropped to 10-5. Jackson hung on through 5 2/3 innings, giving up another run late, to pick up his fifth win.
In addition to Zimmerman, Michael Morse, Jhonatan Solano (who is making his case as catcher with his bat and behind the plate) and Rick Ankiel all homered in the 9-4 rout, a second consecutive nine-run outburst in victory. Since the Nats won and scored 6 or more runs, Hard Times Cafe is giving out free wings with a ticket stub from either game within 5 days of the win. I’ll have to take them up on it.
TUESDAY
They won, lots of run support for Jordan Zimmerman. It was a while ago:
WE WANT WINGS
A three-game sweep with run totals of 9,9 and 6 runs — 6 runs + home win = free wings from Hard Times Cafe within five days of the win. I’m planning on going this evening.
ATTENDANCE IS UP
The days of being able to just show up and get the tickets appear to be over, at least on the weekends. You’ve been warned. The Nats are right in the middle of MLB Attendance with 29,000 + a night (CSN Washington). That’s only going to get better and a new attendance record for Nationals Park is expected. The all-time DC attendance record of 2.7 million+ will be challenged as well.
THREE ALL-STARS AND BRYCE HAPRER ISN’T ONE
Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg and Ian Desmond are all deserving. Harper hasn’t gotten voted in and could potentially still get the call, but I’d rather he take the four days off. There was an aggressive social media campaign, but it feel short. Also, he’s got a custom Mercedes Benz with a curly W (DC Sports Bog) on it.
SOMEHOW, THOMAS BOSWELL ISN’T HYPERVENTILATING IN PRINT YET
Baseball has its own plans for the Nationals – The Post
Nationals should take no chances with Stephen Strasburg’s innings limit – The Post
Duh.
SERIOUS STEINBERG
An A1 story on the rise of the Nats and what it means for D.C.
I think this is all I have time for today; Nats host the Colorado Rockies this evening for the weekend series.