I’ll have a more detailed analysis about Strasburg’s start, but 14 strikeouts is not bad at all. Seven of those came in a row from the 5th to 7th innings. An impressive young pitcher.
08 June
NPB Neither of my teams played.
MLB New York Yankees (12) at Baltimore Orioles (7). My friends asked me to go to this game with them, but I couldn’t pass up seeing Strasburg. I’m surprised the Os scored so many, but it wasn’t enough for the Yankee juggernauts. Their record falls to 16-42.
Florida Marlins (8) at Philadelphia Phillies (10). Mike Stanton went 3-for-5 and scored two runs, but the Marlins continually gave up lead after lead and lost it with bases loaded in the 9th. A disappointing loss that takes them down to 28-31, tied for fourth with the Nats.
Pittsburgh Pirates (2) at Washington Nationals (5). Home runs by Willingham, Dunn, and Zimmerman helped Strasburg put his first curly ‘W’ in the record books. More on this game tonight. Their record, as stated two lines earlier, is now 28-31.
Toronto Blue Jays (0) at Tampa Bay Rays (9). Jeff Niemann continues to be perfect as he blanks the Jays and pushes the Rays up to 38-20 on the season.
I’m gonna blame Memorial Day weekend for making me forget that I was supposed to do this yesterday. All those barbecues were so good!
28 May
NPB No games (with the Carp or Eagles)
MLB Baltimore Orioles (0) at Toronto Blue Jays (5). Division rival mega match! Ok, I can’t keep a straight face on that one. The AL East’s two least interesting teams (to me) start a series that will inevitably bore me to death.
Philadelphia Phillies (3) at Florida Marlins (2). A close one that could have gone either way, really. Volstad gets the hard-luck loss.
Chicago White Sox (4) at Tampa Bay Rays (2). I’m so used to David Price being so amazing that it catches me by surprise when he loses. After the Alex Rios home run in the fourth the Rays couldn’t quite catch up.
Washington Nationals (5) at San Diego Padres (3). What should have been an unimportant series suddenly becomes an interesting one about two teams far outperforming expectations. Lannan notches the win and Capps notches another save.
29 May
NPB Hiroshima Carp (2) at Rakuten Eagles (3). My teams face off yet again. Katsuhiro Nagakawa, fresh off the DL, gets the loss in a walk-off in the 10th. Hiroshima should still be proud after scoring two on Iwakuma.
MLB Orioles (2) at Blue Jays (5). You know, the Jays are actually a really good team this year. It’s too bad that there are already three other good teams in the AL East.
Phillies (1) at Marlins (0). Oh my god, how did I miss this? Roy Halladay threw a perfect game and Josh Johnson served up a magnificent effort himself allowing only one unearned run. Why are Florida teams surrendering so many perfect games?!
White Sox (5) at Rays (8). Wade Davis finally gets himself another win. Way to go, rookie. PS: I hate the White Sox.
Nationals (2) at Padres (4). J.D. Martin takes the loss to a Padres team that’s hitting pretty well.
30 May
NPB Carp (2) at Eagles (4). I love Ma-kun (Masahiro Tanaka) as much as the next guy, just not when he’s beating my team. Oh well. Hiroshima’s record is now 20-31-0 in fifth while Rakuten sports a 24-28-1 mark.
MLB Orioles (1) at Blue Jays (6). The battle of the birds comes to a close with the Orioles (predictably) getting the series loss. The Orange Birds end the weekend at 15-36, but get a breather before moving on to the Yankees.
Phillies (0) at Marlins (1). After the Phillies blank the Fish, Florida comes back and blanks the Phils, but not with a perfect game like the night before. Anibal Sanchez was in his dominant form and the Fish struggled to put just one on the board against Jamie Moyer, as usual.
White Sox (8) at Rays (5). The Sox return the favor against Shields. Sad.
Nationals (2) at Padres (3). 11th inning walk-off loss. They can go either way at that point. Tough break for Washington.
31 May – Memorial Day
NPB Nada.
MLB Milwaukee Brewers (5) at Marlins (13). The Fish return to their hitting ways, and how! Cody Ross and Cameron Maybin both knock in some mashers and plenty of RBIs are scored. The Fish record sits at 26-26 in a three-way tie for third with the Mets and Nats.
Nationals (14) at Houston Astros (4). The Nats also got in a hitting mood. What a showing! As stated before, their record is 26-26.
Rays (2) at Blue Jays (3). Garza just couldn’t keep the Jays low enough to keep the win. The Rays are still in first with their 34-18 record, 4.5 up on the Yanks.
Home of the (evil) Philadelphia Phillies
Believe it or not, I didn’t always hate the Phillies. One of my earliest baseball memories is watching Darren Daulton in the 1993 World Series, don’t ask me why that name sticks out, but it just does. I was even on a little league team that took the name Phillies (even though I desperately wanted to play on the Marlins). My childhood hatred was mostly directed toward the Atlanta Braves, the most dominant team in the NL East, and baseball in general, throughout the 90s. It wasn’t until I was in college that I began hating the team, mostly due to a co-worker’s insane degree of love for the Phils. Now that I live in Maryland, the proximity of the state of Pennsylvania doesn’t help things either, meaning I have to deal with fans of Philadelphia teams all year round. Couple in their bad fan reputation and their winning ways the past five years and you’ve got yourself genuine hatred for the division rivals.
The face of evil?
All that preamble just to say that I wasn’t exactly looking forward to going to Citizens Bank Park. I decided that I would wear my Marlins jersey to the park, but I was genuinely worried that I’d have to weather insults, jeers, thrown beer, or possibly worse. I mean, three days before I was set to visit the park, a fan was arrested for vomiting on an off-duty police officer and his children. I had no idea what I was in for, but after coming out of it alive, I’ll begrudgingly admit that Citizens Bank Park is one of the nicest parks I’ve ever been to.
The batter's eye is really nice looking.
Like all ballparks designed after Camden Yards, CBP (as it will be abbreviated from here on out) was designed with that faux-retro aesthetic in mind. It means lots of brick, lots of open spaces in the concourses, and plenty of sight lines pointed toward the plate. When you’ve got a nice, historic organization like the Phillies, you can afford to go this route. I think that’s the chief reason why Nationals Park stands out among its peers. The team had no real history, so there was no reason to call back to the olden days of the Senators (although they probably should have). Philadelphia’s park features statues of Phillies greats scattered throughout the entire park, a restaurant dedicated to Harry Kalas, and whole regions, like Ashburn Alley, named for the organization’s greats.
I always want to call it Crashburn Alley because of the Phillies blog with that name.
It’s an unspoken rule that all of the new ballparks need some kind of gimmick to make them stand out, architecturally, from their peers. Camden Yards has the warehouses, Citi Field has the Ebbets Field rotunda, Nationals Park has that weird, circular scoreboard, and CBP achieves this with a giant, replica Liberty Bell beyond center field. Whenever a home run is hit by the home team, the Liberty Bell actually rings, kind of like the Big Apple that rises out of the outfield after Mets home runs. It’s a neat little quirk that does give the park some flavor.
This one is cracked too?! What are the odds?!
Another little visual thing that I love are the flower planters along the left field wall. There’s not much more to say about them other than that they’re very pretty and add much needed color to the otherwise dominant red and green in the park.
I like flowers. So what.
Also like other new ballparks, a lot of CBP’s food options are actually local restaurants. There is a Chickie’s & Pete’s stand, one local cheesesteak restaurant is rotated into the park each year, and the ice cream comes from the local Turkey Hill Dairy. Unlike some other parks, CBP has a super liberal policy about food from outside the park. So long as there’s no glass, they’ll allow it in the ballpark. I saw a guy who was bringing in three boxes of pastries. The people sitting next to me pulled out sandwiches from a local deli, an entire bag of potato chips, and drinks to go with their meal. I’d like to see more blue collar policies like this with respect to out of park food. Sure, you lose a few sales at the concessions, but you earn so much goodwill I think it’s worth it. I wish I’d known how liberal their policy was, I had a whole cheesesteak hidden in my pockets.
I didn't know I was supposed to try the Crab Fries here. Next time, I guess.
This year Nationals Park started having a starting nine group of children come out before the players to add some local flavor and help introduce the team. I saw the same thing in Japan a few times, but in Japan and at CBP, they intelligently have the players each come out holding a baseball. When they reach their tiny counterparts, they sign the ball, give it to the kid, and then the kids leave the field after the National Anthem plays. Everyone loves kids. This is always a success no matter where I see it done.
Like all other ballparks, they grab (cheap) local talent to do things like sing the National Anthem.
No article about CBP is complete without mentioning the most ostentatious feature of the ballpark, the Phillie Phanatic. The green monstrosity is one of the more controversial mascots in baseball. His antics have made a few enemies, most notably Tommy Lasorda, formerly of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but they’re mostly harmless pranks that seem to go a few steps beyond what mascots in any ballpark would do. It’s the kind of thing that fits the city of Philadelphia and their team aesthetic well and it’s insanely funny 99% of the time. In the one game I witnessed, I watched him mock Marlins players throwing, attack the Marlins broadcaster, get shoved by Hanley Ramirez, steal fan caps, mess up countless people’s hair, and ride all around in his little car. He’s a pretty cool mascot, even if he is evil.
This is my absolute favorite picture that I got of this evil bastard.
Citizens Bank Park is a great place to see a game, what can I say? The fan base is passionate and devoted to the team, the park is nice and new, and they have great food policies. They’re also ridiculously close to Maryland, so if you’re a local reader, you really should just pop up there if you’re interested. I was there and back before midnight after the game.
Another reason I'm sure I loved this park: Check out the Marlins score right now. This gap did not appreciably close all night.
Went to the Orioles game last night to see King Felix and Ichiro play the Orioles. It was a great game (I’ll get into that later), but we were super amused by the fact that Ichiro’s name was listed on the All-Star ballot for the Home Run Derby. Ichiro? The Great Singles Hitter (TM)? At one at bat I motivated him by screaming “Ganbare!” and “Kettobase!”. He promptly responded by hitting a home run. You’re welcome, Ichiro.
13 May
NPB Rakuten Eagles (6) at Hiroshima Carp (4). I hate seeing my two most beloved teams play each other, but not as much as I hate seeing the Eagles beat the Carp. It’s nice revenge by Marty Brown on the Carp for firing him, but I hate the loss. Hiroshima falls to 15-23-0 and the Eagles rise to 17-23-0. Both teams are in fifth place.
MLB Seattle Mariners (5) at Baltimore Orioles (6). This game was won by a Luke Scott grand slam in the 8th and ended with a fantastic play at the plate as the tying run was thrown out on an Ichiro single. Great game. The Birds jump to 11-24 in last.
New York Mets (1) at Florida Marlins (2). I’ll take a win any way I can get one, even the classic walk-off wild pitch. A great pitching duel between Josh Johnson and Johan Santana that ended in a no decision for both. Florida is 17-18 and in fourth.
Washington Nationals (14) at Colorado Rockies (6). Whoa, what happened here. A wild game in the mile-high city. I didn’t think Coors gave up this many runs anymore. Washington rises to 20-15 and is at a shocking 5 games above 0.500 in second place, only one behind Philadelphia.
The Marlins can’t quite lock down the sweep against the Cubs, but a series win is still more than they’ve done in recent history.
12 May
NPB Off Day
MLB Washington Nationals (6) at New York Mets (4). Tyler Clippard wins yet another as the Nats pull ahead into sole possession of second (again) with their 19-15 record, 1.5 back behind the Phils.
Florida Marlins (3) at Chicago Cubs (4). Carlos Zambrano keeps the Marlins bats just quiet enough to avoid the series sweep. The Fish’s record drops to 16-18, tying them with the Braves for fourth.
Seattle Mariners (2) at Baltimore Orioles (5). Go Orioles! The controversy-ridden Mariners drop game 2 of the series allowing the Orioles to climb to 10-24 for the season.
Tampa Bay Rays (4) at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (3). The Tampa Bay (don’t call me “Devil”) Rays continue to recover from the three-game skid on their road trip to close it off with a win. They head home for a day of much needed rest and a 24-10 record good enough for first place.
You'll notice that most of this crowd leaving Nationals Park roots for the Phillies.
Even if the Orioles maintain their 0.259 win percentage for the year and manage to lose over 110 games, they will have something that the Nationals cannot have this year: passionate, devoted fans.
It’s not their fault, they’ve only been a team for five years, after all, but I notice this distinct lack of energy when I go to the games. Sure, the crowds have been relatively thin thanks to the weather, but last night was beautiful weather combined with a home win and the crowds didn’t seem to know what to do yet.
We’re talking about the intangibles here, but these are the things that show that you have a fanbase that cares about what the team is doing on the field.
- When the opposing pitcher makes two or more pick-off attempts, fans are supposed to boo him. It’s just what is expected. Crickets at Nats park. It’s like they don’t even notice what’s going on. - Why am I the loudest person in a section rooting for the team? There may have been a glut of Braves fans around me, but the Nats fans should be making themselves heard. - Nats fans tend to be relatively unresponsive to chants and tunes coming from the organ (like “CHARGE!”) - When the closer is down to his last out, the stadium should be on its feet.
It’s not that they’re not trying. The Nats Pack is super enthusiastic, the Presidents Race is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but the team just needs to give its fans time to get used to watching them win. Two straight seasons of losing > 100 games (I think I’m right there) will jade a fanbase. So long as the Nats keep on doing what they’re doing, they’ll actually have people in the stands being passionate about the team. Hopefully the trend continues because it’s sad when a division rival comes into town and the 7-20 team has rowdier, more excitable fans than the Nats.
Fukudome ALMOST hit the game-winning walk-off home run. That's enough for me to put a picture of him up today, haha.
It was a light baseball day yesterday with only two teams that matter to me playing baseball. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point in the offseason I became a Nats fan. The Marlins will always come first for me, but Washington has made a pretty good case for itself. I love an underdog and I love seeing the pieces of this team come together.
26 April
NPB No games on Mondays!
NOTE: That’s not entirely true, but they seem to only make up rain delays on Mondays, by my count.
MLB San Diego Padres (1) at Florida Marlins (10). Josh Johnson does what JJ does best. He doesn’t quite notch the shut out, but a complete game win is always fine by me. JJ’s slider was still hitting in the 90s in the 9th and he even helped himself out going 3-4 with 3 RBIs. What a pitcher. Florida rises to sole possession of second place with an 11-9 record, half a game back from the Phillies (who lost to San Francisco last night).
Washington Nationals (3) at Chicago Cubs (4). Is there anything more anti-climactic than the walk-off walk? The Nats couldn’t find the strike zone in the 10th and walked in the Cubs’ fourth run. Their performance was good enough that Duffy wasn’t ashamed to wear her Nats hat at the game, but it wasn’t good enough. The Nats record falls back to 0.500, 10-10, and they fall to third, half a game back from the Mets and 1.5 from the Phils. I really hope this division stays this competitive all year, I’m loving it right now.
I bet it was this partly this guy's fault, too.
When you have a series against the Giants (and you’re the Hiroshima Carp), things can get ugly. PYS 2010 has taught me that as well, where my version of the Hiroshima Carp are barely a fourth place team.
23 April
NPB Hiroshima Carp (4) at Yomiuri Giants (10). The Giants offense is potent, to say the least.
Nippon-Ham Fighters (2) at Rakuten Eagles (11). Hokkaido really can’t catch a break, can they?
MLB Los Angeles Dodgers (1) at Washington Nationals (5). Luis Atilano makes his MLB debut for the Nationals and manages to notch his first win in the same day. Congratulations, Luis.
Baltimore Orioles (3) at Boston Red Sox (4). What’s good for Boston is always considered bad to me. The Orioles continue to get a tough break.
Toronto Blue Jays (6) at Tampa Bay Rays (5). Not how I would have wanted it, but there’s still two games left in the series.
Florida Marlins at Colorado Rockies. Postponed for rain.
24 April
NPB Fighters (0) at Eagles (3). I can’t complain about how well Rakuten is doing against Hokkaido.
Carp (4) at Giants (7). Hiroshima answers back with some runs, but the Fish can’t notch quite enough for the win.
MLB Dodgers (4) at Nationals (3). LA comes back right away to win a close one.
Marlins (4) at Rockies (1). Game 1 of the series made up from yesterday. Get ready for a doubleheader.
Blue Jays (3) at Rays (9). Tampa Bay answers back with some serious run support.
Orioles (6) at Red Sox (7). So close! Baltimore is really struggling to get another win.
Marlins (1) at Rockies (8). The Fish get knocked around by the mountains.
25 April
NPB Fighters (3) at Eagles (4). Rakuten completes the series sweep, which is great for their record and should push them further up in the standings. The Golden Eagles end the week at 12-16-0, still in fifth.
Carp (2) at Giants (8). Like the Eagles, the Giants sweep the Carp, devastating their place. Hiroshima closes the week at 10-15-0, surprisingly just a game back from the fourth place Swallows.
MLB Orioles (7) at Red Sox (6). It’s funny when an Orioles win provides so much excitement, but that’s what happens when your team is only 3-16 in dead last.
Dodgers (0) at Nationals (1). These are the types of games that Washington has to win if they want to compete. The Nats are putting together quite the season with their 10-9 > 0.500 record so soon in the season. New York also had a good weekend while Florida had a poor one, which means all three of those teams are tied at 10-9, 1.5 games back on the Phillies in second.
Blue Jays (0) at Rays (6). If David Price keeps pitching like this…Wow. Nice work. Tampa Bay’s 14-5 record is good enough a 1.5 game lead on the Yankees for first place.
Marlins (4) at Rockies (8). Another series loss for Florida. Just a little disappointing, but at least they’re still only 1.5 GB from first with that same 10-9 record as everyone else.
The Phanatic likes to mess around with everyone, including reporters.
I spent a far-too-cold night at Citizens Bank Park freezing my butt off, but enjoying a Marlins victory over Fish-killer Jamie Moyer. A review of the park should be hitting soon, but I’ve got to finish writing it first.
16 April
NPB Chunichi Dragons (3) at Hiroshima Carp (4). If I’m not mistaken, this one was won in extra innings. A thrilling victory for the Carp.
Rakuten Eagles (1) at Softbank Hawks (9). The losing streak continues
MLB Florida Marlins (6) at Philadelphia Phillies (8). Roy Halladay throws 8 innings of 2-run baseball that’s almost ruined by his relief in the 9th. Florida doesn’t have enough to get the last two, but they make it interesting.
Milwaukee Brewers (3) at Washington Nationals (5). Is this a two-game win streak I smell?
Baltimore Orioles (2) at Oakland Athletics (4). It just gets uglier and uglier for the Os.
17 April
NPB Dragons (7) at Carp (8). It’s always refreshing to see my other Fish manage so many runs. More late-inning heroics push Hiroshima up and give them the series win.
Eagles (8) at Hawks (3). The Golden Eagles have tons of run-scoring potential, but they’re often unable to get it done. When you’ve got Iwakuma and Ma-kun pitching Saturday and Sunday, respectively, you’d better score runs to capitalize on good pitching performances.
MLB Brewers (0) at Nationals (8). Liván Hernández shows, once again, that he is still an amazing pitcher. I’ll never forget his performance for the Fish in 1997 and it makes me happy that he’s still going so strong. 3-game win streak for the Nats.
Orioles (3) at Athletics (4). More ugliness. How much longer will Dave Trembley have a job if things continue like this? Is there some unspoken Baltimore-Washington rule that one of the teams must be terrible?
Marlins (5) at Phillies (1). The game I was at. What a beauty. Good thing the Fish got to Jamie Moyer early, because the bats were mostly silent after the first inning.
Tampa Bay Rays (3) at Boston Red Sox (1). This game started on Friday, but was rain-delayed in the 9th inning at a 1-1 tie. It resumed and went for 12 before finally getting resolved in Tampa Bay’s favor.
Rays (6) at Red Sox (5). Should have been more of a blow-out for the Rays than it was, but Longoria’s home run turned out to be the difference.
18 April
NPB Eagles (0) at Hawks (1). Masahiro Tanaka throws a gem of a game that the Hawks win with in the bottom of the 9th while Ma-kun tried to get his 27th out. It’s a shame that he goes for so many and his offense does squat for him. Rakuten finishes the week in fifth with 8-15-0 with a huge 8.5 game deficit.
Dragons (2) at Carp (4). Was this what I think it was? A series sweep by the Carp! Could this mean fortune is beginning to favor Hiroshima? The Carp close the weekend 9-11-0 in fourth and only three games back from first.
MLB Marlins (2) at Phillies (0). Lefty Nate Robertson does what he was hired to do: kill Phillies left-handed hitters. The Marlins win yet another series and raise their standing to 8-5 putting them half a game back on the Phils.
Rays (7) at Red Sox (1). An amazing performance by Matt Garza puts the Rays ahead of the Sox yet again. If Tampa Bay can manage one more win in this long series, they’ve got themselves a sweep on their hands. Should they manage said sweep, it would be the second sweep of the Sox at Fenway in Rays history. The Rays are 9-3 and tied for first with the Yankees.
Brewers (11) at Nationals (7). Jason Marquis has the ugliest performance of his career, giving up seven runs in the first inning without recording an out. He’s pulled and the Nats give up three more. They make a strong comeback effort, but it’s not quite enough. They’re playing 0.500 baseball, folks, with a 6-6 record that puts then in fourth, but only two games back from Philadelphia. Also great is that they’re two games above New York. Fantastic baseball being played so far.
Orioles (8) at Athletics (3). The skid ends for Baltimore, but the damage has been done. Baltimore is only 2-11 and a gigantic (for this point in the season) 7.5 games back. Ouch.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the day that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and made his MLB debut. Per usual and in honor of the event, baseball had every player taking the field adopt Jackie Robinson’s uniform number for the day, 42. It makes for confusing baseball if you don’t recognize the faces of the players, but it’s a great gesture that always brings a smile to my face.
It should be noted that the number 42 is not retired in Japanese baseball, which can be jarring for MLB fans who are not used to seeing players wearing the famous number out there. At least it was for me.
Yesterday was also tax day, but that’s way less cool.
15 April
NPB Yakult Swallows (2) at Hiroshima Carp (1). Maeda had himself another fine start where he held the Swallows to only two runs, but the Carp couldn’t provide significant run support. Hiroshima falls to 6-11-0 and are still only a tiny, half-game out of fifth.
Rakuten Eagles (3) at Seibu Lions (7). Killed by the Lions. Brutal. 7-13-0 and in fifth.
MLB Washington Nationals (7) at Philadelphia Phillies (5). The Nats finally notch another win against the Phillies and will hopefully get a chance to win some games now that they won’t be playing the NL Champions in six of their last nine. Washington is 4-5 and still not in last.
Cincinnati Reds (2) at Florida Marlins (10). Josh Johnson finally came out looking like the ace that he is and served up six strong innings with 10 strikeouts. The Marlins are now 6-4 and 1.5 games out of first.
Baltimore Orioles (2) at Oakland Athletics (6). I wasn’t up late enough to catch this west coast game, but it looks like it was a pretty ugly one for the Orange Birds. Oakland is surprising a lot of people with their start this year. Baltimore’s 1-9 start is too, but not in the way they might have hoped.
