March 18th, 2007
Today is my first spring training game. We were given a curly-W hat with a big Bud Light logo stitched into the back, just like the ones we got at RFK last season. Because they only gave them out to adults two young fans sitting behind us were sad that they weren’t able to have one so my brother gave them ours. The sun was shining and the breeze was blowing out. The crowd (4,535) seemed like mostly Marlins fans or folks who’d had their fill of theme parks.
On the field, Nats pitching ace, John Patterson, started the game by striking out Hanley Ramirez. With the spring coming into full swing and three rounds of cuts made to the lineup already, the makeup of the team is almost in full view.
In the bottom of the first inning Felipe Lopez put the first pitch he saw into left field and worked his way to third where Zimmerman could bring him in with a solid double. But that would turn out to be the extent of the Nats offense this afternoon.
Through the first two innings Patterson gave up just a walk. Then in the third the Marlins worked hard for three runs, including a homer. That would prove to be all of the scoring done in the afternoon, but a lot of good baseball would be exhibited.
Dimitri Young played first base for the Nats and put good wood on the ball twice. In the second he flied out to left. In the fourth he drew a walk and got pushed over to third on a base hit by catcher Jesus Flores. In the sixth Young legged out (like a freight train) a second bag after a loping fly into the right field corner. Following that he stood on third for the second time in the afternoon after a wild pitch.
Another notable performance today was Nook (Nooo00oook!) Logan who punched a solid single in the second and drew two walks.
Zimmerman got two hits, but he’s been so hot all spring that it is almost not news.
In the fourth, Patterson was relieved by Hanrahan who pitched three solid, solid innings allowing only two hits and zero walks.
And the Honorable Space Coast Stadium was really, really nice with the new blue seats, red handrails, white walls, and silver awnings. I mean, baseball is nice, but in Viera it seems even better.
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Skipped the game yesterday against the World Series losers to see the World Series winners. You know LB and LG are psyched as they are both big Cards fans. Scott is on their side too. I hate to see baseball tear a family apart, but I know what I know and “Root, root, root for the home team” is what I learned from Hary Cary many years ago. You wouldn’t believe how badly that confused me at first, growing up in a state with no professional team to root for, always cheering for the Cubs. It seemed that if I were going to adopt a “home” team to cheer for that picking one that sometimes won would be a good idea. Then when the Cubbies got knocked out of the playoffs in … what was it, ‘84? … I finally understood … something. I’ll work on unpacking this as I’ll need to get in touch with it over the next six months or so, I think.
