‘Roger Bernadina is Safe!’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’
Ross Detwiler was read like a book on Wednesday night’s home closer at Nationals Park, and the crowd of just over 20,000 watched four home run balls sail out of the yard to propel the Phillies to a 7-1 victory. It was a cool evening at Nationals Park, but that didn’t bother the Philly bats, as Mike Sweeney, John Mayberry Jr and Ben Francisco (twice!) sent balls out of Nationals Park.
Sadly, the Nationals couldn’t muster much offense against Joe Blanton and the Phillies. The Nats would eke out one unearned run in the fourth when Nyjer Morgan would get to third on a single, a ground out and a throwing error, and score on a ground out. Twice the Nats would leave runners on 1st and 2nd despite getting them there early in the inning, but conversions were sorely lacking.
Adam Dunn would disappoint the fans cheering for a re-up in his contract with four strikeouts against Phillies pitching, including a bizarre situation in the first where Ed Hickox had to explain to Dunn that he’d struck out. Despite that, the crowd gave Dunn a standing ovation for his service in Washington, and a proper hope-to-see-you-this-Spring. Dunn’s re-up is a little contentious with the front office, and negotiations are likely not to pan out.
There’s much to discuss regarding the Nationals’ future, but there are still three games left to play in New York. We’ll have some season-wrap-up features here in the next week or so. The Nats have shown immense potential this season. At some point, the team will have to step forward toward greatness, or resign itself to mediocrity. Mediocrity can still draw 1.8M fans a season, and at $40 per seat, on average, that’s a good sum of money just on ticket sales. DC deserves more. Here’s hoping they can get it.
We had a unique opportunity to be some of the first bloggers in the press box in any major league baseball environment this season. I just want to say thank you to Mike Gazda, John Dever, Bill Gluvna, Kyle Brostotowitz and Lisa Pagano for working with us to make this happen. It’s been an incredible experience, and I hope we get to repeat it for you next season.
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
