Game 2 ATL@WSH

On Tuesday we attended the second game of our trip. Jay-Hey's Atlanta Braves @ Baseball's best Washington Nationals.

Pregame

We arrived at the stadium 20 minutes before the gate opened. We were approached by a strange old man. I could have sworn he was trying to get us to come with him somewhere. He asked if we wanted to play catch... I am hoping he was just lonely.

Then, like we did at Citizens Bank Park, we went ball hunting. With the help of my buddy Alberto Gonzalez, I had a ball within 20 minutes. Now, any good Yankee fan know that Alberto is an ex-Yankee utility man, and since he is playing in Washington, and is not named Adam Dunn or Ryan Zimmerman, no one knows who he is. That is, except me. So it is obvious why I got a ball. He seemed shocked when I yelled "Alberto!!!" A minute later, the ball was mine.

Now, Maxwell was the only one with out a ball on the trip. Sean Burnett, a Washington relief pitcher, tried to throw a ball to a man decked out in Washington gear, but since he is a Nationals pitcher, he missed the man and hit Maxwell's glove.

Next stop, Braves BP by the dugout. Eric Hinske was taking BP. Just like at Citizens Bank, we decided that we would playfully pick on him. It was not like Oliver Perez, which was meant to hurt his feelings, but rather make a fan club. We yelled "SKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!" every time he stepped into the cage. We knew that we got to him because with each swing he was cracking up to our cheers. When he entered the Braves dugout we got a solid head nod. Totally worth it.

The Game

The game between these two National League East "rivals" featured a man with an ERA sub 1.00, Livan Hernandez for the Nationals, and the 0-4 Kenshin Kawakami for the Braves. Livan Hernandez was lucky as he walked 5 and only gave up 2 runs (1 earned) in 5.1 innings. Kenshin Kawakami was the same 0-4 pitcher for Atlanta. He fired 5 sub par innings, giving up 3 runs. Things worth nothing in this boring game are that Adam Dunn and Jason Heyward can hit the ball really really far. They are both very good at what they do. There was really nothing exciting. Washington scored early after the Braves took a 1-0 lead and never really looked back. It was 3-2 Washington at one point, but by the end, it was a 6-3 win for the Nats.

Win- Livan Hernandez
5.1 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, 1 K, 2 R, 1 ER

Loss- Kenshin Kawakami
5 IP, 7 H, 1 K, 3 ER

Save- Matt Capps
.2 IP, 0 K

Nationals Park
Food: 4
Fans: 2 Attendance: 17,098
Seats: 8
Overall Experience: 4

So, overall, a very disappointing experience. The food was horrible. The fans were so obnoxious. They had no knowledge of the game, and seemed like they were not used to having a team in their area. It seemed as if they needed to be completely drunk to have a good time at a ball game. Honestly a 2 rating is generous. Worst of all, they lacked all baseball etiquette. Seats were solid. Since there were barely any fans there, our $10 upper deck seats turned into seats very similar to ones that we had in Philly. We wanted to sit close to the wall but a woman came up to us and asked "is these y'all seats?" We could only respond with an "uhhhhh... maybe". She wasn't very amused. So we backed up a bit. The ballpark was beautiful. The only problem I had with the actual park was that for half the game the scoreboards did not work.

Other Notes
Matt Capps continues to be a stud sporting a .63 ERA with a MLB best 11 saves. It is not gonna last. Jason Heyward is an amazing baseball player. He is going to be a star for years to come. Adam Dunn, like I said, hits straight up bombs. Roger Bernadina made the best play that I have ever seen live. It was number 1 on ESPN's Top 10 plays. Ryan Zimmerman was virtually non-existent turning in an 0-4 day. Somehow Livan Hernandez's ERA remains below 1.00.