Washington Nationals v Miami Marlins
I usually attempt to put up posts in a timely manner, but Peter and I got home very late after the game on Thursday and I was up and on the road back home by 7.00 AM on Friday. Yesterday I drove to Gillette Stadium to shoot the UMASS football game which was pretty much a 12 hour day.
I generally dislike sports mascots, but the presidents at Nationals Park are so cool. And Teddy is the coolest. Good thing he has his pince nez on so he can see the selfie that this guy took.
It was Hispanic Heritage Day, and it was nice that some of my favorite players were mentioned in the pregame ceremonies, including Roberto Clemente
Peter and I scored $5.00 tickets (the best deal in baseball) and sat in our favorite section (402).
It was pretty sparse up there.
It was a perfect night for baseball; about 70 degrees with a lovely breeze.
Apologies to my vegan/vegetarian friends, but another great thing about section 402 is that there is a Ben’s Chili Bowl at the bottom of the stairs. If you like sausages, the “half smokes” are the bomb.
This is my favorite baseball situation. Bases loaded, 2 outs, 3 balls and two strikes on the batter. The runners are going on the pitch (if you look closely, you can see the ball on the way to the batter.) In this case, Ian Desmond ripped a single into right field and two runs scored. The Nats lost 6 – 4 and are barely hanging in for a playoff spot. Maybe next year.
Weekend
We took Peter back to the train in New Haven on Saturday. But as his visits are not too frequent, we will go out of our way to take him to Farnham’s in Essex for fried clams. This view from the parking lot always entices me. The clams were brilliant as usual.
I have no idea what was going on here.
As it was Friday and the Sox were home, we then drove to the Woodland T Station to take the Green Line into Fenway. We had just two tickets for Cris and Peter, so I stood on line at the “day of game” window and scored a standing room space on the Green Monster.
It was a beautiful night for baseball. I had never seen a game from the Monster before and it was a perfect place to watch the action.
I was standing beside two really nice guys from Huntsville, Alabama. We kept buying each other beer, and I think it was the first Miller Lite I have had in 30 years. Scott and Jim were both Sox fans; they knew the team really well, and were perfect companions for the evening. Baseball!
Nationals v Yankees Exhibition Game
The Nationals held their last exhibition game of the Spring today at Nats Park. Peter and I got a couple of $15.00 seats (row X, section 234) and had a great time. It was quite cool and very windy, but hey…baseball! Nationals fans got the chance to boo A-Rod and see him strike out three times, which seemed to make them happy. The Yankees were down early, came back in the 8th, and ended up winning 4-3. The crowd was listed at over 36,000, which for a pre-season game was great. Red Sox open on Monday in Philadelphia and the first game at Fenway is against the Nationals on the 13th (if all the snow has melted).
Washington Nationals
I am in DC for the weekend visiting Peter. Last night we went to dinner to celebrate his new job and this afternoon we headed down to Nats Park. There was about an hour rain delay, but we walked up to the ticked office and got two $5.00 seats. We asked to be under the overhang in case the rain came back, and were totally excited when we saw our seats.
The end seats of the last row of section 401. I don’t think you could get farther from home plate anywhere in the park. We like to be up high at games because it gives a great feel for the whole park.
In these particular seats, one has a great view of the Capitol dome. And all this for $5.00. Amazing
The Nats beat the Giants 6-2. Jordan Zimmerman pitched a great game and the Nats are really on a roll. It seemed like old times when someone yelled “Hugo Chavez” when Wilson Ramos came up to bat.
Here are Ray Knight and Johnny Holliday about to start the post-game show.
Fenway
Yesterday I got a call from my friend Scott Chasan-Taber offering me a ticket to today’s Sox game. We drove in this morning and took the Green Line from Woodland to Fenway. It was a beautiful day for baseball; cool, breezy, and at times even a bit warm in the sun. The Sox lost to Oakland 3-2 in 10 innings, but it didn’t really matter so much to me. It was just lovely to be in the park watching baseball. Thanks Scott! / Wishing you all a great week. Cheers
Recently
Sometimes I get a bit frustrated when I don’t post here as soon as I have some interesting (to me) photographs. / We were up in Maine for Thanksgiving at my brother and sister-in-law’s house. They live near to Higgins Beach in Scarborough, ME and on Thursday the ocean was really kickin’. I went for three separate walks to the beach the next day and each one was interesting in its own way. The surf was up (especially by East Coast standards) and at one point there were at least 40 surfers out.
On the morning walk I noticed that tons of sea creatures were washed way up on the beach, including this guy. Very alive and, I hope, happy to be put back into the ocean. Would have made a nice little lunch though.
On our way home on Saturday, I finally stopped to take a shot of this structure on Route 1 in Scarborough. I liked the light, and it is nice to see how helpful the owners are in identifying just what this thing is.
Further (farther?) down Route 1 is Bob’s Clam Hut in Kittery and since Peter was with us it seemed a nice time to stop in for a bite. As usual, amazing fried clams.
Next stop was in Boston for our annual walk around the outside of Fenway Park. So sweet to have the 2013 World Series banner hanging.
And I have always liked this statue, especially Dom DiMaggio’s specs. / We ended the Boston leg of the trip with a stop at the Blue Ribbon. For Peter, this day was a triple play; clams, Fenway, and Blue Ribbon. He was a very happy boy.
And finally, there is this. Image-wise it is kind of an orphan here, but I love the floating cone in the middle. I spotted this on a walk with Pete yesterday afternoon. / I take him to the train in New Haven tomorrow, and as usual, it will be difficult to say goodbye. Cris and I have had so much fun being with him for the past few weeks.
DC in August
Cris and I took the train from New Haven to DC on Monday. She has a couple of days of consulting and I get to hang out with Peter.
This tiny restaurant is near to the Van Ness metro station and has been closed since Peter moved to the neighborhood. I really like the retro feel of the facade, and with the building permit in the window you know it will change soon.
I have always enjoyed shooting in underground stations. I like the movement of the trains during long exposures.
I will often stop after exiting the giant escalator at Dupont Circle to look down on cars that are passing below.
Peter was working the Nationals game last night so Cris and I showed up at around 6:00 to get tickets. The Nats are struggling this year and with playoff hopes low, they are selling seats for $5.00! $5.00; unbelievable. We got a couple of great seats in section 402 and saw a really good game with a win over the Marlins. My current favorite pitcher, Ross Ohlendorf, was on the mound and his old school wind-up is unique. You can get a look at it here. / Every time Wilson Ramos came up to bat, some guy behind me started chanting Hu go Cha vez, Hu go Cha vez. (There is a Venezuelan connection; only in DC can you hear something like this at a ball game.)
It was beautiful night, and between innings it was nice to look around at some of the architectural features of the park. Cris noticed these lights just above us and pointed them out to me.
We are off to the Lincoln Memorial in a bit to see if we can see the President speak in honor of the 50th anniversary of the MLK “I have a dream” speech. Could be interesting.
Washington Nationals
Cristine and I are visiting Peter in DC for the weekend. Pete is working as a “fan ambassador” for the Nationals. His job is to welcome people into the park and help them with any questions that they might have. So if you go to a game, chances are good that he will be around the center field entrance just inside the main gate. Look him up! He is a great guy and would love to chat. / The Nats are having a rough season this year and last night was emblematic of how things are going for them. A difficult loss in 10 innings. Everyone was moving very slowly on a hot summer’s night and the game lasted over 4 hours. It was a sell out and the only tickets Cris and I could get were standing room. But at $15.00 a real deal. Peter got us comp tickets for Monday’s game vs the Pirates and we are looking forward to having actual seats.
This and That
We went to see the Sox last night and it was a very interesting evening. A make-up day game was scheduled for 1 pm. It started raining in the bottom of the 5th so it was delayed for three hours. Out tickets were for 7 pm but due to the delay, the Sox allowed anyone with a ticket for the night game to watch the end of the first game which restarted at around 6.00. Kind of confusing, I know, but we went in, watched them win the early one, cleared out of the park, came back in and watched ours start at 8.00. The Sox led 1-0 until the top of the ninth when the Rays tied it up on a solo home run. Jonny Gomes hit a walk off in the bottom of the ninth to win it. It was a beautiful evening and the rain held off until the drive home.
This morning we drove Peter to New Haven to catch the train back to DC. We had a great week with him. The underground walkway to the platforms at the station is a bit outer spacey.
After his train left Cris and I drove to West Haven to walk along the sound and enjoy the beautiful day. There is a lovely park with a walking/bike path along the beach. We saw some old guys playing bocce ball and trash talking. It was very sweet and familiar. The above view made me a bit sad, as Dave’s Arcade-Carousel must have been very cool when it was still here. You can tell the original sign just said “Arcade-Carousel” but someone got some stick-on letters to memorialize Dave. He probably deserves the kind thought.
AT&T Park, Giants v Nationals
Yesterday I went to see the Nationals play the Giants at AT&T Park in San Francisco. It was an interesting game. Very few hits and not much scoring. The Nationals won in 10, 2 to 1. As you can see it was a beautiful day, perfect for baseball. I was at the mercy of the guy selling the tickets, and just asked for a very cheap seat. Ended up in section 302, which by my estimation is the nicest place to sit in the whole park. The only problem was that for the first time in all my years of going to baseball games, it was difficult to concentrate on the action with this amazing view of the bay always pulling me away from the game. Even if you HATE baseball, it is totally worth $24.00 to sit up here for an afternoon drinking a few beers and being part of a crowd of very friendly people. / After the game I blasted over to the offices of Collector’s Weekly and met with Hunter Oatman-Stanford who wrote this article about the suitcases that really opened a lot of doors for me. We were joined by two other editors and had a great chat about this and that. I was totally blown away when they told me that the story had generated roughly 600,000 views on their site. I really owe a lot to Hunter for his great interview and interest in the project. / Made it out to the airport in time to catch the redeye back to Boston. Got home at about 9.30 this morning and was happy to see the Pearl, who after a bit of a scare this weekend seems to be back on her feet.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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