DC Day 3: Twins at Nationals Ballpark

By the time we were done walking around the WWII Memorial, it was starting to get late and Adam, Christine and I needed to head down to Nationals Ballpark for the 4 pm game. We walked back along the mall with my parents, and left them to go check out the Natural History Museum. They also took a nap to refresh from my strenuous trip plans, and had a nice dinner together at Circa. I'm proud of them navigating the subway system on their own!

 After leaving the parents, we took the packed Metro down to Navy Yard making a quick line change on the way.
Before the line change, I encountered an annoying DC native.
DC: "Twins, huh? So are you from Minnesota?"
Me: Yes
DC: "Really? You're really from Minnesota." [as if it was amazing to see a Minnesotan outside of Minnesota]
Me: Yup.
DC: "I don't get why you play baseball in Minnesota?"
Me: Uh.... why not?
DC: "Same reason why I can't figure out why we have a hockey team!"
ME: "We DO have summer in Minnesota. It's usually 80, sometimes 90, it even gets to be 100!"
DC: "Really? You don't always have snow? Maybe I'll have to check out summer in Minnesota some time"
And then I got off the train. Idiot.

At the Metro stop by the ballpark we followed the crowd off and exited the wrong way. This route led to us entering the ballpark from the 1st base side which was not the main entrance. No wonder we weren't very impressed!

At the ballpark, we walked around a bit, and then got half smokes at Ben's Chili Bowl. We took our food back to our seats.

 It was super hot and sunny on the first base line where our seats were for most of the game. It was a bit uncomfortable. Luckily I had sunscreen with so we didn't get fried. And we had ice cream. In mini Nationals helmets to add to my collection. Adam cooled down with beer.

It was weird to see former Twin Denard Span in a Nats jersey. He was just traded last off-season. Christine and Adam liked him a lot so they enjoyed seeing him. I was more of a Revere fan myself (another former Twin traded to the Phillies in the off-season - he competed with Span for Center Field).

It was just neat to catch a Twins game in a different ballpark. This is ballpark #6 for us together (2010 - Target Field, Progressive Field, 2011 - Kaufmann Stadium, 2012 -  Miller Park, Fenway Park).

Roger Bernadina

There was an incredibly annoying fan of the Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez right in front of us. Complete with sign that she stood up with every half inning that said "Kick some @$$ Gio!" Awesome...


The racing Presidents in the 4th inning were hilarious! Highlight of my day! They have George Washington, Thomas (Tom) Jefferson, Abraham (Abe) Lincoln, William (Bill) Taft and Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt.

Teddy won!

  Mauer hit a solo home run in the 5th!

Perkins pitching -

The game went into extra innings, but the Twins pulled off the win in the 11th. Final score was 4-3. It was really exciting! I was glad we got to see them win at least one game.

After the game, there was a free Blues Traveler concert. We stayed for 5 or so of their songs including their most famous "Run Around."

At that point, we had heard enough so we headed out. But first, Christine and I had to check out the gift shop. Adam opted to wait for us outside. When Stine and I returned, Adam was talking to two people - our friends Dave and Megan! We knew they were going to be at the game, but running into them after was pure luck.

We decided to all take the Metro back together to the White House. Christine and I went to check out the White House up close (well as close as you can get with the gates),

self portrait

 while they looked for a bar. They ended up finding a bar/restaurant so Christine and I were able to join. We snacked on some nachos, the guys had a drink, and we chatted. It was fun to meet up with friends in an unexpected place!

Around 11, we took the Metro back to our hotel. What a long and exhausting yet fun day!

My thoughts on Nationals Ballpark:
It was pretty generic. The coolest part about it was the scoreboard. I appreciated that the advertising signs on the side of the scoreboard weren't flat.

I also really liked that before each player hit (for the home team) they played a cool video of them along with their intro music (instead of just putting up their photo and stats). My most favorite thing was the Presidents race. It was hilarious and awesome. I even liked it better than the racing sausages in Milwaukee!

I thought it was really lame that the opening in left field revealed a view of two parking garages with posters to conceal them. The food was great - you can't go wrong with a Ben's Chilli Bowl stand. Though I wasn't a fan of the half-smoke, the chilli was delicious, and the chilli cheese fries I got on Sunday were amazing. Other food items they had that looked good included fresh funnel cakes, chicken and waffle sandwich (looked interesting at least!), cheese-steaks, sliders, and soft pretzels (the good kind). It's probably a good thing it's not my home ballpark - I'd be eating unhealthy all the time.