The View from 334 - Game Observations May 19, 2006  - by Bob Bryant

Charlie and I hooked up at the Holiday Inn in Jessup at five, slipping down to the BW Parkway from there. Crossing our fingers, we found no traffic at all going down to the stadium, though, as usual, the northbound route was bumper-to-bumper. We arrived, got our tickets, and headed in, just around six o'clock. A good find as we made our way up the ramps was a Red, White, and Blues BBQ stand on the 300 level that included a picnic area. Sure, the pulled pork sandwich was ten dollars, but it was a much better meal than some chicken fingers and cold fries for six or seven. I could even watch the O's take batting practice while Charlie ate. The star of BP was Javy Lopez, who hit a bunch of laser shots out of the park, including a Soriano-esque blast into the mezzanine. I wondered if he was going to catch a game in the series, but at least the team would have a bench weapon for a change.

There were a few more folks wearing O's gear than I expected. Interestingly enough, I realized this was my first time even rooting for the O's in an 'enemy ballpark.' I've been to a number of stadiums, but have never seen the O's on the road. Still, there was little acknowledgment between fans. We seemed to be pretty much keeping to ourselves. When we sat down, however, we did exchange pleasantries with a group of six O's fans that sat right in front of us.

I note that Tom Boswell and the Post beat writer wrote this morning that the O's fans were a 'smattering', and that they were 'shouted down' by Nats' fans, etc. From their vantage point in the press box, I'd imagine the Nats did appear to have the vast majority of the numbers, as O's fans did not seem to be so prevalent in the lower seating bowl. as Yankee and Sox fans are at the Yard. But in the yellow seats, I'd say it was 60% Nats, 40% O's. (By the way, Tom, what's with the disparaging comments on O's' attendance? That's akin to MacKenzie Phillips' retort in American Graffiti - "Hey, your car is uglier than I am!" At least her character said to herself, "That didn't come out right.")

The big moment eventually arrived...the National Anthem. The 'O' was vibrant and full, louder than I've heard it at the Yard in a long time. The 'boo' afterwards was a lot more subdued than Boswell claimed (what a surprise. Reading his account, I'd say we weren't at the same ballgame), but that's a bit understandable. It is, after all, the National Anthem. Nats' fans are going to be hard-pressed to figure out how to deal with that...my suggestion would be to SING the anthem as loudly as possible. Hopefully they won't figure that out.

As for the game itself, I'd agree with Sam's assessment. "It wasn't electric, but it was OK."

Our observations?

The home plate umpire was brutal. Wondering if he was a sub, because he wasn't familiar to either of us. Nice strike zone.

O'Connor was pretty impressive. Lots of junk, but it's hard to gauge if the fastball is good enough to get by once he's been around the league for awhile. Still, the junk-throwing lefty usually has a way of sticking around. He was pretty tough, though the umpiring helped him more than it did Benson.

We both commented on how fat Daryl Ward has gotten, and how low the Nats' outfield has sunk to play him. As soon as Patterson's ball was struck and he took a step in, we knew it was over his head. Ward, however, didn't figure it out for a pretty good while.

Miggy was pressing at the plate his first few appearances. The really bad one, of course, was the AB he and Gibbons had with runners on first and second and O'Connor's pitch count getting up there...both of them swung at the first pitch. Charlie and I groaned audibly both times.

Melvin made several outstanding defensive plays. He is the one guy I always feel good about when the ball is hit to him. Eddie Rogers made a nice turn on a double play, especially since he's not a second baseman by trade. Vidro and Zimmerman had the best defensive plays of the game, however.

O's fans did start up a couple of 'Let's Go, O's' chants (I can't really yell at games any more due to a long-ago vocal cord incident), and they were 'shouted down', but not to the extent claimed in the Post.

The Washington version of the "Crab Shuffle" with the three glowing Capitol buildings and the laser-like noises is sort of creepy. It's like watching a video game version of Independence Day.

Bizarre Moment #1: Whenever anyone from the Nats' staff goes to the mound, the yellow-jacketed security staff rings the field. Is this happening at the Yard, and I don't notice it because it is the less colorfully garbed Baltimore police?

Bizarre Moment #2: When Kris Benson popped up his third bunt attempt behind the plate, when Wiki Gonzalez let it drop, there was a loud 'boo' from the crowd. It appeared that more than a few folks there didn't seem to know that a fouled bunt attempt on strike three is an out. That was a head-shaker that O's fans in our section (and I'm sure others) had a lot of fun with.

Nats' fans, like fans everywhere these days, got excited at the wrong times. 0-2 counts were met with cheers and clapping (mostly incited by the idiots running the scoreboard, of course), while they sat on their hands on a couple of more important 2-2 counts.

Um...why in the heck was Jay Gibbons batting against Joey Eichen with the bases loaded in the top of the 8th and the O's leading 5-0? Lopez is on the bench, waiting, and Sam is going to replace Gibbons in the ninth, anyway! And guess what, Gibbons flails miserably at a couple of pitches and strikes out, and Markakis replaces Gibbons in the bottom of the ninth. Someone wake Sam up on the bench. If the Nats had come close to getting back in the game, that lack of a move could have been huge.

I wasn't real happy with Nats' fans cheering when Rodriguez hit Miggy in the ribs. Was this supposed to be 'retaliation' for Nick Johnson getting hit leading off the fourth in a scoreless game, which the Nats' fans roundly booed? (They should have applauded that one, it gave them a baserunner...something they didn't have many of all night.)

When Sam came out of the dugout to talk to Benson in the seventh, Frank came bounding out of the dugout and got into a semi-spirited conversation with the home plate ump. He pointed at the mound a couple of times, and seemed to be a tiny bit worked up about something, but nothing came of it. A mystery.

The Washington fans left in incremental droves after the 7th and 8th. By the time Charlie and I left in the ninth and got to the car, the traffic was nearly gone already! We were on the parkway in about five minutes.

This was not much of a 'rivalry game.' There were very few acknowledgments of one teams' fans by the others, except on those larger communal scale occasions...and O's fans were pretty polite, as is their nature. There was more buzz than an 'ordinary game' between a mediocre team and a bad one, but that was it. I'm glad we went; it was a pretty good time for us, despite paying about $6 too much for our seats.

With Lopez and Chen starting the latter two games, the outcome of the series is very much in doubt. But for one night, it was good to be King of the Hill, even if it's only a molehill.