Trip through the Rotation, Part 4--A Penny for the New Guy

Game 4, 5/16/05 (Happy Birthday Mom!), Doug Davis (38,5) vs. Tony Armas, Jr. (60,10.5)

WP--Armas
LP--Davis
S--Ayala
H--Majewski

Seating: Section 406, Row 6, Seat 13
Hat: Nationals Road Cap (Navy, Script W)


A treat for the Astro folks, as Tom Wopat was our Anthem and 7th inning singer.

As I forgot my pencil at work and lost my pen when it lept from my clipboard on the Metro escalator, I was forced to buy another overpriced pen at the ballpark.

I admit I was losing it a bit today--Davis and Armas work kind of slow, and I'd gotten to the park earlier enough to swing down for a Foggy Bottom Pilsner, and this being the fourth game in about 75 hours I was a little drowsy. At one point I heard the guy behind me rattle off a pitch count for Davis that was about six lower than what I had, and I wondered if I missed anything. Heck, I'm not even playing, and I'm starting to see why amphetamines can be popular in the clubhouse. Then again, they're not umpiring or working a regular job at the same time, and they are getting trainers and professional massueses. So too bad; I say they should stick to caffeine and anti-inflammatories.

I considered not going, but I was thinking of you, readers. Yeah, my tough life. I may put my next ticket (May 31) up for sale though; it's only the Braves, who I've already seen and don't care for, plus I may decided to see the Tigers at Baltimore the weekend before. I will have seen five of seven games on this homestand. I will also probably ump Wednesday and Thursday, so by Friday I will seriously be ready for something not baseball.

The official scorer was also asleep, as a popup that bounced off of Christian Guzman's (aka Neifi East) glove in left field was scored a double, while the three-hop bunt that Nick Johnson laid down that Davis couldn't come up with was ruled E-1. With four of us keeping score in consecutive rows we had a good laugh or two about that.

The guy in front of me was there yesterday too, and for the second straight day he had hummus and pitas. Alright, tasty enough, dude, but you're at a frickin' ballgame. I mean, hummus and pitas at a ball game is kind of un-American. But he redeemed himself when, just after I was a bit annoyed that he's a get-a-chant-started-kind of guy and screaming for Vinny Castilla, he cheered on just-acquired outfielder Marlon Byrd with a chant of "Let's-go-new-guy!." Byrd responded with a 380 ft., 2-rbi double, so for that and giving me a post title, he gets a pass. Byrd ended up 3-4, 4TB, 3 RBI.

Castilla, rapidly moving up from his season-opening least favorite player status, smacked a home run off the back wall of the left-field bullpen. Not to be outdone, ex-White Sock (Sok? Sox?) Carlos Lee smacked one off of the advertising on the facing of the upper deck above said bullpen. But that would be the last run, and while Majewski provided a scare in the 8th (loading the bases after Jose Guillen nonchalanted a ball in right for an E-9), the Nationals hung on to win 5-2.

For the first time I noticed the white seats in the 500 section in RFK. There are a couple out there still painted white to mark spots where Frank Howard landed a few titanic shots. Someone was talking about them and I managed to follow their pointing and catch them in the sunset. Maybe that's where I missed six pitches...

Davis struggled, going by my count 107 pitches in six innings, but he has a bitchin' pickoff move. He picked off Brad Wilkerson in the first before even throwing a pitch to Jamey Carroll, and had me guessing and the Nats leaning the wrong may most of the game. Unfortunately for him he should perhaps throw less often to first and concentrate more on throwing to the plate.