I've Seen Fire And I've Seen Rain, But Mostly Rain

Some of you watched MASH. Others of you, who were lucky enough to be there, watched one hell of a thunderstorm.

When I got to the stadium, it was pouring, but by the time first pitch was set to roll around, it had slowed to a slight sprinkle. But, they didn't take the tarp off. That's because they knew what was coming. Drudge would've referred to it as a 'hellstorm'. I'm not quite sure it was that bad, but it was fun to sit under the overhang with a bazillion other people and watch the strong winds swirl the rain all over the field, and listen to the cheers everytime a loud crack of thunder indicated some poor tree got what it had coming to it.

The crowd was even entertained by the large metal roller that holds the tarp rolling all over the outfield, cheering each time it moved. Later, as the rain slowed, several teenagers/college students (Zach Day, perhaps?) ran out on the field, using the tarp as a giant slip-n-slide. They got up and let the fat, slow, yellow-slickered security guards chase after them, before being hauled off the field to cheers.

As far as the game, well you saw it: Great pitching early, a Victor-like inning by Carlos Zambrano, and too much excitement in the end.

It was one of those team-effort kind of games.; No Nat had more than one hit. $#161Livan! looked great, but had to leave the game early because of a knee injury. Chad Cordero did his best to blow the game in the ninth, bringing up Derek Lee (the Cubs' one good hitter) up with the go-ahead run on base. He survived, but not before the thought of extra innings crossed my mind. Ordinarily, I'd love free baseball, but ordinarily, the ninth inning isn't ending after midnight either.

I leaned over to the random stranger sitting next to me, and asked him who he thought the Majority Whip should be. He surprisingly pimped for Ryan Church, who had an RBI single. I was considering Jose Guillen who, even though he had just one late-inning double, made a number of terrific defensive plays and had seven putouts.

But, in the end, clutch hits matter, and the Majority Whip goes to the Señor Statesman, Vinny Castilla. He made a nice snare on a ball early in the game, and his two-run single in the fourth opened the 'floodgates' for two more. Later, Dusty Baker intentionally walked him to get to Ryan Church with a lefty on the mound. Strangely, Frank didn't immediately pull Church for Jeffrey "Molasses" Hammonds, despite Wil Ohman being the exact kind of lefty you don't want Church to face. (Frank made the right move though, solely because of Church's defensive value)

But, the WTF Frank Senior Moment came in the bottom of the seventh. Why oh why, Frank, must you continuously let your relief pitchers hit? I could understand if we had a 7-man pitching staff, but there are about twenty or thirty people milling about the bullpen with nothing to do but chew sunflower seeds and watch Jerry Springer reruns.

That's another case where it ultimately worked out, but that still doesn't mean it was the right decision.

It's another game today, and again, Yuda has the chat. I'll be at the game in my customary seats praying that it doesn't rain again. (Or as usual, I guess I should say).

Greg Maddux, the sixth best pitcher of all-time, goes against John Patterson, JPIII, the second-best Washington Nationals starter of all-time.

Homestand Goal: 5-2
Current Record: 1-1

Apparently, the Nationals made some sort of trade. I'd write more about it now, but I'm taken aback. Heartbroken. Saddened. Verklempt. Expect 4,200 words or so on it later. :)