Trip Report: Washington, D.C. + The Giants (pics)
by xanthan on Jul 11, 2010 5:53 PM PDT
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PrintHey guys. I went to my first set of games in D.C. this weekend and had a blast. I thought I'd share a few pictures and words.
The CF gate entrance to the yard.
View from Sunday's game. Sitting out along the RF line in the mezzanine.
The Nats have these really cool frame-by-frame statues near the CF entrance. This one is for Frank "Hondo" Howard, the feared D.C. slugger. Howard hit 382 career home runs. From 1968-70 he hit 44, 48, and 44 home runs for the then Washington Senators.
Huff and Rowand in the OF during Saturday night's game.
Madbum's start today. Notice the velocity. He was 90-93 for most of the first few innings. Later in the game he was upper 80s.
Poopin'
I snapped this one for Lars. RED SIX, NEVER FORGET.
Sad Bum really needs to get a new picture. :-(
Yes, this is happening.
Pilsner Urquell. Very tasty. The Nats had a decent brew selection, but I was a little bummed to not find anything hoppy.
Me and Roger both agreed, we want to be this guy. 'Orange guy', as I tentatively called him, was at the park all weekend. He was awesome. Wearing an orange jumpsuit in 100 degree weather? Gamer.
It was a very nice weekend for baseball. I met up with Roger and his wife and chatted with them for a good portion of Saturday night's game. Both were extremely nice and just very cool people. Thanks, Roger! The park was interesting. Overall, a pretty nice place but I felt it had a ton of gray overtones and nothing really fantastic architecturally.
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great pics, Chris!
Billy Hayes: His job is better than yours.
Adopting Denny Bautista until someone tells me he's already spoken for.
where's the part about you trippin', dude?
I like my beer cold ... my TV loud ... and my romosexuals flaming.--Homer Simpson
wait, what is that t-shirt that guy’s wearing?
Matt Cain: He'll save children, but not the Dodger children.
"Out, out, Fred Lewis!" - JCTillam Gamerspeare
I don’t get why there’s a Nationals t-shirt with a picture of Nick Johnson and “Welcome Home” on the back. WTF?
Matt Cain: He'll save children, but not the Dodger children.
"Out, out, Fred Lewis!" - JCTillam Gamerspeare
It’s from when he came back after missing nearly two years with injuries.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
If you saw their attendance figures the last couple years, you’d understand that no occasion was too small to deserve its own promotion.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
Yeah
I wanted to be there for the “Flushes Urinals” commemorative pin night, but missed it.
Proudly adopted Aubrey Huff. You can't beat that!
You should see the T shirt I got for the “Hey, Somebody Actually Showed UP!” night.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
were there a lot of Giants fans at the game?
there seemed to be a lot of cheers for Posey and other Giants.
I wasn’t a fan of Nationals Park when I was there a couple years ago. Dull architecture with too much… er… Metal, I guess. Makes for too much gray, like you said.
Wayne Rooney, 1/27/10: Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Man
Green and Gold Till the Club is Sold- LUHG
Yeah, I felt the same way when I was there earlier this year. It was a nice, clean stadium but had absolutely no character.
Adopted brother of Jason Jarvis.
It would have been better if they could have figured out a way to make the Capital building a prominent part of the sightlines — instead, it’s blocked by a perpetually unfinished condo building. The Washington Monument which could be seen if they pointed the stadium that direction can really only be seen from the upper deck in the RF corner.
Those are the two biggest flaws to me, but they didn’t have alot to work with from a site perspective (two huge ugly industrial buildings blocked a lot of the view when it was first constructed) and it was the only site they were going to get in the city (the next possibility was out by Dulles which would have been a deathknell I think). If they can start getting crowds and get some development in the area at least it can hopefully become a fun area of town to be. I remember when I first moved to DC the area where the Verizon Center now is (SOMA! because apparently every city must have a __MA) was entirely populated by empty parking lots and quarter porn palaces, (plus of course the legendarily scummy and totally awesome original 9:30 club).
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
I was talking to my friend about that on Saturday, and (at least from what he said) when the park was first built, you could at least see the Washington Monument from there, if nothing else. But then they built a parking structure right in front of the view, and now no one else can see it. On the other side of the park is the Anacostia River, and it would have been cool if they had built the park to have a view of the River, but I guess they had other plans.
Also known to haunt as theghostoftravisdenker and theaccidentalghostofsergioromo.
Adopted parent of good old Wendell, he tries so hard. You'll get a hit someday son!
by theghostofjasonellison on Jul 12, 2010 8:33 AM PDT up reply actions
Yeah, I don’t know for sure, but i’m guessing that there was just an inherent assumption that the stadium should be pointed towards the mall and away from Anacostia because of long held biases about the city - tourists head to the mall and everybody tries to stay away from Anacostia. But in the end they didn’t get any touristy views of the monuments and the river and the Navy Yards would have made the better orientation I think (especially with the National Harbor running boats to and from the stadium which now dock at what feels like the butt end of the stadium).
My recent trips to Camden Yards have really enforced for me how lucky the Giants are to have the waterway there outside the wall preventing anything from ever disrupting the view. Because for my taste the pleasures of Camden were badly compromised when a giant Hilton got built across the street that’s blocked the view of downtown Baltimore that was originally such a part of the place’s charm. You see to see the BromoSelzter tower and nice skyline. Now you see a big hotel — not the same experience.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
That’s too bad about Camden. I’ve been really looking forward to going there. I’ve only lived out here for almost a year, and this is the first baseball season in my time on the east coast, so I’m trying to head to some new ballparks. I was looking forward to Camden.
It’s really too bad about how they built Nationals’ Stadium. If they could have gotten some of the monuments as a view from the park, it would easily be one of the most picturesque views of any stadium in the country. It doesn’t help that they seemed to run out of funding for the buildings around the park; that area isn’t exactly the best area to be in when there isn’t a ball game going on.
Also known to haunt as theghostoftravisdenker and theaccidentalghostofsergioromo.
Adopted parent of good old Wendell, he tries so hard. You'll get a hit someday son!
by theghostofjasonellison on Jul 12, 2010 3:34 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah well that was a bit of bad timing as the redevelopment collided head on with the recession. Hopefully time will repair that. As I say the Verizon Center was put in one of the scummiest areas of the city and really that didn’t change for a good solid 5-6 years.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
What happened to the crime when the Verizon Center helped build up that area? Did it centralize in SW and SE DC or did it just spread further out? I don’t know that much about the city outside of when I’ve been here, and I just know the places I probably shouldn’t be in at night. Do you think, if that area gets built up like the Chinatown area was, that it’ll all shift mostly to the SW, or that it’ll just spread out further outside of the city?
Also known to haunt as theghostoftravisdenker and theaccidentalghostofsergioromo.
Adopted parent of good old Wendell, he tries so hard. You'll get a hit someday son!
by theghostofjasonellison on Jul 12, 2010 9:52 PM PDT up reply actions
I think it depends on the type of crime and what the economy does. In the case of the Verizon center, most of that area was the old red light district, and those businesses were mostly killed off by home video and the domestication of the porn industry. What petty crime hung in the periphery moved to other similar mileau I guess. The prostitution that used to be common and obvious on 14th Street has mostly been driven more underground, partly through police efforts but also because, like the porn, technology is creating more efficient and lucrative transactions than streetwalking provided (though I’m sure there’s more of that than I’m aware of, too — I don’t stay out on the town late the way I used to).
In the case of Nats stadium, that sits fairly close to what used to be a public housing complex that was home to a notorious open air drug market and which had all the subsequent violent and fairly random crime that helped make DC the murder capital on the country in the late 80s. What happened to that crime is harder to say. Some moved south and east in PG County, and some even over to the affluent burbs of No Va. And some genuinely dissipated (DC is not near as violent as it was 20 years ago).
With Homeland Security planning a huge new complex across the Anacostia River it’s possible that one of these days they’ll have moved most of the worst criminal mileaus completely into Maryland, but obviously like poverty it’ll always be around.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
Hah yeah, I’m living in PG county now, and it’s not a place I’d go out in at night.
Also known to haunt as theghostoftravisdenker and theaccidentalghostofsergioromo.
Adopted parent of good old Wendell, he tries so hard. You'll get a hit someday son!
by theghostofjasonellison on Jul 13, 2010 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions
Hah yeah, I’m living in PG county now, and it’s not a place I’d go out in at night.
Also known to haunt as theghostoftravisdenker and theaccidentalghostofsergioromo.
Adopted parent of good old Wendell, he tries so hard. You'll get a hit someday son!
by theghostofjasonellison on Jul 13, 2010 12:57 PM PDT up reply actions
from the descriptions and the pics, this looks a lot like Target Field in a different color schema (except the view is probably better)
This is exactly what I thought looking at the pictures.
My adopted son is RHP Steve Edlefsen, no longer above Gerald Posey on the catching depth chart!
Looks better than a few of the new ball parks like DBacks, Mets and Yankees (at least it does on TV).
Proud father of 2-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum
"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." - John Wooden
I haven't been to DC yet
But I disagree about the D’backs park. For a roofed stadium (it HAS to have a roof there with the heat) it’s a really neat ball park. The park is well-layed out, has good sightlines and is fun to walk about. When the roof and back walls are open, it really doesn’t feel like a dome. It’s much more of a “convertible” than a “sun roof”.
Also, I’ve only seen the new Mets yard from the outside, but it has some gorgeous architecture. And from the pics and TV, the inside looks nice as well.
Proudly adopted Aubrey Huff. You can't beat that!
Citi Field is pretty nice, but a little cramped, IMO, and winds up feeling a little bowl-like to me. Also being in the middle of nowhere in Queens is a bit of a bummer. I get that you can’t always pick any location you want for a ballpark, bit it’s a bummer to have a park in New York that looks and feels like it could be anywhere. It’s like it has no locational context.
by sakbaum on Jul 13, 2010 2:14 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
The entrance to the Nats yard looks like the front gate at Disneyland.
RED SIX!!!!!!!!!
Dearest, Susan - The Patron Saint of Patience
by Lars The Wanderer on Jul 11, 2010 6:47 PM PDT reply actions
Chris, did you actually get to talk to Orange Guy? After you guys left we went down and grabbed a spot near him and he struck up a conversation when he saw we were Giants fans. What a character. One part of his outfit that we hadn’t noticed was this orange sort of keffiyeh that he pulled out and wrapped around his face like a guerrilla whenever anybody wanted to take a picture with him (which happened about 4 times in the two innings we were there). Also, he said that #9 jersey he kept waving when Burrell came up was really old and he had no idea what #9 it referred to, but he wanted to get on TV so he pretended it was a Burrell jersey. He clearly should have been the fan of the game weekend.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
I did talk to Orange Guy, but just for a few minutes. I went up to him on Sunday and asked him if I could snap his picture. I told him that we were all impressed by his style and I asked him if he was burning up in that jumpsuit. He seemed like a pretty nice guy.
The Burrell jersey thing was pretty funny. When he PH’d in the game all you could hear from the Red Loft area was “Burrelllllllllll” /flaps jersey
Ask me about my blog.
Nice pics. I went to a Nationals/Rockies game there earlier this year, and also had a great time. I hope to catch the Giants series next year as I’ll be in the area as a college student.
I am an American aquarium drinker.
Adopted Giant: Daryl "Dealio" Maday - Congrats on the big call-up to Fresno! Now, try not to have a 7.50 ERA after you make your next start.
haha awesome, i went to UC Davis with orange guy, he just linked me to the thread. he’s a pretty hilarious guy.
FREE BUSTER
by TimLincecumIsGod on Jul 11, 2010 9:01 PM PDT reply actions
I went to Nationals Park last year, and I saw (what looked to be) the presidential helicopter flying past. That was kind of cool. Other than that, I guess I’d echo others that it was nice and clean, but a bit bland. I do remember liking some of the baseball history stuff they had around the park, but I don’t know how it compares to most other parks (I’ve only been to a few).
Great pics!
I want to hire the Teddy Roosevelt mascot for my son’s first birthday party.
"I could hear the angry MCC cacophany in my head."--Oldjacket, 7/4/10
Nice report
We went to the very last Nationals game played at RFK. We look forward to getting out to the new yard one of these days.
Nice that you met up with Roger. He and I tried to meet up last time Mrs. Goffus and I were there, but schedules were crazy with the inauguration. (I also think he might have feared I would spontaneously start dancing and embarass him in public.)
Proudly adopted Aubrey Huff. You can't beat that!
Fortunately, Xanthan and Mrs. X did a fine job of proving to my wife that people you meet on the internet aren’t creepy at all! With that hurdle crossed, I’m sure the long-delayed meetup with the Goofusses can now proceed as planned.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
Fortunately, Xanthan and Mrs. X did a fine job of proving to my wife that people you meet on the internet aren’t creepy at all!
/works on Roger hairdoll
Ask me about my blog.
In my case, that wouldn’t be much of a doll.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
No comment on Goofus but Mrs. Goofus is a really classy lady (2nd part isn’t sarcasm).
Proud father of 2-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum
"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." - John Wooden
The parenthetical statement was sarcastic.
Utter frustration and futility.
Adopted 'nephew' to the ever avuncular and always awesome Jon Miller
by Johnny Disaster on Jul 16, 2010 12:05 PM PDT up reply actions
Great pictures! I went on Saturday too, it was a pretty fun game to see. Though I didn’t check out that statue. I’ll have to next time I’m there. The Presidents race was pretty hilarious though.
Also known to haunt as theghostoftravisdenker and theaccidentalghostofsergioromo.
Adopted parent of good old Wendell, he tries so hard. You'll get a hit someday son!
by theghostofjasonellison on Jul 12, 2010 8:36 AM PDT reply actions
Thanks for the pictures and words… I think the work-release jumpsuit may have been reasonably comfortable if it was all he was wearing (in addition to being free and easy).
Utter frustration and futility.
Adopted 'nephew' to the ever avuncular and always awesome Jon Miller
by Johnny Disaster on Jul 12, 2010 12:58 PM PDT reply actions
That would make for a dangerous front zipper though.
I feel prickishly demanding!
I couldn't be prouder of my recent adoptee - Tim Lincecum's dealer. He provides the secret fuel behind both Cy Youngs. Also, he taught Timmy the change-up.
by giantsfansince1981 on Jul 12, 2010 4:30 PM PDT up reply actions
Engineering is all about tradeoffs.
Utter frustration and futility.
Adopted 'nephew' to the ever avuncular and always awesome Jon Miller
by Johnny Disaster on Jul 12, 2010 5:06 PM PDT up reply actions
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