Kj’s Baseball Collection: Cristian Guzman Autograph

One of the things we were given as part of our unique experience at the Nationals Park was a baseball signed by Cristian Guzman. The ball is an official unused one that Cristian Guzman signed on one side. There may be no design to the ball, but the autograph makes it much more special than any design ball. It is my favorite ball of the trip and it will go great next to my favorite ball in my collection back home. The favorite ball I have ever gotten is one my mom’s friend got signed by Jon Rauch for me. That ball has the Nationals Park Inaugural Season logo on it and Jon Rauch was the winning pitcher for the Inaugural Game at the park and I was at that game. Now I have a ball signed by the player that got the first hit and scored the first run at Nationals Park in that same game.

Kj’s Baseball Collection: Nationals Park

At the Nats game I got a Nationals Park baseball for my collection. It has one strip that has a field view image. In the middle of the image is the Nationals Park circle logo that says Nationals Park, Washington, D.C. and has an image of the ballpark with the Capitol and Washington Monument in the background. The other strip is red and has a white curly W logo on one side and a Washington Nationals logo on the other side.

Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: Red Nationals

The mini bat Mik chose at the Nationals was a red colored one. It has a small curly W Nationals logo.

Mik’s Food Scrapbook: Nationals Park

The first thing Mik got when we got inside Nationals Park was a pretzel hot dog from Noah’s Pretzels. He thought it was okay, but the ones from Pretzelmaker are better. He certainly would have skipped it all together if he had known we would end up sitting in the Diamond Club with the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Mik was kind of full from the pretzel dog, but when he noticed they had chicken pot pie he had to have it. Pot Pie is one of his all time favorite foods. He said the crust was different than he is used to, but it was way better than having a hot dog. There are only two things he has had at ballparks on this trip that rate better than the pot pie. One was the pierogis at PNC Park.

The other thing that was better than the pot pie was the cookies he had for dessert in the Diamond Club. He really enjoyed the peanut butter ones. He also liked the chocolate peanut butter chip ones. He also tried a bite of my lemon bar. He thought it was okay, but he enjoyed the cookies way more.

Game 26: Chicago Cubs 6 @ Washington Nationals 5

Tonight was the third game in three days, which is the third time it has happened on the trip even though it was originally planned to only happen twice. We left the campground around 11am after getting there around 8:30am and setting up camp. We parked the car at the end of the Green line and took the Metro into D.C. to go to the National Museum of American History before heading to the game. That did not really kill much time as it was too crowded to enjoy and I am spoiled from experiencing the D.C. museums mostly in the off season in the middle of the week. Thus we still got to the game about an hour before the gates opened, but that gave us time to hit the gift shop before the park opened.

Once the park opened we waited another hour for the part of the park where our seats were to open up. Mik was surprisingly really into this game from the start and it only got better. For one someone gave him a ball during batting practice, which is his third of the trip. Then not long after we got to our seats the lady that manages the Diamond Club, Marj Hopkins, came to tell us she had passes for us and reserved us a table there for the game. She had seen the stickers on the car while we were driving to the Metro earlier in the day and asked us where we were sitting for the game. She said she worked at the park and would come and see us at the game, but I never imagined it would lead to such an awesome experience, which of course meant even more to me being a Nats fan, although both Mik and Dad enjoyed it as well.

The Diamond Club seats included an all you can eat buffet until the end of the 5th inning and drinks. It was amazing and way better than the normal ballpark food. More on it later in a Mik’s Food Scrapbook post, but for now I will say my favorite was the salads that included a variety of tomatoes and Mik loved the cookies and pot pie.

The buffet part and drinks were cool and probably Mik’s favorite, but the seats themselves were totally awesome. We had a table located behind home plate. It was a perfect place to see the whole game, scoreboard, and the President's Race (Lincoln won by the way). It was also great for scoring the game because I could have the scorebook on the table rather than balancing it on my lap. Even Mik enjoyed watching some of the game between innings on his PSP baseball game, which believe me has not happened much on this trip except the first game when we saw the Diamondbacks.

You would think the awesome seat upgrades to the Diamond Club would have been the end to our surprises for the day, but it was not. We were also presented with two Nationals backpacks. Both had a t-shirt and a beach towel in them. One had a ball signed by Christian Guzman and the other had a bat signed by Austin Kearns.

The game itself was also an exciting one with a lot of hitting by both teams. The Nats had the lead first with two runs in the first and two more in the second. The Cubs began to come back with two runs in the third. They then took the lead with three runs in the 6th and padded their lead with another run in the 8th. The Nats had several chance to come back included several bases loaded situations, but they only managed to score one more run in the 8th and ended up losing 5 to 6. It was sad to see the Nats lose, but at the same time it is not that sad because I am still partially a Cubs fan and Dad and Mik were both rooting for the Cubs. At least the Nats put effort into it and did not make it an easy win for the Cubs.

Overall today was an awesome experience at Nationals Park. It was certainly an experience I never expected. I definitely did not expect it to happen on this trip and never expected to get the opportunity to sit where we did, although I have seen the Diamond Club on the park tour before. It is not the same to see it on the tour, as to actually get to experience the game from it. Obviously experiencing the game from here is way better. Getting the bat and ball signed by two great Nats players was also a wonderful surprise.

Any Nats game makes the game one of my favorites on the trip even though they lost, but the experience we had made it near the top of the list in experiences on this trip for all of us. It not the same as seeing Hank Aaron or the Greg Maddux number retirement, but those are historical things everyone at the game experienced. This, however, was an unique experience that made the game extra special just for us and that makes it up there on the same level of highlights of the trip.

Thanks Marj for a fun, unique, and very memorable experience at Nationals Park!

Game 1: Washington Nationals 2 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 1

The first game of the trip was a great one in my opinion, as my team won. Mik was a little disappointed, but he really got into the ninth inning when the Dbacks scored 1 run and had a shot of winning. He mostly played his DS and PSP during the game, but in the bottom of the 9th he shut it off and even said "This is exciting." That's the best I could hope for, especially after his close to annoying complaining of wanting to leave as early as the 7th mainly because the Dbacks were losing.

Honestly, I did not expect the Nats to win, as they have not been great this season and I think today's win makes it the first time this season they have won three in a row and they still are the worst team in baseball. I also expected it to be a hitter's game with lots of run, which seems to happen a lot when the Nats are involved in a game. Instead it was an interesting low run game, although I would not exactly call it a pitcher's duel with the Nats starting pitcher, Lannan, walking about one Dback an inning and a decent amount of hits from both teams. Nevertheless it was a fun game to watch and a great start to the trip.

The seats we had in section 105 were not too bad. The scoreboard was kind of hard to see, but not impossible. The one thing that annoyed me a little is the bar in front of the handicap seats that are right in the line of sight for watching the game if you are short. It really is a poor design thing in my opinion, especially for those in wheelchairs that cannot really stand up and try to get that out of their view when something really exciting happens. Unfortunately, that is pretty standard for handicap seating as far as I have experienced. Of course, Mik does not mind, as he mostly played his video games and actually found he could lean forward and get a good sight line below the bar. It is the only time I do not bug him for not sitting up straight. I kind of felt like this bar was a little higher than most other areas, though, because it never seemed to bug me as much. Or perhaps it is all the non-handicap seats I sat in last year at the Nats and got used to no people or bars in my sight line.

Besides the helmet sundae and Mik's meatball sandwich we had some other good food. I had a good veggie wrap and also had an interesting Green Apple Jolly Ranger Slushie. More on the food to hopefully come in the form of Mik's Food Review, which is a category I going to try to get Mik to consistently help post to or at least post the food scrapbook photos from this trip to.

Right now I am posting as we drive back to Tucson using the handy USB Internet thing for my laptop. It works pretty good, but not too great for trying to upload a bunch of photos, so I will get the rest of the photos from the game uploaded later. I will try to remember to update (here or a new post) when I do, but the photos will be uploaded in the album that can be seen if you click the photos in this post.

Now just 12 more days until the real road trip part of the trip begins. Today was just a small taste of the trip and I am totally excited for the actual trip begin. I sort of wish it was sooner, but then again there is still a lot I need to take care of at home before we hit the road for two and a half months.

Update 5/10/09: The photos I took at the ballpark and the game are now all uploaded here. They can also be seen in the album you get to by clicking the photos in the post.

Waiting for Game to Start

We got to Nats @ Dbacks game way early. We even got the gift shop shopping out of the way before they closed to prepare for opening for the game. I got a cool baseball that has a street map of Phoenix downtown marking where Chase Field is. Mik has probably 5 or more Dbacks mini bats in his collection already, but he found a black one on homestand special to add to the collection. They also had some World Baseball Classic 09 stuff on sale. I got two balls and Mik got a mini bat from that section. Lastly I got a cool Chase Field postcard that has spots on the back for putting the game info like final score. I am mailing that with a Take Me Out to the Ballgame stamp for my postmarked postcard collection.

The park finally opened at 3pm. On the way to our seats I got a helmet sundae. I am going to try to collect one from each team when we are at their ballpark. Mik already got a meatball sandwich, but we will probably have dinner later as we are still full from lunch at Sonic. Now we are waiting for the game to start. About another 30 minutes to go.

Go Nats!!!!!!

And from Mik: Go Dbacks!!!!!!!!!!!

Nats Final Home Game Rained Out

Today I went to the final Nationals game of the 2008 season. I was really hoping to actually see a live game, but the game ended up being canceled because of rain, which by the way was for the most part pretty minimal sprinkling. I did wait around for the two hours it took them to call the game canceled and watched the Cubs game, which they put up on the big scoreboard screen, but that is not as good as a live game. Oh well, maybe, they will let me trade the tickets in for 2009 game tickets or at least give me a refund since they certainly did not do anything. See my post about the rain out on my D.C. blog here.

Florida Marlins @ Washington Nationals Game Wrap Up

Today I went to the Nats game with my mom since she could be here today, but will not be able to stay for the final home game of the season on Thursday, which I have tickets to. Today ended up being a good choice. For one, it was T-shirt Tuesday and I now have two Final Homestand of the 2008 Inaugural Season t-shirts. Secondly, the Nationals actually won. It was an overall good game and way more enjoyable as a Nats fan than Sunday's game. Read my full wrap up on my D.C. blog here. Also, click on the thumbnail photos below to see the whole gallery of photos I took at the game.

Padres @ Nats Game Wrap Up

Today I went to the Padres @ Nationals game as the final game that came in my partial season ticket package. It was not a good game if you are a Nats fan like me, as the Nats lost 6-2, but at least they got on the board including a home run by Ryan Zimmerman. Plus, I picked up my free leftover promo item of a Panda Webkinz. Also, blogging from my phone worked out good. Anyways, I have a more full game wrap up on my D.C. blog here.

Click thumbnails below to see the whole gallery of photos I took at the game.

Washington Nationals Picnic in the Park

This season I had Nationals Season Tickets, which my parents got me for my birthday last year. Today there was a Season Ticket holder event at the Nationals Park. It was not all that interesting, but there was autograph stations with pretty minimal lines and I got some autographs of some Nats players and the pitching coach. They also had photo stations, but I did not really care about waiting in line for that. I am definitely more excited about going to the Padres game tomorrow and the final home game on Thursday.