Burnt End Bomber: Hey, I went to Nationals Park!

The Burnt End Bomber attended the eventually-rained-out Cardinals-Gnats game on Wednesday night. Here is his summary...

I arrived at Nationals Stadium Wednesday night after two short hops on the Metro. The park is aligned with the street that passes the Navy Yard Metro stop. I got there about six and the grounds crew was taking up the tarp and working on wet spots in the infield. Severe weather had
blown through the area at about 3pm and there was a death reported from a large tree landing on a car.

I walked the full circuit of the park checking all the food choices. Since the bottom concourse goes completely around the stadium, I came back to where I started and I settled on a BBQ beef sandwich (being a BBQ exppert) as everthing else was usual fare. An Dominion Ale was the beverage of choice. The nice ladies at the beer kiosk let me taste it and the Fordham Ale before I ordered. The sandwich was good, although an optional cole slaw topping was included in a little side plastic cup, which insulted my midwestern sensibilities. I'll tolerate it on pulled pork, but never on beef! The potato salad was excellent.

After getting my beer I noticed the tarp was back on the field. I ate my dinner and explored the other levels of the ballpark. It is a very nice facility and all of the seats have great sight lines and feel close to the field. The area around the park has a long ways to go, especiallyon the river side, where there is a streets materials depot with big piles of rock, sand, and asphalt. The depot also feathured a huge pool of water the shade ones sees in abandoned copper mines. The west side of the stadium has some older townhousesthat appear to have some fresh paint. Some blocks are semi-vacant and the projects appear to be a few blocks further west. I walked from foul pole to foul pole on two levels to kill time and calories.

The finest feature of the stadium is it was designed to afford the first base side upper decks a great view of the Capitol dome. Unfortunately, the District of Columbia in its infinite wisdom has allowed three, ten story buildings to be built a couple of blocks to the north, all but obstructing the view. If one stands on the concourse on the west side there is a nice view sweeping from the George Washington Masonic Memorial tower in Alexandria to the Washington Monument to (if you lean over the railing) the Capitol dome ).

While enjoying this view I noticed more lightning to the west and overhear someone say Manassas (20 miles to the west) was under a tornado watch. I took that as my cue to leave. I headed down the very long ramp and just as I hit the centerfield concourse the heavens split and the deluge began. I donned my Kansas Jayhawk poncho and flew up the street. I was soaked from the thighs down and my shoes filled with water but none drained out. My feet might have been drier if I had taken off the shoes and socks. Although my timing was a bit off on the weather all, I did beat everyone else to the Metro as the deluge had them trapped in the stadium.

CONSOLATION - Albert Pujols was taking the night off.

UNBELIEVEABLE E-TICKET note: My $18 ticket ended up costing $27.25 with taxes, handling and service charges. I PRINTED THE DAMN TICKET OUT AT HOME! They should have paid ME $4.