Sunday, June 21, 2009

Toronto @ Washington, Friday 6/19/09


Friday I get up early for the close to 7-hour drive from Cooperstown to the Brannon household in Alexandria, VA. My vacation is sadly coming to a close. Just a couple more days left. Left at 8:00am and pulled into their driveway about 2:40pm. Hung around on their back patio and drank a few of James's homebrewed creations. Sadly the Brannons had a charity dinner to attend, so it was planned to be a solo game for me. But no. At about 4:00 I hit the Metro to meet Kimberly in DC. Yes, she was in town for some legislative visits, so she offered to meet me for the Nationals game and celebrate it as a birthday present. Nothing beats birthday baseball. I try to hit up a game either on my birthday proper or as close to it as I can. Baseball brings me joy.

I told her that it's my birthday and I was going to get some primo seats as a treat, and she didn't need to pony up for them. She would have none of that argument. We got 4th row behind the Nationals dugout. I have never been as close as we were that night for a major league game. Ever. It was absolutely incredible. Wow.

Made sure to get there by 5:30 for the 7:00 game. Wanted to walk around and take in as much of the park we I could. Plus, there was the added bonus of my favorite DC hangout Ben's Chili Bowl having a stand at the park. Delicious. Engorged myself on a chili cheeseburger plus chili cheese fries. I was a mess. Beards hold cheese like a sponge.

The draw for Kimberly for the game was fireworks. Friday night fireworks. However, the game went into extra innings. 11 innings specifically. There apparently is some ordinance or a gentleman's agreement that if the game runs past 10:50pm, there would be no fireworks display. The game ended at 11:00pm. No fireworks. Curses. Still, pay for 9 innings and get 2 free? Sweet! And to have the home team win in extras? Even sweeter.




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