Nationals Do It Again…Blow a Late Lead in Loss to Padres

Believe it or not, the Washington Nationals did it again. Going into the bottom of the eighth with a 4-1 lead, the San Diego Padres pushed across four runs and held on for a 5-4 victory. I kid you not.

Tonight’s game started out as a pitcher’s duel. The score was 1-0 Nationals through the first five innings.

The lone run for the Nats was scored in the top of the second inning courtesy of Yohandy Morales’ home run, his second of the season.

Washington added a couple runs in the top of the sixth. With one out, Abimelec Ortiz doubled to right field. With two outs, CJ Abrams walked. Both runners came home on a double off the bat of Brady House. 3-0 Nationals.

The Padres finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh. Manny Machado and Ty France led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Jackson Merrill brough Machado home with a sacrifice fly to center field. 3-1 Nats.

The Nationals got that run back in the top of the eighth. With one out, Andres Chaparro smack a home run to left field. It was Chaparro’s tenth of the season. 4-1 good guys.

San Diego loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th on three straight walks to Xander Bogaerts, Freddy Fermin, and Fernando Tatis. Austin Hays then hit a sac fly to right field, scoring Bogaerts. Manny Machado followed with a single to center field, scoring Fermin and Tatis. Game tied 4-4.

Could it get any worse? Yes, it could. Luis Campusano then singled to right field, scoring

Machado. 5-4 Padres. And that’s how it ended…

Riley Cornelio started for the Nationals tonight. He pitched a hit free three innings with four strikeouts. In what became what you call a “bullpen game”, three relievers followed Cornelio with each pitching an inning or two. Zak Kent, Yovanny Cruz and Clayton Beeter surrendered only a single run through the seventh inning.

And then disaster struck. Recent call-up, Jared Simpson, who made his major league debut on September 1st, took the mound in the bottom of the eighth and promptly issued three straight walks. Erik Tolman, another recent addition to the team, then finished the inning giving up three hits and the lead.

Another disappointing evening for the Nationals. What more can you say and still stay positive?

Game three of the series is tomorrow afternoon in San Diego. It starts at 4:10 ET.

Dave’s Dime…MLB Stadiums Ranked…

I found an article on the MLB app that rated all thirty Major League stadiums from worst to first. Now I’m no expert. I’ve only been to a few of the current stadiums on this list: Coors Field in Denver; Rate Field, where the White Sox call home; Comerica Park in Detroit; Kauffman Stadium, the home of the Royals; and the iconic home of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field. I can obviously give my opinion on those five ballparks, but I’m relying on the people in the know helping us with the rest.

So, let’s take a short tour of all these places and try to figure out why the experts placed them where they did. We will talk about stadiums 30 through 16 today and the top fifteen stadiums tomorrow. With the short attention spans we all have these days, going over all thirty stadiums in one sitting might be stretching it a bit.

Let us begin…

30. Sutter Health Park…Now this one should be no surprise because this is actually a minor league park. It’s the temporary home of the once Oakland A’s, soon to be Las Vegas A’s. The A’s have been playing at this park, which is in Sacramento, California, for the past two years. Sutter Health Park does not get a lot of love from the A’s players. It’s called a “bandbox”, a term given to stadiums with small dimensions that are great places to swing for the fences. The players also complain because their clubhouse is in left field, and they bake in the sun during day games. Plus, the clubhouse has no air conditioning. They don’t have many fans, and it just doesn’t feel like home. However, this is thankfully just a short-term thing, and their new digs in Las Vegas should be ready for occupancy in 2028.

29. Tropicana Field…The home of the Tampa Bay Rays is hurricane prone. The team actually had to move to a different stadium while Tropicana Field was being pretty much re-built last year after Hurricane Milton tore off the stadium’s roof in 2024. It’s thought of today as horribly outdated. But the good news is that a new ownership group is trying to keep the Rays in the Tampa Bay area. I hope they can.

28. Chase Field…The current home of the Arizona Diamondbacks was recently granted $500 million for stadium upgrades from Gov. Katie Hobbs. That should help take care of some badly needed improvements. Like a major update to the HVAC system. Duh! The first big project was the installation of a huge LED scoreboard that has delighted the fans.

It doesn’t take much to delight people these days, as long as it has flashing lights and is loud.

27. Rate Field…I visiting this home of the Chicago White Sox in the summer of 2025. It’s kind of what you’d expect from the least favorite baseball team in Chicago. Not a lot of frills. I didn’t mind, though, I just loved being in a major league stadium. There are plans, however, to build a new stadium in the near future. Let’s hope that happens.

26. loanDepot Park…Home of the Miami, Marlins, the stadium was rocking during the World Baseball Classic, but is normally so empty that you have to keep your voice down while talking on your cell phone. It’s kind of lifeless when the Marlins are there. Nothing stands out since they moved the fishtanks, which were behind home plate, to outside the stadium in 2022. The stadium lacks pizzazz.

25. Nationals Park…Home of our beloved Washington, Nationals. Broadcasters’ main complaint it that the press box is so far away from the actual field that they have to look at their monitors in order to call the game. I’m quoting the article now… “this park has just always felt very meh.”

24. American Family Field…Home to the Milwaukee Brewers. Back in 2023, a public-private

partnership deal was put in place that will keep the Brewers in this park through the 2050 season. The tax-payers in Wisconsin are all chipping in to pay the $500 million for “maintenance and upgrades”. Was that something they voted on?

23. Globe Life Field…This is another field, like loanDepot, that’s good for hosting neutral-site events, but there’s nothing about the stadium that cries “home of the Texas Rangers!” Most people familiar with this stadium harken back to the former “Ballpark in Arlington,” which was the Rangers’ home from 1994-2019. This new Globe Life Field is best described as a “warehouse.”

22. Great American Ball Park…With a name like that, it’s got to be good. This home of the Cincinnati Reds is considered the most home run friendly park after Coors Field. There is a possibility of upgrades in its future. Hamilton County has paid out $464,000 to some company for an assessment of the current ball park. What? An assessment? Can’t anyone who attends a game do that for the price of a general admission ticket?

21. Daikin Park…Home of the Houston Astros. Most complaints center around the roof being closed too often. Of course, in hot weather cities like Phoenix and Miami, the roofs are closed most of the time. But it seems like Houston closes the roof when it’s not that hot or humid. It must be easier just to keep it closed. Isn’t baseball supposed to be played outside? Also, what is a Daikin? Sounds like a pickle.

20. Angel Stadium…One of the older ballparks in the majors, Angel Stadium, home of the California Angels, has been around since 1966. However, there’s a lot going on this year concerning the stadium’s future. A land purchase that would have been the Angels’ new home fell through, so now everything is focused on keeping the franchise where it is. They are evaluating, assessing, and determining whether or not the Angels can continue playing where they currently are. If it’s determined they cannot continue to play at Angel Stadium, what’s next? Stay tuned…if you’re an Angel’s fan. If you’re not, I guess it’s not that big of a deal.

19. Target Field…This home stadium of the Minnesota Twins replaced the monstrosity known as the Metrodome back in 2010, and it’s already due for some upgrades. This article states that the biggest upgrade the Twins could accomplish is getting rid of its current owners. Wow…

18. Comerica Park…Home of the Detroit Tigers. I saw a game here in 2022. I liked it. It had a great atmosphere and those Tiger statues outside the north gate are a sight to see. I have some pictures of those statues on my phone. Let me know if you’d like to look at them.

17. Kauffman Stadium…This has been Kansas City’s home park since 1973. I saw Bo Jackson play here in 1988. Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chiefs, is right next door. It’s still considered a nice stadium, but it’s starting to show its age. The stands behind home plate and up the base lines to first and third need replacing. And the Chiefs are planning a move to their new stadium somewhere in the actual State of Kansas in 2030.

16. Rogers Centre…You can tell by the weird spelling of “centre” that this is the home of the

Toronto Blue Jays. This stadium received a pretty decent review from the experts. It’s one of the few stadiums that still feels bright and full of life with the roof closed. It sure seems like a lot of stadiums are domed these days. In Toronto a domed stadium was deemed necessary because of the colder weather in early spring and later in the fall.

So, there’s the bottom fifteen entries in our list. How many have you been to?

We’ll review the better half tomorrow.