Nationals Fall Short against D-Backs 3-2

Friday, July 25th.

The Washington Nationals fell short in the opener of an important three-game series

against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks, losing 3 to 2.

Arizona started the scoring in the top of the 2nd. Max Kepler led off the inning with a double

to center field. Tyler Locklear followed with a walk. The two were bunted to 2nd and 3rd by

Adrian Del Castillo. Tim Tawa managed a bunt single that plated Kepler. Locklear then

scored on a force out off the bat of Ketel Marte. Diamondbacks up 2-0.

The Nats broke through in the bottom of the 4th, tying up the game after CJ Adams ran out

an infield single and was followed by a home run off the bat of Dylan Crews, his 8th.

The game stayed tied until the top of the 7th. Ketel Marte singled to right field and was sent

to second on a single off the bat of Corbin Carroll. Geraldo Perdomo walked, loading the

bases. Gabriel Moreno scored Marte with a sacrifice fly to deep left field. 3-2 D-Backs.

And the Nationals went down 1-2-3 in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings to end the game.

Eduardo Rodriguez went 6 strong innings for Arizona, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits with 4

strikeouts. Three relievers all pitched a single inning surrendering not a single hit and

striking out 1 batter apiece.

A tough loss for sure. Game 2 is tomorrow afternoon at 4:05 ET.

Big Win for Nats over D-Backs 5-3

Saturday, July 26th

Foster Griffin went 6 2/3 innings giving up 6 hits and 3 runs and CJ Abrams went 3 for 4 with

his 25th home run and 3 RBIs to lead the Nationals to a series tying 5-3 victory. Abrams

home run tied him with Ian Desmond for the National’s record home run total for a

shortstop. A record I’m sure will be all Abrams’ fairly soon.

The D-Backs led off the scoring in the top of the 3rd as Ryan Waldschmidt started it off with

a single and Corbin Carroll was hit by a pitch. Gerald Perdomo laid down a sacrifice bunt

pushing Waldschmidt to 3rd and Carroll to 2nd. Garbriel Moreno singled to center scoring

both baserunners. 2-0 Arizona.

The Nationals came back strong in the bottom of the inning as Curtis Mead walked and

went to 3rd on a double courtesy of Andres Chaparro. CJ Abrams came through with

another double to center scoring both Mean and Chaparro. Abrams was later thrown out

trying to steal 3rd base. Dylan Crews walked and Jacob Young singled to center sending

Crews to 2nd base. Daylen Lile then ripped a triple to right field scoring Crews and Young.

4-2 good guys.

CJ Abrams led off the bottom of the 5th with his 25th home run over the center field fence. 5

2 Washington.

Arizona got one back in the top of the 7th as Tim Tawa doubled to left and came home off a

single by James McCann. 5-3 Nationals.

Relievers Eddy Yean and Clayton Beeter held the Diamondbacks scoreless over the final 2

2/3 innings for a much-needed Nationals’ victory. Series is now tied 1 apiece with the final

game tomorrow afternoon.

The Nationals did make an interesting trade this afternoon sending Curtis Mead to the Red

Sox for rookie pitcher Connelly Early. Mead was having a good season with the Nats batting

.254 with 17 home runs and 48 RBIs in 87 games. The 24-year-old Early is currently on the

15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation. He pitched an inning of simulation

yesterday and should be on the Nationals’ 40-man roster very soon. He first pitched for the

Red Sox last year and has shown he has what it takes to be a great addition to the Nats’

pitching staff. Let’s hope he’s ready to go in the next few days.

Abrams, Wood, Lead Nats to Victory 10-7 Sunday, July 26th

Two home runs each off the bats of the Nationals’ All-Stars CJ Abrams and James Wood led Washington to a 10-7 victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks. And what an important victory it was! Scoring came early in this contest as the Diamondbacks pushed across a run in the top of the 1st as Geraldo Perdomo walked and came home courtesy of a double off the bat of Gabriel Moreno. 1-0 D-Backs. The Nats tied it up in the bottom of the 2nd as Brady House doubled to right field and came home when Jacob Young followed with a single to center. House was recalled earlier today from Triple A Rochester due to yesterday’s trade of Curtis Mead to Boston. The D-Backs went back on top in the 3rd when Geraldo Perdomo homered to right field, his 8th for the year. 2-1 Arizona. The Nationals tied it in the bottom of the inning as CJ Abrams hit his 26h home run to center field. 2-2 tie. The Nationals’ record for home runs in a seaon by a short stop is now all his. Well, that tie didn’t last long as Arizona’s Ketel Marte led off the top of the 4th with his 19th home run to center. 3-2 D-Backs. The D-Backs got another run across in the top of the 5th. Corbin Carroll doubled and came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Gabriel Moreno. 4-2 Arizona. The Nats came back with a vengeance in the bottom of the inning. Nasim Nunez walked and then scored courtesy of James Wood’s 29th home run to center field. 4-4 tie. Daylen Lile followed with a single to left and scored courtesy of CJ Abrams’ 2nd home run of the game, and 27th of the year, to center field. 6-4 Nationals. The Nationals scored again in the bottom of the 7th after Dylan Crews led off with a single to left and came around to score on Brady House’s double to deep center. Jacob Young followed with a double of his own, scoring House. Later in the inning, Luis Garcia got an infield single. Young scored on the play due to a throwing error. The D-Backs got one back in the top of the 8th. Ryan Waldschmidt doubled to center and made it to 3rd when Ildemaro Vargas singled to center. Waldschmidt then scored off a sac fly by Tyler Locklear. 9-5 Washington. Washington came right back in the bottom of the 8th when James Wood hit his 2nd home run of the game, his 30th, to center field. 10-5 Nats. Well, as sometimes happens, the Nationals’ relief corps made it interesting in the top of the 9th. Matt Krook started the 9th and promptly walked the bases loaded. Ryan Waldschmidt singled to drive in Corbin Carroll making the score 10-6. Nolan Arenado then grounded out scoring Gabriel Moreno. But thankfully, that was it. Nationals win 10-7 to take the 3-game series 2-1. Besides the heroics of Abrams and Wood, the recently recalled Brady House had a good game, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. Keep it going, Brady and welcome back. The Nationals continue their homestand tomorrow afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays. Today’s victory left the Nats at 54 wins and 52 loses and in the middle of a wild, Wild Card race. Stay tuned!

Dave’s Dime…

College Football coming soon Believe it or not, thoughts of fall are in the air while heat waves keep us all wishing we were camels. Like I stated in a recent column, the Washington Commanders’ rookies reported to training camp last Friday, July 24, at the Performance Center in Ashburn, Va. Veterans report this Tuesday, the 28th. The first pre-season game is against the Miami Dolphins at home on August 14th. That’s less than three weeks away. The season opener is in Philadelphia on September 13th. I may have mentioned before that even though I do enjoy the NFL, I’m more of a college football guy. Even though we are now actually paying college players and letting them transfer to a different school every year and most college conferences no longer have anything to do with geography, I still feel the college game is quite exciting and gives the fan a more enjoyable viewing experience. I also mentioned in one of my earlier articles that I grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I taught high school English for most of my career at a public school that was somehow built on the grounds of the United States Air Force Academy. Needless to say, I attended many a college football game at Falcon Stadium. Falcon Stadium, at 6,621 feet, it’s the second highest Division I stadium in the United States. First opened in 1962, it seats nearly 47,000 fans. The most elevated stadium is in nearby Laramie, Wyoming, home to the University of Wyoming Cowboys and one of the Falcons’ bitterest rivals. I remember one year in particular. My wife and I purchased season tickets to the Air Force home games for a few years. We did so for the 2004 season. Well, in June of that year, my grandson was born and my wife went up to Missoula, Montana, to help out my son and daughter-in-law. So, I ended up attending the games with my youngest brother, Bill. Bill is a character. He can imitate almost anybody. He knows all the dialogue to the movie Nacho Libre. Bill worked hard all his life and just recently retired. He was what the construction trade calls a “tinner.” He put in all the duct work, or HVAC air ducts, for new home construction and sometimes worked on commercial buildings as well. We had such a great time at those football games. We had pretty decent seats along the 40-yard line and were fairly close to the field. Air Force had an awesome opening ceremony. First, all the Air Force Cadets would march out in formation based on their squadrons. There are 40 squadrons all-together and they’d fill up most of the field. They’d stand at attention while the Air Force band played some uplifting military songs. Then the Cadets would all charge off the field and into their designated part of the stadium where they’d sit together throughout the game. Sometimes, if we were lucky, the Air Force would have what was called a “fly over”. A couple of super-loud jets would zoom over the stadium bringing “oohs” and “aahs” from all the fans. It was more than awesome. Topping it all off was the final act as an airplane flying overhead would jettison 4 or 5 parachuters and we’d all watch them navigate their way down to earth. The cool part was that most of the participants would bring something down with them, as the game announcer would share with us their names and ranks and how many jumps they had accomplished up to this point. For example, “And now let us welcome 1st Lieutenant John Sandford who hails from Akron, Ohio. This is John’s 45th jump, exactly 45 more than I currently have attempted, or ever will.” I remember the announcer having quite a sense of humor. Let’s say the first parachutist would carry down a first aid kit, the second one would be delivering the head coach’s pre-game pastrami sandwich, the third would be holding an American Flag, the fourth would be wearing an Air Force football helmet, and the 5th would always be dressed as the Falcon mascot and bring the game ball with him. It was so much fun. Their main goal was to land on the Air Force Academy emblem in the exact middle of the football field. And they were successful most of the time. It was really something to behold. Now, this was back when what is now called the “TV time out” came into existence. This new thing brought in a lot of money from advertisers, but sure ticked off most people, my brother and me included. We knew a TV time out was about to happen when this old guy with a big purple ski jacket would walk out onto the field with headphones, antennae, and wires hanging all over him. He wore a purple hat and held a purple clipboard. He’d stand there for what seemed like ten minutes while all those useless advertisements were shown on television. We knew they were all useless even though we had no idea what they actually were. We were just smart like that. My brother would get the crowd all riled up by yelling at the top of his lungs, “Get off the field, Purple Suit!” We ‘d shout other things as well, but you get the point, and this column is rated PG. The rest of the fans around us would start chanting as well. It was all great fun. The Air Force Falcons would usually start off the season with a game against a Division 1AA team. Like Duquesne or Drake or Stoney Brook. This was a good thing for two reasons: Air Force would always win, and schools like Stoney Brook would get a good payday out of deal. For instance, last season the Falcons’ first game opponent was Bucknell. Bucknell received somewhere between $400,000 to $450,000. And even though they were defeated 49 to 13, I’m sure they thought every dollar was worth the beat down. Well, back to my story… For the 2004 football season, Air Force did things a little differently. They started the season against the Cal Bears, a big-time football power house led that year by the one and only Aaron Rodgers. September 4th, 2004, the final score: California 56, Air Force 14. Besides Rodgers, the Bears also featured future NFL all-star running back Marshawn Lynch, who made his collegiate debut against the Falcons rushing for 92 yards on 7 carries. Ouch! Air Force finished 5-6 that year, which was kind of unusual for the Falcons. They’ve actually participated in 30 bowl games over the years. Not bad at all. Ah, the good old days. The older I get the more I think back on things like this. Just like we all do. I miss my two brothers all the time and wish every day that we lived closer to each other. But there’s always Mega Millions! I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

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