Nationals vs. Mets!

East Coast Dash, Day 2: Nat's Stadium, DC

I made it to Virginia without a hitch yesterday evening in time to have dinner with my nephew, Jack, at a local Thai café down the street from their house. I absolutely love Thai food - and Jack - and never seem to get enough of either, so having both of them for the evening made the long road trip from Corning quickly fade into a blissful blur of curry, spice and great conversation! The little Thai café was pretty authentic, and we sat outside in what turned out to be a very cool evening, enjoying the twinkle lights in the garden, chatting with the Thai waitress and consuming copious amounts of spicy beef and chicken that made us sweat despite a chill in the air!

This morning Dad drove down from Pennsylvania for the weekend just in time for our highly anticipated afternoon event: The Nationals vs. the NY Mets at National Stadium in DC! Dad is a great lover of all things baseball - he even played a little pro-ball back in the late 40's - but he hasn't been out to the park to see a game for almost forty years! Needless to say, he was beyond excited today when he pushed through the gates and headed toward the field!

Dad is a life-long Phillies fan, I'm a fan of the beloved Bronx Bombers, and Jack, once also a devout Yankees fan, is now starting to take an interest in the Nationals, so the one thing we all had in common today, as we sat in our seats a few rows up from the Nats' dugout, was the innate desire to see the Mets hopelessly fold to the Nats! The sun was shining brightly, we had our hotdogs, popcorn and sodas in hand, the stadium was filling up and the crowd was already cheering the Nats on for a win - how could they lose?

Unfortunately, it was not to be. The Mets rolled out their number one pitcher, R.A. Dickey, who ruled the mound for eight long innings with his impressive knuckleball and made the Nats work for every swing. The Nats' pitching rotation was off by a day or we would have been watching an epic battle between Dickey and the mighty Strassburg, an event we can only imagine would have evened the sides and made every hit a notable event.

But despite their loss, the Nats fought a good fight today and Dad got his dose of live baseball. It was so much fun to see him enjoying the game so much, and being in the park seemed to bring him right back to when he was a kid, heading out to Franklin Field with his brothers to watch their beloved Phils rule the field.

Despite his devotion to Philadelphia, Dad told us stories about watching DiMaggio during his legendary hitting streak back in the 40s's and remembers when Ted Williams was breaking every batting average record ever held. I don't know how he does it, but Dad remembers every single player, what position they played and where their career took them. He has a true love of the game, as does Jack, which made spending today with them at the ballpark, grandfather and grandson, a spectacular win for me no matter who was on the field!