Nationals Inquisition

Greetings, NQ peoples. We are coming to you live from the Nationals Park Press Box where in little over an hour the Washington Nationals will be taking on the Toronto Blue Jays.

No, I am not joking. This blog has gone LIVE– at least for this one game. Tonight is Blogger’s Night at the Park and I am surrounded by other Nats blogs like We’ve Got Heart, Nationals Pride, and The Nationals review. We have had a busy day. We have interviewed Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman (with little jokes included by Willie Harris and Nick Johnson) as well as Manny Acta. We’ve taken a tour of the Park and watched BP from the field itself. In half an hour Stan Kasten and Mike Rizzo will be in to get interviewed as well.

It has been an outstanding outreach by the Nationals to the blogging community.

Keep your eyes on this blog as we will post during each inning and when anything major happens.

Starting either tonight or tomorrow we will start posting pics and transcribe the interviews.

We be live, yo!

Game Time: 7:05

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6:11pm: After a rainy morning and muggy afternoon, the weather has turned for the better and it is a beautiful day at the Park. Currently they are doing Screech Trivia as the Blue Jays take BP. Not a whole lot of people in their seats yet, but a lot of people in the Plaza.

My God our view from this box is spectacular. We are directly behind homeplate, just a little off to the left, sixth level. Got Media Guides and everything. I feel like Augustus Gloop at the Chocolate Factory!

6:32pm: Teddy just visited the Blogger’s Press box. He is real! OH MY GOD! HE EXISTS!!!

6:35pm-7pm: Sorry, we just interviewed Kasten and Rizzo. Will talk about that later, but Rizzo confirms that just in the past 20 minutes, “several” draft picks have come to terms with the team, not signed, but have come to terms.

Line-ups being announced now.

Top of 1st:

7:06pm: And Detwiler fires off the first pitch. A ball.

** Detwiler throwing more balls than strikes, but had a nice strike out on Vernon Wells. Hopefully he is just warming up. A strange old man wearing “Vote For The Nats” shirt is holding up a notepad and delivering some sort of sermon in the upper levels. Two kids dressed as umpires in last night’s game are back, but not doing their routine yet. They haven’t finished their beer. 0-0.

Bottom of 1st

** Guzman beats out a throw to first for an infield hit, Johnson walks, I almost get kicked out for breaking the golden rule of the press box: no cheering. Golf clapping in my shirt now. Zimmerman hits into double play. Dunn lines out to left. There is no happy dance in the press box! 0-0.

Top of 2nd

**Went into the hall to get a Coke Zero. Phil Wood was out there and looked like one of those Universal latex monsters. Some hotties up in the Press area. Jays made Detwiler throw some pitches, but a one-two-three inning. I thought baseball games were supposed to be exciting and full of touchdowns. 0-0.

Bottom of 2nd

**Dukes gets a hit but has to motor down the line and touch the bag. Mind screaming: HAMSTRING. Dukes almost gets picked off. HAMSTRING. Gonzalez pops out near first. HAMSTRING. Willie Harris pimping the pants down look, no pirate socks. Elijah Dukes attempts to steal and looks absolutely horrible doing it. No chance. HAMSTRING. 0-0.

Top of 3rd

**Johnson attempts a terrific dive for a Chavez hit, but falls just short. Nieves allows a pitch to get away from him advancing Chavez to second and no outs.

**Detwiler strikes out Chavez. Scutaro keeps fouling off balls on a 2-2 count. Crowd falling asleep. UPDATE: Scut pops out in foul territory. Crowd wakes up.

**Guzman fields a scorcher. Throws to first, third out. Have to remind Miss Chatter sitting next to me of the Golden Rule. 0-0.

Bottom of 3rd

7:55pm: Absolutely gorgeous day at the Park. Might have to move NQ out of dungeon to here.

**Wil Nieves grounds out.

**Detwiler grounds out. Gives it his all and almost beats it out. Sadly, finding a pitcher on first base is like finding a Sasquatch at the local McDonalds. Guzman quickly grounds out. He seems very impatient these days. Sort of like my Coke Zero filled bladder. 0-0.

Top of 4th

**Vernon Wells flies out to center. Scott Rolen singles. Detwiler at 58 pitches. Manny Acta told us today he does not pay attention to pitch counts, but how well a pitcher is pitching.

** Lind singles. Men on first and second, one out. Sweat building in armpits– double play! Hooray! No more sweating. 0-0.

President’s Race: Washington and Jefferson neck and neck but Washington prematurely dives and Jefferson wins. Abe wearing strange red gloves. Teddy loses. Umpires behind homeplate now on the field disqualifying Jefferson.

Who the hell knows who won this sausage race.

Bottom of 4th

**Nick Johnson singles. Bill Ladsen from Nationals.com wears funny headphones.

**Zimmerman strikes out. Crowd not happy. Adam Dunn up to bat. Crowd happy again.

**Ballgirl misses foul ball grounder by Dunn. Crowd boos. Dunn strikes out. Elijah Dukes then grounds out. What’s with all these outs? What? There are possibly 27 outs in a game? Oh, that sucks. 0-0.

Top of 5th

**Kevin Millar singles. Helicopter flies overhead. I get nervous. I hate flying. And I am not too fond of Kevin Millar either.

**WILLIE HARRIS MAKES AN OUTSTANDING GRAB IN CENTER FIELD! Half of bloggers break Golden Rule. Shhh…

**Cecil tries to bunt, but has as much luck as Nationals pitchers. Strikes out. Booyah.

**Dunn catches ball in right field. Teams leave the field. Hey, where are you going teams? 0-0.

Bottom of 5th

8:22pm: Flex cam? As in flexing your muscles? Point that camera up here, camera man. I’ll show you my anacondas. Oh, you mean my arms–

Note to self: All other bloggers have entered digital age. I still use recorder with little cassette tapes. I am a dinosaur.

**Alberto Gonzalez got robbed of a hit. Okay, maybe that is exaggerated a little bit, but look what blog you are reading.

**Willie Harris hits a ground-rule double. Weeeeeee Willie! Goes WEEEEEEEEEE!

**Mock umpires behind homeplate now doing their thing again. Possibly drunk now. Willie Harris steals third. No chance to get him. WEEEEEEE WILLIE!!!!!

**Wil Nieves sacrifices and the Nationals GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLL!!!! Nats 1-0.

**Detwiler strikes out. We’ll forgive him. Nats 1-0.

Top of 6th

**Bathroom break. Somehow one out now. Vernon Wells hits first homerun in 158 at bats. Drats. Crowd says drats too, but it begins with an “F.” Phil Wood was in the bathroom too trying to get a scoop. Bad vibes help Jays tie this game. 1-1.

**Johnson makes leaping grab to get Rolen. The earth moved. Lind flies out to Willie Harris. Yeah, that sound again– WEEEEEEE!!! 1-1.

Bottom of 6th

8:38pm: Fan #2 should have won Fan of the Game. She was the only one with boobs out of the three. You see? This blog isn’t sexist.

**Guzman doubles. Stan Kasten is back and seems to enjoy hanging out with us. He admits he is happy, but terrified we are here.

**Kasten: “I’m a big fan of catching the ball.”

**Nick Johnson doubles, drives in Guzman. The moose are sensing the lion…

**Looked into main press area. A quarter of them are on Facebook. Bill Ladson has sneaked into this press room somehow.

**Zimmerman flies out. Dunn grounds out, but advances Johnson to third.

**Very nice crowd tonight. DUKES DOUBLES, JOHNSON SCORES, DUKES GOES FOR THREE– thrown out. Oh well, the team got what it wanted. Another run. Nats 3-1

Top of 7th

**Mike Gazda, the man who put this wonderful event together stopped by. Kudos to the Gazda!

**Sorry, distracted by other bloggers talking and what not. Truly, I think some of the most knowledgable people when it comes to this team are in this room currently. Jays have two outs. If this room disappeared into a black hole, it would be a tragedy. Willie Harris (WEEEEEEE) catches ball out in centerfield, three outs. Nats 3-1.

Bottom of 7th

8:54pm: Seventh Inning Stretch. I think I’ll take off my shirt…

**Gonzalez forces the issue and hits a single. Sneaky Gonzalez.

**Over 22,000 in attendance tonight. I don’t think they counted us though. Willie Harris hits into a double play. No sound forthcoming.

**Nieves grounds out. Lord, the bottom of the line-up seems so weak. They are hardly hitting it out of the infield at times. Nats 3-1.

Top of 8th

**Saint Joseph, this game seems to be going fast. Detwiler still in the game. At 95 pitches.

**Jose Bautista hits a single up the middle with a 3-2 count. Acta comes out to the mound and at exactly 100 pitches Detwiler is done. Standing ovation. Screw the Golden Rule, bloggers are on their feet! Now pitching: Kip Wells.

**Scutaro sacrifice bunts. Bautista to second. One out. Jesus, Kip Wells looks in for his pitch for like– forever. Just go with the flow, Kip. Whatever that means.

**Hill doubles. Scutaro scores. Mood of crowd suddenly turns antsy. Nats 3-2.

**Wells and Nieves give Hill a free pass to third on wild pitch. Suddenly three Jays fans come out of the woodwork which makes no sense because Nationals Park isn’t made out of wood. Only blood and glass. Wells pops out. Kip Wells pulled from the game. Now we have to deal with the pitching of Joel Hanrahan.

**Rolen singles and scores Hill. Everyone thanks Hanrahan with a big “boo.” 3-3.

** Lind singles. Man on first and second now. Hanrahan still in the game. Thoughts of ‘09 Nationals come to mind. Wait, it is still ‘09– okay, ‘08 Nationals. Every strike Hanrahan throws now is recieved with a polite golf clap as if the crowd doesn’t want him to be embarassed.

**Hanrahan strikes out Rios about two batters too late. *SIGH* 3-3

Bottom of 8th

**The newly returned Josh Willingham now up to bat. Acta commented today that Willingham would be getting few appearances over the next two days just so he can get back into baseball business after handling family business. Willingham walked.

**Guzman sacrifices so Willingham can get to second. Say “hello Second”, Josh.

**Johnson grounds out, Willingham to third. Two outs. Pitching change. Some guy who plays for Canada.

**Ryan Zimmerman flies out deep to Center. No boom-boom. 3-3.

Top of 9th

**Macdougal pitching now. Dog Lovers, stay tuned. I have a great story to tell later. Millar grounds out for the first out of the inning.

**Chavez grounds out, Guzman to Johnson. Take that, Fatty. Okay, Chavez isn’t fat, but I don’t have much left in the tank when it comes to heckling tonight.

**Another groundout. Three outs. Inning over. Coke Zero over. Just informed Nick Johnson reached a franchise record of bases reached consecutively. Hell yeah, Nick.

Bottom of 9th

**I’m calling either a Dunn or Dukes homer right now. I can’t decide.

**Dunn strikes out and the crowd is hating the call. The Umps better run to their cars tonight.

**Dukes strikes out. Okay, I am no Miss Cleo or Babe Ruth. Whichever you prefer. Gonzalez singles.

**Willie Harris just hit a towering hit to right field– foul. Man, that could have been it! Willie walks, however. WEEEEEEE!!!

**Pitch hitter: Anderson Hernandez.

**Hernandez bloops one to the right of the mound. Easy out. This one is going into extras, folks. 3-3.

Top of 10th Inning

**Coke Zero is the official sponsor of this blog post.

**Macdougal just started the inning with a lead-off walk. Too bad. I was going to say something nice about his pitching too.

**Zimmerman robs Hill of a hit. Should have been a double play but the throw pulled Gonzalez a little offline.

**Nice, easy double play to end the inning. They make playing baseball look so easy just like I make blogging about baseball look easy. 3-3.

Bottom of 10th

9:57pm: It’s just under 10pm, we have an extra innings game going, and people are starting to leave. What’s going on here, DC?

**Austin Kearns pitch hitting. Hit a grounder and would have made it to first if he had a little better footwork.

**Guzman hussles, but can’t avoid the groundout. NO ONE AVOIDS THE GROUNDOUT TONIGHT!!!

**Jesus Colome looks like he is warming up in the pen. At least that looks like Colome. From here he looks like a white and red bug. It is.

** Johnson bloops out. It looks like the power has been sapped out of this team. Come on, Nats! 3-3.

Top of 11th

**Correction to the President’s race tonight: It was Washington who argued the call and got thrown out of the Park. Jefferson is the winner. I know you were all concerned.

**Women in crowd taking turns shouting. This sets up future post of “Mating Call Fails.”

**Colome has a nice strikeout against Rolen. Sit down, Fatty. Okay, so Rolen isn’t– oh stop it.

**Drunks just below the box window getting a little irrate with Colome throwing balls. I guess I would too because I didn’t pay for this porn either.

**Lind walks. Drunks snort. Colome just bent over as if hurt. He is coming out of the game, but no one is warming up in the bullpen. Tavarez comes running out of the pen. Your new pitcher.

**While on injury delay, Dunn and Harris kneel on the grass like most players do. What does Elijah Dukes do? Walks over to the bullpen wall and sits on it. Classy.

**Crowd starting to get ugly after every ball thrown. Might have to pack up my stuff and get ready to run to beat the riot.

**Drunk: “THROW SMOKE!” Overbay strikes out. Drunk: “YEAH! THROW SMOKE! YOU GOTTA START WINNING BIG! THROW SMOKE!”

**Millar walks. Drunk goes into silent stewing. He is standing directly underneath us and holding some sort of animal print object we can’t identify.

**Chavez hits a towering shot almost over the Red Loft– or at least my perspective saw that, but it harmlessly lands into the glove of Willie Harris mid-center field. Doh. 3-3.

Bottom of 11th

**Drunk to Zimmerman: “SWING TO WIN!”

**Zimmerman strikes out. Swing to win…that is a good philosophy actually.

**Dunn blasts a shot into right field, but just falls short. Everyone thought it was gone. I’d cry but there is no crying allowed in the press box.

**Dukes hits a liner, but Rolen picks it up on a nice play and throws him out. That means another inning. 3-3.

Top of the 12th

**Saw Chico Harlan from the Nationals Journal in the bathroom. Thought I might say “hi” but then I didn’t think the bathroom was the proper place for shaking hands and introductions. This game matches the Nats longest game of the season in terms of innings. One out somehow.

**Scutaro strikes out. Beginning to wonder if the bugs flying around the lights up here out number the people now in the crowd.

**Zimmerman bags a flamer. 3-3.

Bottom of the 12th

**Gonzalez has the ball fall in for a single to start off the inning. I read once that 45% of lead off hits lead to a score. Let’s hope those odds get a little better.

**WILLIE WEEEEEEEE HARRRRISSSSS!  WALK OFF 2-RUN HOMERUN! INCREDIBLE!!!!! Nationals win 5-3!

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That concludes this live blog. Gotta do some wrap up here at the Park and then get on the Metro. Look for pictures and updates coming later tonight or tomorrow.

WWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!