This Play is Under Review...

Baseball in the District - I think if you've stopped by my blog for even a short amount of time, you know that catching a Nationals game ranks as one of my all time favorite things in the world. Even when the game is on a weeknight and involves DC traffic at 5 PM and not getting to sleep until after midnight and copious amounts of coffee the day after...still one of my all time favorite things.

We do love our MVP.

New National Murphy = New Fave

Baseball with one of my favorite Nats fans - Momma!

Supper Selfie with the pennants...

Tuesday night with nary a cloud in the sky, the Nationals took on the Cubs in the second game of a three game series; the Nationals winning game one on Monday night 4-1, which was pretty grand since I think anyone who knows anything about baseball can say that the Cubs are on fire this year. Like - fire burning up...it's crazy. However, with the Nationals win over the Cubs on Monday night, the Nationals became only the second team in the entire MLB to hit the 40 win mark in the 2016 season...so Nationals fans have plenty to be happy about.

The sun shining brightly...so brightly...right before the start of the game.

A performance of True Colors as part of a moment of silence/remembrance for the lives lost in Orlando at the start of the week.

Shortly after 7:00, Dexter Fowler stepped in against Gio Gonzalez and the game got underway - with the sun blaring into my eyes, holding up a hand to shield was a requirement to see any and all of the plays being made. The game was held at no score for the first two innings courtesy of good pitching (by both teams) and some great catches but unfortunately Gio was the first pitcher to take a hit; literally, when with two outs he gave up doubles to Lackey, Fowler and Heyward one right after the other and made the score 0-2. The Nationals fought back in the bottom of the third with Espinosa bunting his way on base, Gonzalez (Gio) taking a pitch on the wrist (BOOOO Lackey - BOOO) and Revere singling to load the bases for Werth's sac fly that would get the Nationals on the board at 2-1.

The Presidents take to the field to race....

The game moving along...& the sun moving behind the stadium...

The Cubs fought back in the fourth; with batters walked and third base stolen, Ross hit a single that would return the two run advantage to the Cubs and make the game 3-1. The game would stay at 3-1 all the way through to the bottom of the seventh and it was then that the Nationals were finally able to make a move and try to add to the score. After Espinosa took a fastball on the leg (BOOOO Lackey - BOOO) and Lobaton smashed a double, and yet again Revere came through with a sac fly that allowed Espinosa to race home and make the score 3-2.

One of two plays reviewed at Tuesday night's game - shockingly, both calls went the Nationals way.

A pretty gorgeous sunset on a pretty great night in DC.

No moon shots aimed at the crane for this game...

The seventh inning stretch ended and Solis came in to pitch for the Nationals in the eighth, tossing a scoreless inning with only 11 pitches to get the Nationals bats back in action. Harper was walked and Zimmerman hit a single to move Harper to third before Rendon sent a sac fly to right field, allowing Harper to race home and tie the game at 3-3 heading into the ninth inning. Unfortunately Solis walked Russell and as it so often does, it came back to bite the Nationals when Almora hit an RBI single, allowing the Cubs to take the lead at 4-3. Rondon came on for the Cubs to pitch the bottom of the ninth and retired the Nationals in order, allowing the Cubs to take the win in this game.

So - while not an ending that was punctuated by a Curly W, it was still an excellent game and the Nationals fought back until the end. The Cubs are literally the best team in baseball and the Nationals put forth a crazy solid effort against them...but this time it just wasn't ours to win.

Ty Herndon leading everyone in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

The largest attended game of the season so far...41,955...

I feel I should close this post with a little clip...because well, it's too good not to share... You see, the Nationals went on and won the series on Wednesday night after 12 innings of back and forth, extremely tense and incredibly well-played baseball. Jayson Werth's post-game interview is one of the best and most hilarious moments of what was an absolutely amazing game! I love my Nationals!