squidpants

So I went to see the Nats game yesterday against the Rockies, who are sort of my former favorite team. I used to be a big Rockies fan because I was in Denver when they started up, and they had some great players I loved, like Andres Gallarraga, who hit .370 one year, Larry Walker (.379 in 99), Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla, Ellis Burks, Eric Young, etc etc. They have Todd Helton now, who's good, but they've gotten rid of everybody else I have even heard of. And the pitching is usually terrible, I think the record for most wins by a pitcher was 13, which is pretty sad. But now they are Helton and a bunch of random dudes (they just traded Preston Wilson to the Nationals,) so I am not that interested anymore. Call me a fair weather fan, but the owners have to at least keep the team somewhat interesting. Bringing back Vinny Castilla last year was a good move, and he had a great year, but then he signed with the Nationals this year. I really think they should make the fence there 10 feet higher, so there aren't as many homers. So I guess I still like the Rockies ok, but I prefer the Nats now.

But anyway, I went with a Rockies fan from Denver, and we got pretty good seats from some kids, they had $40 club level seats and we bargained them to $15. Well, we just walked away when they offered $25 each and said we were getting $15 seats, so they said ok, $15. They told us to follow them up, so I was a little worried they'd take off running once they got in the gate and we'd have fake tickets. But we made it in, and went up to a place with a door and an usher, then went into this nice office-type room, which we figured this was probably a good sign. It was sort of a weird place though, the seats were pretty low (the same height as the press boxes and luxury boxes and such) but so was the ceiling, and there was no circulation or breeze so it was really hot. And whenever a ball was hit high, we couldn't see it, because the other seats were overhanging. I was fine sitting there for $15, and we moved to under a fan, which helped, but I can see why big wigs might not want to pay money for those seats. But the game was good, the Nats held the Rocks' usually anemic bats to 3 hits, only two off the starter, John Patterson, who went into the ninth inning. A good game, but we also didn't get to see the fireworks, since they were up in the air.