Nationals VS Padres 7/24/09

My first of two baseball trips was finally here! My dad and I made the six hour drive down to our Marriot in Vienna Virginia. It was real nice. We got there around elevenish, and I just relaxed until we left for our first game.

A metro station was next to our hotel, and it was a 45 minute drive on the metro to Nats Park, with one transfer at L'enfant Plaza. We got off at Navy Yard, which is two stops after L'enfant, and made our way out of the Station down the little road that leads to Nats Park.

It was great to finally be there. What was even better was that when the gates opened, there were maybe TEN people to get in. That is SO great to see, when I usually see hundreds, or Thousands in New York.

 I ran into left field, and the Nationals were just starting to hit. I saw Aaron, aka district boy walk down into the seats, and we talked for a while, and he told me how nearly every ball he gets is a crap training ball. But the seats were so empty there, so he never really has to fight off crowds. 

My first ball of the day came from former Yankee, Ron Villone. Of course, It was a training ball.My second was also a training ball, tossed to me by Willie Harris. I would hit a slow spill from there, but got my third on a homerun I chased down in the seats. I outbeat a few adults, and one of the was an older citizen. I immediatly tossed him that[training]ball. That was number three on the day.

I was a bit too late trying to get to the Nationals dugout before they got in, but as I was running back threw the seats to right field, a padres batter sliced one into the seats. It was strangely a training ball, I guess it had just got mixed in with the Padres bunch. That was my 4th ball of the day.

The Padres were stingy during there bp, and I didn't end up with anything else. But I was behind the dugout, and the Nationals security is so lax, that I ended up sitting there the rest of the game.

My seats were in the first row, right field. My dad sat in them, and during the game a homerun was hit to that section. No, my dad did not end up with it, and it was about five rows back. I wouldn't have caught it, and if I sat there I would have been pissed if it flew over my head. Im glad I was on the other side of the stadium.

Just to show you how close I was, here's a picture of all-star first basemen Adrian Gonzalez in the on-deck circle.

I expected to have more than four baseballs by the end of bp, in such a great snagging stadium, but there was still the game. In the top of the second inning, Josh Bard fouled a tip back into the screen. The Padres bat boy ran in to the dugout, saw my Padres hat, and flipped it to my. It was one of the only two baseballs he gave out all night.And it had a nice big pine mark.

The guy next to the ball, running in is the bat boy.

The game was pretty good, and there were quite a few homeruns hit for a matchup between the worst two teams in baseball.

I would end up with one more ball on the night. Every inning, Adrian Gonzalez would throw the warmup ball to coach Rich Renteria below me. Finally, in the top of the eigth, I got him to toss me ball number 6.

I didn't bother to stay for the fireworks after the game, so my dad and I got back on the Metro for the ride home. O, and I got Heath Bell to sign my hat.

STATS: 

Game: 6 BASEBALLS
Season: 49 BASEBALLS

Career: 77 BASEBALLS

                                                           FINAL HAUL- 5 pictured, gave one away.