Whoo hoo – the Nationals swept the Mariners! Winning these three games really made my trip to the Northwest worth while. I would have had a great time without the wins, but they sure made the trip that much sweeter. My Dad and I took the train to the game today for Father’s Day and had seats in the first row in left field. Sorry I don’t have many pictures today, I just enjoyed the game and concentrated on keeping score with my Dad. The weather was fantastic here today, sunny with a light breeze, perfect for a get away day game.

Throughout this series, it was pretty clear to me that these teams are evenly matched. Thus the games were all entertaining to watch,. The wins weren’t blow outs and the Mariners kept trying to battle their way back into the games. The Nats scored early again today. Elijha Dukes was hit by pitch in the first inning to put the Nats first runner on base. Milledge followed with an infield single. Dmitri had a long at bat and eventually walked to load the bases. Following his stellar performance last night, I was expecting big things from the number five hitter, Jesus Flores. Jesus grounded to third, but Dukes was able to score on the play so the Nats left the first inning with a one run lead.

The Nats held the lead until the 3rd inning when a series of errors eventually put the Mariners ahead 2-1. A fielding error for Lopez put a runner on base. Then an error by Dukes in right field, on a ball that totally should have been caught, and another error on Lopez who bobbled the ball from Dukes, made for an ugly third inning of baseball. The Mariners took the lead in the fourth when Ichiro’s single to right field scored the short stop Bloomquist.

The score would remain 2-1 for the next three innings. Nats starter Tim Redding pitched well today. The Mariners only managed four hits off of him. Redding pitched six innings, and gave up only one earned run. I was a little nervous in the first couple of innings, Redding couldn’t get the first pitch strike and worked the batters to a full count a number of times. Tim’s pitch count kept climbing today as the Mariners kept fouling off his stuff. All and all though, it was a solid effort from Redding. Jesus Colome pitched two innings of scoreless relief. His pitches were flying past the Mariners bats. Joel Hanrahan pitched the 9th well but not without a little drama.

The real story of the day has got to be the pinch hit three run homer from Kory Casto, the first of his career. I was pleased with Manny put Kory in for Wily Mo in the 8th. Wily Mo struggled all day at the plate, a change was welcomed at that point. When Kory nailed that pitch and hit to right field, I stood up. I couldn’t see the ball from my seat in left field, but from the sounds the crowd was making, I thought the ball was foul. I was pleased though to see Kory take his trot around the bases. I really think I was the only one cheering at that point! After Kory crossed homeplate, McLaren called the umpires in for a chat. All three of the umpires called the ball a homer. The Nats officially lead 6-2. At that point I actually turned to my Dad, and said you know I bet Kory’s family is here cause he is from Oregon, that must have been a cool moment for him. Meanwhile the Mariners fans were still booing the umpires and the Nats. The Seattle fans continued to boo the next three Nats batters. I guess when your team is getting swept by another basement dwelling team all you can do is boo.

It was a great win – I love day games and this one was just about perfect. I really enjoyed my time at Safeco its a beautiful stadium, and I really liked the passion these fans have for their team. I look forward to the chance to see more games there. Tomorrow it’s back to DC for me, and on to Minnesota for the Nats. Anyone else ready to see Lo Duca in left field? That outta be enough reason to catch the games on TV!

Photo – (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 15th, 2008 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Game Recaps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.