This is always a sad week as the season concludes, though in a rare quirk of the schedule that may not be the case. I have considered attending the Nationals Wild Card game but that is not what I mean. No, if the Revolution make it to the championship round they will play next week. I would miss one of those games since the Hershey Bears open that Saturday. Just my luck they would probably make it to that round and win it that night. I’ve been made fun of because I skipped the last one to pick up the Nationals beer stein (they also played the Pirates that day too) and I am unrepentant.
Of course this is probably last call for baseball. Sad, but I’m ready for the offseason.
Game #158. I considered skipping this but they were playing a doubleheader. It was a split admission doubleheader but if I’d go down for one I might as well go down for two and with $5 seats it doesn’t break the bank. The season has certainly not panned out the way either of these teams were hoping and I have not yet made it to a Nationals game where the Phillies play so I can see (and hear) the reaction to Bryce Harper. So here I am. No problem whatsoever getting a ticket for this game and that was a good thing since the Baltimore Beltway was a mess. It didn’t help that I was heading down at the last half of rush hour but a wreck on the shoulder at 795 should not back traffic up the way it did.
It was Army Day so we had all of the pomp and circumstance that comes with that like with the US Army Drill Team (which was led on this day by someone from Lancaster! I don’t like your baseball team but it’s nice for Central PA). Joe Ross took the hill for the Nats against Blake Parker for the Phils in a must-win game for the Phils. Yep, a must win and they’re throwing Blake Parker out there. This one turned out to be a battle of the bullpens as pitchers went an inning or two and then were relieved (except for Ross who went 4). Ross got in trouble early but limited the damage to one run, which would prove to be huge. The Nats tied the game on an Anthony Rendon sac fly and then took the lead off of one of many Phillies’ relievers that I had to look up who they were. One had been with the team all season but most got picked up off of the scrap heap. Doesn’t say much for the fellows they have at Lehigh I guess. They tacked on a few more and put the Phillies out of their misery. Washington wins 4-1. Bryce Harper was also booed, loudly and went 1-4. Not quite Barry Bonds in Pittsburgh level of vitriol but considering the small crowd there was a lot.
I did see Bonds play in Pittsburgh back in 99. I remember he was booed loudly and it made it onto the radio. The play-by-play guy, I assume that was Greg Brown but they all rotated back then, said that everyone probably knew who was coming up to bat. I would imagine for a raucous crowd that this would be similar. Considering some of the creative ways fans have been changing Harper jerseys over to something else, I would not be shocked at all. Guess I’ll have to wait until next year for that.
Game #159. On to Game 2 after a stop at Bardo Brewing. Neat place and I felt like I should be hearing the Sanford and Son theme as I walked up since the entrance looks like a junkyard. Max Scherzer took the hill for the Nationals against Aaron Nola for the Phillies in what had the potential to be a real doozie. Neat. It was also Air Force Day with none of the pomp and circumstance that came with Army Day. You know, the Coast Guard had a rifle drill team that was on display at their day so why couldn’t the Air Force do that? The Phillies had been officially eliminated and the only thing that they have to play for now is to ruin the Nats season, which I am sure they wanted to do but of course didn’t start either Harper or Rhys Hoskins. Brad Miller though hit a 3-run homer in the first and added another, making it Brad Miller 4 Washington 1. This appeared to be the Phils’ game until Nola broke down and gave up a grand slam to Trey Turner. That was the first slam I saw all year in the bigs and it proved to be a gut punch that the Phils did not recover from though Harper hit a pinch-hit solo homer that I am sure made a lot of Nats fans very unhappy. Washington wins 6-5.
When combined with a Pirates’ win (go figure) over the Cubs the Nats have now clinched a playoff berth. I am sure quite a few fans are more than happy that this came at the Phillies expense (and Harper’s) and according to the radio guys when the Pirates’ started scoring in their huge inning against the Cubs the fans started their chant but instead of N-A-T-S Nats Nats Nats! (I can think of a football team with a similar chant, think of something original guys…) They did B-U-C-S Bucs Bucs Bucs! Late September can make strange bedfellows.
The Revolution took game one down in Texas 8-1. Game 2 was won by the Skeeters so we’ve got at least 2 playoff games here in York this weekend.
Game #160. Playoff time for the Revolution for Game 3 of the Freedom Division Series with the series tied at 1. Sugar Land has lost a lot of players this year to affiliated ball, which is good for them as it gives them a lot of exposure and some cold hard cash. Of course having Roger Clemens a few years back really helped with the exposure though attendance has been declining. Part of that is probably they are not the hot new item anymore but part of that has to be that the Astros are good again and really good at that. Sugar Land though has been a thorn in the Revs’ side, winning both of their playoff matches (yeah I skipped Jordan Zimmermann’s no-no to take in the deciding game one of those years and I regret it to this day but had I known…).
Duke von Schamann got the nod for the Revs against Troy Scribner. This was a very von Schamann-like performance. He wiggled out of danger in the first and was staked to a 1-0 lead thanks to back-to-back doubles by Telvin Nash and Isaias Tejeda. But then the wheels fell off. Von Schamann didn’t even wait until the 4th like he usually does. He gave the lead away on a Jason Martinson solo homerun (fun fact: Martinson was on the same Hagerstown Suns team as Bryce Harper) and in the 3rd the wheels came off. Alvaro Rondon (an infielder who is playing outfield since our outfielders keep getting hurt because they are getting beaned) lost a ball in the lights that turned into a triple and Sugar Land wound up getting 5 in the frame. At that point it was over though the Revs did threaten to score on a few occasions they never got another run across home and about the only thing that went right was Austin Steinfort ate most of the innings up the rest of the way saving the bullpen. Sugar Land takes Game 3 and a 2-1 series lead 9-1. Too bad, it was a great crowd especially considering that there was high school football and Penn State/Maryland too. So much for a great Maryland team eh?
Game #161. I don’t go to a lot of Saturday games for the Revs, in fact I don’t think I went to a single one this season but this is the post season and minor league ball doesn’t draw quite the same way the bigs do. So, here I am. Joe Welch went for the Revs against Chase De Jong for the Skeeters. Once again the Revs struck first with Telvin Nash hitting a solo shot out. Welch made it hold up until the 5th when he gave up back-to-back jacks from Wynton Bernard and Dennis Phipps. Nash got the lead back in the bottom half of the inning with a 2-run shot. The teams traded solo shots in the 7th and it went to the 9th tied at 4. Jameson McGrane came in and struggled. With 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd Juan Silverio hit a combacker to him and when fielding it he slipped and fell. Rather than holding onto the ball he threw it from his butt and threw it away. That was all Felipe Paulino needed to close the game out. The Revs had chances, they had 3 chances with a runner on third and one out during this game and couldn’t get the runner in. In the 9th they got a leadoff single and had the heart of the order come up and they struck out. This was an entertaining game (despite taking nearly 4 hours to play) and Sugar Land was the better team. Sugar Land wins this 5-4 and takes the series 3-1.
I decided just to call it quits and did not go down to DC to finish off the season. It was a meaningless game since the Nats clinched the home Wild Card game and I decided to enjoy a nice Sunday at home. See ya next year baseball season. Didn’t want to get too loaded since I had to go up to Harrisburg to pick Weenie Boy up at the airport at around 8:30. He told me it would be 9:30 so it’s good I looked at the airport’s website during the day. Killing my drinking time but oh well. I’ll have plenty of time for that next week and the next few months.
Next week will detail the start of hockey season and have a look back at the baseball season. The following week will be the 3rd annual Kevy Awards. I gotta crunch the numbers for that and do some remembering.
On the docket for next week:
October 5 – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton @ Hershey