On Halladay: Phils-Nats Opening Day Diary

On Monday, the Five Tool Ninja (who took the photos that accompany this post) and myself took in the Phillies-Nationals game in DC, the first time that I've ever been to Nationals Park. The tickets were a present from the Shooter Mom, who, I am sorry, is much cooler than your mom, but we've established that before on this blog. Here's the takeaways from what eventually wound up as a fairly effortless 11-1 Opening Day win for the defending NL champs.

Natty Park is, improbably, in the DC Metro area, and yet not really near anything. There are vacant lots across the street from the stadium, parking is at a premium, traffic is a snarl and while there is water nearby, there really isn't much in the way of River Life or Splash Hits. The park itself is nice, albeit not terribly distinctive from other new stadia (Philadelphia and SF came to mind strongly, not that either is a bad place to see a game), but if there is anything to do before or after the game, it required more DC-savvy people than either the Ninja or myself.

We got there quite early, out of fear of traffic and that the Presidential security pat down would add a lot of extra time to the proceedings, and wound up with a lot of time to kill in the stadium. We discovered that the home team was very much in favor of skin cancer (they were confiscating sunscreen at the door, but do not sell it inside), but that Natty Fan was less in favor of it, and willing to share the small amounts they were able to sneak in. All hail Natty Fan, really.

The Nats like to trivialize U.S. history by having oversized caricatures of Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln and George Washington race each other between innings, with TR never winning as part of a Charlie Brown-esque gag. (I do kind of like the idea that young kids will only know TR for being a hapless loser selling BBQ, though.) Pre-game, this means you get to take your picture with a Prez, or less encouragingly, the Geico Lizard. I'm not saying that Nattty Fan and Philly Fan are apolitical, but the lizard was getting equal play. Sad. I do wonder, if they are still playing baseball here in 30 to 50 more years, if they'll ever update the Presidents and have a Clinton guy never win because he's constantly talking up skirts, a Ford that's constantly falling over, a Nixon that's perpetually cheating, and a Bush the Younger that picks fights constantly. That'd be fun.

We did have to give it up to Natty Fan for his skill and speed with a needle, as several professional-looking McNabb Skins unis were already in evidence at the game, less than 18 hours into Donovan's tenure in the District. I think this qualified as the most aggro thing that DC Fan did to the hordes of Philly invaders all day, and that includes the efforts of the Nats. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get used to seeing this. (For the record, there were also many McNabb Eagle gamers, mostly worn by guys who looked like they just put down the family dog.) Of course, there is always the possibility that Mr. McNabb here just has an unfortunately coincidental last name, and that he's spent the last 11 years in agony, only to have his day in the sun now. Or, um, maybe not.

As the countdown got closer to first pitch, the security details picked up nicely, with men in black suits appearing in fairly conspicuous places during an overly long pre-game intro from Fox's James Brown, who also turns out to be a DC native. There's a certain energy in a building from a Presidential visit, not just from being close to history and celebrity, but also from being close to someone who is surrounded by an elite security force that is expected to use deadly force. Kind of like every other day in DC, actually. (Hi-Yo!)

The President, for the record, threw high and wide to the Nats' Ryan Zimmerman, to mostly positive response. While he wore the Natty warm up jacket, he also kept a ChiSox cap on, so as to avoid being a sports bigamist. He also made time for the dozens of little kids on the diamond, most of which were children of wounded veterans. So good on that, really.

The crowd was as much of an even split as you are likely to see on Opening Day, with Philly Fan making himself at home for half or more of the crowd, and clearly making themselves heard more. "Let's Go Phillies" chants clearly outnumbered anything the Nats' had going for them, and you'd almost feel bad for the home team, to be so overwhelmed even on the opener. Then you looked out at the field and tried to wrap your head around the idea of Willie Harris, Opening Day Right Fielder, or read the program that had the headline of "Jason Marquis: Game Changer", and realized that, um, it's the Nats. They've earned that apathy. They also might be the last people in MLB who are enthused to employ Pudge Rodriguez.

Roy Halladay was a little off early, and the Nats' Nyjer Morgan, who will be a nice under the radar value for a lot of roto teams this season, took advantage. The Natty CF beat out an infield hit on a fairly routine chopper to short, stole second on the first pitch to Harris then scored after a strikeout as Zimmerman tattooed a fastball off the wall in center right for an RBI double. A walk to Josh Willingham followed, but the murmurs of dissent were quailed with a strikeout of Adam Dunn and a soft liner from the regressing Adam Kennedy, and the old adage about getting aces early, or not getting them at all, bore fruit.

Over the next two innings, Halladay started to rack up the Ks - 6 in the first three innings -- after mastering the best pitch in baseball: strike one. The Nats' John Lannan couldn't match, and everything unraveled on a disastrous fourth inning that started with Chase Utley working a walk, then Ryan Howard absolutely murdering a home run to right. Let's just say that Lannan doesn't look like the kind of lefty that gives the big man trouble. The next three men reached as Natty manager Jim Riggelman twiddled his thumbs (to be fair, if your bullpen had Miguel Batista in it, you wouldn't be quick to go to it either), and after shaky defense from Harris allowed both runners to advance on a Carlos Ruiz fly out, Halladay collected an RBI on a swinging bunt that Lannan tried to come home with, to no avail. The Nats aren't just a bad team on personnel; they are a bad team when it comes to throwing strikes, and a bad team when it comes to playing defense. It all adds up to a lot of ugly, or at least it did this day. Halladay answered the five spot with a three hitter inning that ended with a Pudge DP, and the last five innings were mostly for show.

A few more moments from my notes... Ruiz took three of the Phils' nine (!) walks on the day, as part of his continuing unforeseen development into an exceptionally useful catcher. Raul Ibanez doesn't look right to me, and I think the Phils will be using Ben Francisco a lot over the course of the next few years. Ian Desmond of the Nats is shaky on defense and won't steal many bases hitting eighth, so roto players are best served looking elsewhere. Zimmerman really is the best 3B in the NL, David Wright be damned; he's just a beast defensively, and has the offensive numbers on a team where no one needs to pitch to him. I'm not a huge fan of the Placido Polanco signing or him hitting second, but if he's going to hit grand slams that go as far as he can humanly hit a baseball, I should probably pick another day to complain about it.

In the seventh, the Ninja and I saw our lone Expo hat of the day, on top of a fairly cute lass as she was on her way out, and the fact that this club still has a fair amount of Expo in it was made very clear by the one loud and annoyed Nat fan that we heard all day. After Polanco's slam put the Phils up ten before the seventh inning stretch, this guy yelled, "STILL THE HIGHEST LEVEL MINOR LEAGUE TEAM IN AMERICA!" Nobody disagreed.

In the late inning / spring training segment of the game, Danys Baez kept Antonio Bastardo's ERA pristine with a ground out, Brian Bruney loaded 'em up just to make Howard's fantasy owners salivate, but got him on a 395 foot laser to Morgan in center, and someone named David Herndon worked out of trouble to end it with a Willy Taveras groundout. Yes, Willy Taveras is a Nat, because while you are collecting power-free speed guys (Cristian Guzman, anyone?) who don't get on base, you can't stop at just one. Have we mentioned that this is a bad organization?

Your final totals... Phillies 11 14 1, Nats 1 9 1. The game ended at 4:20, and the Nats all smoked blunts and made October vacation plans. The Phils smiled, knowing that they get these clowns for five more games out of the next eight, and that a wire to wire division run was very, very possible. Good night, and drive safe.