Originally written February 22, 2009

From the time I decided to start this project, there was going to be three new major league parks that were going to change over. Washington gets to be the dubious club that will have two parks listed, since some complications arose towards my aspirations at hitting up Shea Stadium in New York prior to it's final closure.

After 2007, gone was Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, and in 2008, Washington D.C. showed its dedication to its home team by opening the state-of-the-art facility, Nationals Park. Whether that will be its name in future years is yet to be determined, and for the sake of not having to go back and change names and graphics, I hope it does. But that pretty much means some corporation is going to swoop in and take the naming rights.

I'll admit, that there was a lot of reluctance at catching up with this entry; I didn't by the least bit forget about it, it's just that I was bitter after the outcome of the games that I went to go watch there. But months have passed, and my head's a bit clearer, and I'm at the point of the pre-2009 off-season, that I'm just itching for anything baseball related. So if it means delving into a humbling baseball trip, so be it.

So, with the start of the 2008 season, I had aspirations to go to the official grand opening day season opener the Nationals had, which was a nationally-televised ESPN game against, my Atlanta Braves. I was up in D.C., but as is typically the norm, people up in my old stomping grounds are oft-greedy, and over-value their Nationals tickets, and were proposing figures around a billion-times the face value of these tickets. Sorry, when the smoke clears, it's just another game, and I've witnessed enough history in Washington D.C. in my lifetime to know better. But it's a thing I didn't go - the Nationals prevailed in the 9th inning with a walk-off blast from none other than Ryan Zimmerman, and it pretty much set the tone the Braves would have against the Nationals throughout the rest of the 2008 season.

I didn't get an opportunity to go to Nationals Park until late-August, when perfectly, it happened to be against the Braves. I was able to find a rational real-estate broker in Arlington to realize that the Nationals weren't such a great team that year, and sold me his primo tickets for a great price.

From the get-go, when my friend and I arrived at the Navy Yard, it was an amazing revelation to see what influence Nationals Park has brought to Southeast D.C. Gone were most of the ghetto, the nasty roads, and unsightly buildings, and up were clean, aethstetically pleasing buildings, businesses (a Starbucks and Five Guys!), and then this bastion of baseball, new Nationals Park.

RFK was always a beauty on the outside, but Nationals Park was this bright, modern-looking facility, and it was great to know that it was exclusively meant for baseball. Upon entering the park, I was delighted to see that it was nice and open, nowhere resembling the cramped, dated, creaky structure of RFK. It was easy to walk around, and the openness created a lot of pleasant air movement throughout the facility, so it didn't feel so balls hot throughout the late August summer evening.

Some of my favorite aspects of the park were the integration of two iconic D.C. food establishments, in Five Guys and Ben's Chili Bowl. One of my best friends was probably the first to throw into the initial e-suggestion boxes to put a Five Guys in the park, since they represented what all Nationals fans would aspire to see in their team; small at first, but a powerful growth and success waiting in the wings. I can't say that I tried the quality of the food in the park, but I've definitely had my share of both establishments in my past, being a former resident, and frequent visitor.

Overall, the park is nothing truly noteworthy, but there is a powerful beauty in the ordinary here. The seats are not cramped, easy to access, and much like Turner Field, there really isn't a bad place to watch the game. Radio commentators here in Atlanta have commented on the high altitudes of the upper deck, but I'd rather be up high and have an unobstructed view of the action rather than be low, and possibly have Gheorghe Muresan blocking your view. The colors of the seats and structure are not gaudy, and no more tacky orange and yellow seats of RFK.

I'm a big fan of the outfield grass here. The loopy-W in center field is always cool to see, and the vertically striped pattern serves to create this optical illusion to make the outfield seem bigger than it actually is.

Nationals Park's HD scoreboard in the outfield is the most amazing one yet. They don't go so overboard with colors and graphics like Turner Field does, so it makes the resolution they do have seem that much more crisp and clear. The funny thing was during Braves BP, the relief pitchers were standing in the outfield watching the screen, and then for some reason Carlos Zambrano's face burst onto the screen. Crap reliever Julian Tavarez, yelped in surprise, screaming "Ay dios mio!"

Nationals Park is a beautiful place. And I'm privileged to say that such a place is my fall-back option for frequent visits in future baseball seasons.

Noteable performance(s):   Nobody really dazzled during this entire trip. Home runs were hit by Brian McCann, Chipper Jones, Yunel Escobar, and Martin Prado twice, and all Atlanta and Washington pitching was mediocre. Washington had one home run hit, but it was the biggest of the weekend, when it was Aaron Boone's go-ahead blast against crap reliever Elmer Dessens on the Sunday game.

Game Result(s):   Washington prevails against Atlanta, 7-3 on Friday, in a game they were done early and everyone knew it. Washington beats Atlanta again on Saturday 8-7 on of all things, a walk-off walk in extra innings that should've never happened with the lead that the Braves staked early on. And to perfect the trifecta of crap for me, Washington storms from behing on Atlanta 8-4 on the Sunday game, right before my flight back to Atlanta. If there's any team that gets more amped and geared up to play against my Braves, it's the Washington Nationals.

Additional Photos:   Okay, I cheated a little bit. These are a few photos from the entire trip, and not just the Friday game.

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