Washington Nationals @ Atlanta Braves

The hotel receptionist told me that there is a free shuttle provided to ferry people to the baseball game from the centre of town.  This was useful to know - so I followed the instructions and 45 minutes later I'd arrived and had picked up all my tickets, including the one I don't want but can't get a refund for.  Of course, with his recent surgery, I'm not going to be seeing Stephen Strasburg, but today I'm seeing Livan Hernandez for the Nats against Jair Jurrjens for the Braves.

I walked the long way around the stadium concourse to get to my seat which was directly behind home plate.  Although this is good seat, and it's exactly the same seat as I've got tomorrow afternoon too, it is directly in line with the pitching rubber and home plate and a rather thick cable that runs up the protective netting to the remote-control TV camera on the top, which obscures things a little.  Also, the umpire is standing in the way!  And there was one person in the whole row in front of me, and he was in front of me, and his head blocked my view completely, although he kept leaning from side to side to see around the thick cable, so I had to lean the other way.

I've always liked Hernandez, ever since I saw him pitching for Florida (on TV) in 1997.  He's ultra-cool and never rushes except when absolutely necessary (and even then, not always!)  He doesn't make a fuss about things that aren't going his way or even things that are going his way.  In the first inning, Adam Dunn (Nats) hit a massive home run out onto the centrefield concourse, measured as the 6th longest HR ever at Turner Field (opened 1997, as it used to be the Olympic Stadium) and Livan followed this up with an RBI double in the 2nd, and actually launched a home run of his own in the 4th inning, which drew the ire of the crowd.  He did it all, including pitching 8 shutout innings just giving up 5 hits.  At this point, what started as a fairly small crowd, rapidly dissipated and about half of the starting attendance saw Burnett strike out the side in the bottom of the 9th to seal the 7-0 win.  Losses by the Braves are good news for the Giants, as the Braves lead the wildcard race, and if the Giants can't keep up with San Diego, they'll need to rely on the wildcard.  The Braves still have ambitions of winning the NL East, of course, but if they do, then the Phillies would be the wildcard leader.