The top half of the Nats lineup had a field day on Thursday evening against a very strong Cardinals ballclub but the pitching staff nearly gave it away before Elijah Dukes hit a walk off home run in the 10^th.  The home town team was up 7 – 0 after three frames and gave up the lead in the top of the 10^th on a homer by Cards rookie right fielder Joe Mather.  After Christian Guzman singled to lead off the bottom half of the 10^th, Dukes worked the count and then hit a rocket to the deepest part of the park to complete his 4 for 6, four rbi night. 

Tim Redding started strong and with a seven run lead it appeared he was a cinch for his seventh win.  But he gave up three in the fourth and three again in the sixth on a home run by one Mark Worrell – which sent him packing.  You don’t know Worrell?!  Well, no surprise.  Thursday was his first appearance in the majors and his shot half way up the stands in left on a 3-2 Redding fastball was his first major league at-bat. Maybe he’s the second coming of this guy. 

In addition to Dukes’ four hits, Guzman had four and Boone and Castro had three apiece to lead the 16-hit attack.  And the highlight for the defense was a nifty 3-6-1 double play to end the fifth.  But it looked bleak when Rausch gave up two in the ninth to tie it and Sanchez gave up a dinger in the 10^th.  And what was left of the 32,357 that attended the game reached for the Pepto-Bismol before Dukes’ heroics.      

Diamond Nuggets 

The kinks in the ballpark continue to irritate.  Thursday night two concession stands had inoperative credit card scanners which forced me to bite the bullet and stand in line at the ATM.  Which, of course, made me watch the Nats score two runs in the bottom of the third on t.v. while waiting in line. 

I shared an elevator ride with Screech the mascot Thursday night.  I must admit he was nice to the kids and didn’t smell despite his gray feathers.  One notch in the “keep him” column.

 As we walked to the bus to take us back to the car at RFK we came upon the “Field of Dreams” that was playing on a large out-door screen on a grassy plaza near the park.   Evidently it was a promotion put on by the developer of the new buildings going up in the area. What a treat after seeing a walk off home run on such a beautiful evening in an almost-full park.  We approached the plaza just at Moonlight Graham dislodged the piece of hot dog from little Karen’s throat.  Well, if you catch the film at that point you can’t not watch to the end. 

 So, at 10:30 on a school night my 10 year old daughter and her friend and I sit on the grass watching the movie while I recite the dialog in my head.  We watch as Shoeless Joe (Ray Liotta) yells out to Graham (Burt Lancaster), “Hey rookie. . . . you were good.”  And then we smile as Thomas Mann (James Earl Jones) hesitates with the glee evident on his face before entering the corn field as we realize that the cool evening breeze we feel on our faces is coming from the same direction that makes the corn sway in the film.   And then we watch the catcher take off his mask as Ray (Kevin Costner) utters, “Oh my god.”  And then I listen with pride as my daughter, after hearing her friend ask, “who’s that?” explains that its Ray’s dad when he was young so he doesn’t know Ray is his son but Ray knows it’s his dad. 

As we begin to walk to the bus my daughter looks up at me and says, “Hey dad, what’s your favorite movie?”  Without speaking I simply point to the screen that now has the credits rolling across. 

“Yeah, me too,” she says.