July 27, 2026 [LINK / comment]

D.C.'s "Bash Brothers"?
Abrams and Wood both hit two more home runs!

The Washington Nationals wasted multiple run-scoring opportunities versus the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night, thus allowing the visiting team to eke out a 3-2 win. On Saturday, Foster Griffin was pitching, and for the first time since June he allowed more than one run to score. Nats 5, D-Backs 3. And on Sunday, both C.J. Abrams and James Wood hit two home runs, adding four to the Nationals' MLB-best team total. (After Andres Chaparro homered in tonight's game with Toronto, it's now 157 home runs, five more than the second-place New York Yankees.) The bullpen buckled a little bit, as Matt Krook (who has been sent back down to the minors) gave up 2 runs in the top of the 9th, but Clayton Beeter got the job done as the Nats held on to the precious 10-7 victory. It was a series win (at home!) against a potential wild card rival.

Tonight in Our Nation's Capital, future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer took the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays, getting a warm nostalgic welcome from the fans in D.C. He gave up singles to the first two batters in the first inning, and then walked the bases loaded with one out, but managed to escape unharmed. The Nats scored one in the second, but it easily could have been more. Even though Scherzer didn't even last three innings, it's fair to say that keeping his cool is what ended up making the difference in the game. Blue Jays 3, Nats 2. (The same score as the Friday night game!)

Meanwhile, the Miami Marlins had lost 12 games straight through Sunday, thus allowing the Nats to climb back into third place. It's as if they and the suddenly red-hot Boston Red Sox were mirror images of each other! But tonight the Marlins finally won, scoring 3 runs against the Phillies in the bottom of the 9th inning, so now only one game separates them from the Nationals.

C.J. Abrams and James Wood are setting all sorts of records, and folks are making comparisons with the Oakland A's "Bash Brothers" of the late 80s and early 90s, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco. (Hopefully the PED issue will not recur.) With 27 so far, Abrams has now hit more home runs in a season than any other shortstop in Nationals history. He leads the National League in RBIs, with 82. For his part, Wood is the first National to reach 30 home runs in a season since since Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto in 2019 (34), and he stands a very good chance of breaking Alfonso Soriano's record of 46 home runs with the Nationals in 2006. (See the Washington Nationals page; scroll down a bit.)

Nats & Red Sox make big trade

Speaking of the Red Sox, the Nationals traded their blossoming 3rd-baseman slugger Curtis Mead for left-hand pitcher Connelly Early, who is currently on the Injured List. It's a very logical move, since the Nationals are so overloaded with sluggers as it is. They desperately need reliable pitchers, both starters and relievers. Curtis Mead had been DFA'd by the Chicago White Sox in late March, and since the Nats picked him up Mead has done everything possible to prove his value as a major league player. He was a popular player, one of the few Australians in the major leagues, and he'll be remembered fondly in Washington. Best wishes in Bean Town, Curtis!

[This is the new general manager Paul Taboni's first big transaction during a baseball season, and most analysts are impressed with what he has done thus far. As the trade deadline approaches, 2026 postseason dreams will clash with the cold, hard front-office reality of building a team that can contend for a world championship for years to come.]

Nats draft Chris Hacopian

I was watching the early phase of the 2026 MLB Draft two Saturdays ago, and just missed seeing the Nationals announce their pick for the #11 slot: Chris Hacopian, a second baseman who was born in Montgomery County, Maryland. (Just like James Wood!?) Hacopian went to Texas A & M, used to go to see games in Nationals Park, and is very enthusiastic about his future team.

More stadium page updates!

I devoted the weekend and part of today to bringing the stadium pages for the northwestern and Rocky Mountain states up to date. That means making the data tables consistent in content and format, and including composite photos of stadiums where available, as well as composite photos of cities in the case of stadiums that are either in MLB use or are still standing (such as Oakland and Montreal). I also included Cashman Field in Las Vegas, which will become a full-fledged MLB city less than two years hence.

Of the cities shown on the U.S. map that I posted last week, I have not yet visited four of them: Sacramento, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Tampa-St. Petersburg. I passed through Sacramento on an Amtrak train at night, but didn't really see anything. And of the 26 cities that I have visited (including four "twin" metropolitan areas), I didn't take any downtown photos in either Atlanta or Phoenix.

Re-scanned photo: Kingdome!

As mentioned on Friday, I am trying various techniques in scanning old photos and slides, and sometimes a second or third effort yields much better results. A good example would be this photo of the Kingdome, which I took while a friend and I were exploring the Olympic National Park and the city of Seattle in 1987. The image from the first scanner I used had very poor color balance and intensity, and no amount of digital tweaking could improve it much. But this image has decent color balance as well as details in the stadium and nearby buildings. Success!

The Kingdome in Seattle, July 1987. Roll your mouse over the image to see a panorama that includes the downtown skyline. Somehow I tweaked the red, green, and blue light settings just right to get a rich, nicely balanced image, but for the life of me, I haven't been able to do it again. The tiny image below, probably derived from a scan of a printed photo rather than the original slide, was formerly shown on the Kingdome page. Pathetic, huh?

July 24, 2026 [LINK / comment]

The Nats win another road series

After splitting the first two games of the series against the Rockies in Denver, the Washington Nationals fired on all cylinders for the game on Wednesday afternoon. Cade Cavalli pitched 6 shutout innings, during which the Nats scored exactly once on a timely 2-out sac fly by James Wood. That would have been enough, as the bullpen held up this time. Eddy Yean, who was called up from the Rochester Red Wings on Tuesday, pitched two innings, and Max Kranick, who had a rough outing in Sacramento on July 18, closed the game. Nasim Nuñez sparked a rally in the 7th inning with a 2-run single (helped by a fielding error), then Luis Garcia homered (#21!), and the visitors put 6 runs on the board, with one more in the 8th inning. Final score: Nats 8, Rockies 0.

Tonight the Nats begin a 3-game home series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with the often-shaky Zack Littell expected to pitch after Carson Palmquist "opens" with an inning or two. The D-backs currently rank third in the National League wild card race, behind the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies. If the Nationals are going to make it to the postseason, they will need to overcome the D-backs as well as the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Miami Marlins. It's a tall order, but it is an eminently attainable objective -- as long as the front office manages to acquire a good pitcher or two in the next ten days or so. In the 6th inning, the score is tied, 2-2.

How about those Red Sox?!

This is the time of year when trends often shift, either due to injury or morale factors, and the postseason picture starts to come into focus. For the Boston red-hot Red Sox, the first half of 2026 was a miserable frustration, and most people counted them out. But in early July, they started to click, winning nine straight games before the All-Star break, and then six more games afterward. Their opponents during this streak included two strong teams (Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays), two weak team teams (L.A. Angels and N.Y. Mets), plus the Baltimore Orioles. It was the Orioles who finally beat them 5-1 in the second game of a double-header on Wednesday. The Red Sox tied their franchise record of 15 consecutive wins, which they last accomplished in 1946 -- back in Ted Williams' day. Well, you can't win 'em all!

So who was the last team to beat the Red Sox before this year's big winning streak started? The Washington Nationals, of course! That was on July 1, the end of a 3-game series in Fenway Park in which the Nats prevailed in two games out of three.

More stadium page updates, eh?

Four more stadium pages have been updated to conform to the new standard, with city composite photos and (where available) stadium composite photos. And all four of them were in Canada! It happens that I have begun scanning old slides (inherited family archives, etc.), and I managed to get slightly-improved images of some stadiums that I saw for the first time during a cross-country journey in 1987. One of those was in Montreal!

Olympic Stadium in July 1987, as work on the retractable roof was being completed, which is why the crane was there. The guy in front, José Benitez, was kind enough to show me around the city.

Likewise, I found some slide photos of the city that allowed me to create a composite photo of Montreal as well. Both this image and the above stadium photo (including a large version) are now shown on the Olympic Stadium page. Please note that my scanning endeavors are part of an ongoing project, and I may end up posting improved versions of these photos in the near future.

TOP: Downtown Montreal skyline (to the east) on a misty, rainy day, seen from Mount Royal Park. In the distance is the St. Lawrence River. BOTTOM LEFT: A distant view of Olympic Stadium (to the northeast) and residential neighborhoods from that same elevated location. BOTTOM RIGHT: Place Jacques Cartier in Old Montreal; on the right is Hotel Nelson.

July 21, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Even Steven: at 100 games, Nats are were 50-50

For the first time ever, the Washington Nationals attained a perfectly balanced record of exactly 50-50 two days ago, after winning the final game of the series against the Athletics. They came very close to reaching a 50-50 record twice before: July 24, 2018 (losing to the Brewers in Milwaukee) and July 23, 2011 (losing to the Dodgers in L.A.). Both times, of course, they then had records of 49-51.

Also for the first (and almost certainly the last) time ever, the Washington Nationals played a series in Sacramento, California over the weekend, and boy was it a doozy! In Sutter Health Park (capacity just over 14,000), On Friday the offensive juggernaut got started in the 3rd inning, and by the end of the 7th inning, the score was 18-2. The Nats tacked on five more runs in the top of the 9th, while the A's narrowed the gargantuan lead by two runs in the bottom of the 9th. Cade Cavalli had a fine 6 innings on the mound, while the often-woeful Andres Chaparro hit two home runs, to the surprise of almost everyone! Harry Ford, who was just called up from the minors to fill in as backup catcher for the injured Drew Millas, hit his very first home run in the majors! There was no momentum from that victory, however, as the home team jumped to an early lead on Saturday. After giving up 6 runs in the first two innings, Nats starter Zack Littell settled down for a while and put 3 zeroes on the board, but then the home team scored 2 more runs. Max Kranick then took the mound but was relieved after another rally by the A's. The Nats failed to get any hits until the 7th inning, and the only run they scored was in the 9th inning. Final score: 15-1. The day-to-day net difference of the margin of victory defeat was a mind-boggling 33 runs! (A 19-run positive margin on Friday vs. a 14-run negative margin on Saturday.) Also worth noting: until the Saturday game, the Nats had hit at least one home run in ten consecutive games! The rubber game of the series on Sunday was much more normal. C.J. Abrams and Dylan Crews both homered, while the Nats' superb ace pitcher Foster Griffin only gave up one run over 7 innings. It was the 8th straight game in which he pitched 6 or more innings while giving up only one run, thus setting a record for the Nationals. And thus the wildly inconsistent Nats eked out a series win.

On Monday the Nats took on the Colorado Rockies in Denver, and none other than Andres Chaparro hit a 3-run homer in the first inning! The Rockies soon tied it, but the Nats tacked on more runs in the later innings thanks to home runs by Jacob Young and C.J. Abrams, thus winning the game, 7-3. Tonight got off to a fine start with yet another homer by Abrams in the first inning, and he later added another one, reaching 24 total for the year! But the Nats pitchers (especially Carson Palmquist, Miles Mikolas, and Clayton Beeter) just could not contain the Rockies, and a home run in the 8th inning by Hunter Goodman proved to be decisive in the 8-7 loss, putting the Nats right back to an even .500 record. Since the Miami Marlins also lost today, the Nats could have claimed a tie for 3rd place in the NL East, but that quest will have to wait another day.

One more thing worth noting: Thanks largely to C.J. Abrams (with four homers in three days) and Andres Chaparro (with three homers in four days), the Nationals now have the most number of home runs in the majors, with 149, which is 3 more than the New York Yankees! They also have substantial leads now in RBIs as well as runs, the statistic that was cited in that table of team offensive statistics I posted on Friday.

NOTE: When I was assessing the Nationals' near-term prospects for winning and whether they will be "buyers" or "sellers" as the August 3 trade deadline approaches, I meant to cite Danielle Allentuck's article on that topic in the Washingtonp Post.

MORE stadium page updates

Just for the record, on Sunday I updated the pages for the SIX (6) MLB stadiums located in Ohio, three each in Cleveland and Cincinnati. Some of the stadium composite photos on those pages (such as Crosley Field) are "ver-r-ry int-er-esting," as Sgt. Schultz would say. Also, I did likewise for Wrigley Field, thus finishing my work for the three MLB stadiums in Illinois.

Las Vegas sneak preview

The Sacramento Athletics played a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies at Las Vegas Ballpark recently (June 12-14), as a way to promote interest among the team's future fan base. That means I need to update the Anomalous stadiums page soon. I still don't understand why they didn't just move to Las Vegas Ballpark (located in a suburb on the west side of the city) after they departed from Oakland 21 months ago, rather than taking a 3-year detour through Sacramento. Back in 1996 the Athletics played six games in Cashman Field (on the northeast side of the city, NOT on "the seedy south side of Las Vegas," as that page says) because of construction delays at Oakland Coliseum. I have yet to visit Las Vegas, just as I have not yet visited two other MLB cities: St. Petersburg and San Diego. For this purpose I would count Anaheim as part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Otherwise, I've seen them all.

Spain wins World Cup

Well, baseball fans, you can enjoy the rest of the summer without being annoyed by all the hoopla over the 2026 World Cup. Felicitaciones (congratulations) to the people Spain for their triumph over Argentina! To my surprise, the smoke had cleared away by the time the final match at "New York-New Jersey Stadium" got underway. The English team took third-place honors over France in the game at "Miami Stadium" on Saturday.

July 17, 2026 [LINK / comment]

American League shuts out the National League

As things turned out, the 2026 All-Star Game was over almost as soon as it started. The National League's starting pitcher Christopher Sanchez (of the Philadelphia Phillies) gave up 3 singles and 2 walks in his one inning on the mound, giving the American League a quick 3-0 lead. That was a big surprise, given that Sanchez has a record of 11-2, with a 2.62 ERA and 144 strikeouts. Hardly any NL players reached base In the 8th inning, Miguel Vargas (White Sox) hit a solo homer to pad the lead, and the AL won it, 4-0. It was the first shutout in an All-Star game since 2013, when the AL beat the NL, 3-0 in Citi Field.

Of the three Washington Nationals who played in the ASG, only the pitcher Foster Griffin had much to brag about. He got three quick outs in the 5th inning, including 2 strikeouts. C.J. Abrams struck out in both of his at-bats, and James Wood struck out the only time he was up to bat. Among the former Nationals, neither Bryce Harper nor Kyle Schwarber (playing in their home field in Philadelphia) reached base in their 3 combined at-bats, while Juan Soto at least hit a single in one of his 2 at-bats.

This was the first All-Star game to be played in Citizens Bank Park, which is in its 23rd year of operation, an unusually long waiting period to be granted the honor of hosting an ASG. Among all MLB stadiums built since 1989 (Skydome / Rogers Centre), the next longest waits were for Chase Field and Great American Ballpark, 13 years in both cases. [Actually, New Yankee Stadium has yet to host an All-Star game either, and it is now 17 years old; that's because the original Yankee Stadium hosted the 2008 ASG.] Perhaps they wanted to have the All-Star game coincide with the observance of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which was signed in Philadelphia.

The official All-Star Game logos for the years 2005 (Detroit), 2008 (Bronx, New York), 2009 (St. Louis), 2012 (Kansas City), and 2018 (Washington). For some reason, I often seem to visit MLB stadiums either in the same year, or one year before or after, the All-Star Game is played there. Other such cases: 2001 (Turner Field, 2000), 2017 (Marlins Park), 2023 (Dodger Stadium, 2022), and 2023 (T-Mobile Park),

Just how good are the Nationals?

The Washington Nationals have greatly exceeded preseason expectations, maintaining a record of over .500 until just before the All-Star break, and racking up superior statistics in most key offensive categories.

As for individual performances, I would be remiss not to highlight some of James Wood's slugging achievements this year. In the week before the All-Star break, he was named the National League player of the Week, in recognition of all his home runs. (He has a total of 28, tied for fourth in the majors.) In addition, he has hit TEN lead-off home runs this year, leading the majors and one ahead of Shohei Ohtani. He has a decent shot at tying or breaking the MLB record of 15 lead-off homers, set by Kyle Schwarber in 2024. (Data from screwball.com.) I am reminded of Schwarber's historic run of home runs in June of 2021. (See my July 1, 2021 blog post.) Wood also leads the majors by far in runs scored: 89, compared to 68 for Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates. He ranks second in OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging): his .985 is just behind Yordan Alvarez of the Astros (1.059) and just ahead of Juan Soto of the Mets (.975).

Finally, a shout-out to some individual achievements: Nasim Nunez leads the majors with 34 stolen bases, over a third of the Nationals' total. Luis Garcia Jr. has 68 RBIs, tied with "Uncle" Ben Rice for third in the majors, and C.J. Abrams has 67.

This might be a good time to recall what a fantastic deal the Nationals got when they traded Juan Soto (and Josh Bell) to the San Diego Padres on August 2, 2022. In return they got three players who are now top-notch regulars: Mackenzie Gore (P), C.J. Abrams (SS), and James Wood (OF), plus three others including Robert Hassell, who was just traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

For the second half of this month, everything depends on whether the pitching staff can improve sufficiently in order for the Nationals to resume their winning ways and grab one of the wild card spots. (On Facebook recently, a fellow Nats fan chided me as "delusional" for thinking that the Nats might actually be postseason contenders. I know it's a lot to hope for, but without high hopes, what the #&@+% is the point of being a sports fan???) One reason for elevated hopes is that the Nationals rank very high in terms of the ease of their remaining 2026 schedule: their opponents' aggregate win-loss record ranks 20th out of the 30 MLB teams. Meanwhile, the Mets' have the toughest schedule, ranking first! Maybe that explains the rumors that Juan Soto and other players might be traded away as the big deadline approaches.

[UPDATE: In a few minutes the first pitch will be thrown in Sutter Health Park, as the Sacramento Athletics host the Washington Nationals in a three-game interleague series. The Nats are beginning a six-game western road trip, and will visit Denver, Colorado from Monday through Wednesday. Cade Cavalli is the starting pitcher for the Nats tonight, to be followed by Zack Littell and Foster Griffin. It's a truly pivotal moment for the Nats' 2026 season.]

More stadium page updates

During this week I have continued updating the format and content of several stadium pages, focusing this time on the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states. I needed a definite plan of action to tackle this project, and I pondered either going by alphabetical order (referring to the Stadium lists page) or chronological order (referring to the Stadium statistics page). I finally decided to go on a state-by-state and region-by-region approach, mainly because most of the stadium pages have links to stadiums in the same city or area, and this links are usually reciprocal. In choosing that option, I found myself checking a U.S. map over and over, which was tedious. (Call me lazy.) I realized that having a map of MLB stadiums and cities would be handy, so I created one! I will probably either put that map on an existing web page, with interactive "rollover" features showing the names of each city's stadiums, or perhaps create a new page with a geographic focus.

MLB stadiums and cities. Showing all current and past concrete / steel stadiums used in MLB for at least one year.

I changed my mind and decided to include Buffalo's Sahlen Field, since the Toronto Blue Jays used it for the equivalent of almost a full season: July through September 2020 as well as May and June in 2021. All those months add up to most of a full year of baseball.

For the record, I would like to state that ALL of the work on updating the page formatting and content are being done with good old-fashioned HTML coding skills and my graphical editing craft, NOT "Artificial Intelligence"! The same thing applies to as well as ongoing updates to stadium diagrams, which will be the next phase of my web site refurbishment endeavors.

World Cup: the final matches!

The championship match of this year's World Cup will be played on Sunday in "New York-New Jersey Stadium," which is the temporary name of MetLife Stadium, home of the NFC Giants and AFC Jets. Unfortunately, the air in that area (and in much of the northeastern U.S.A.) is filled with smoke from wild fires in Canada and some north central states. Defending champion Argentina will face Spain, in a sort of rematch of the 1810 war of independence led by General San Martin. On Saturday, England will face France (the runner-up four years ago) for a chance to claim third-place honors. That match will be played in "Miami Stadium," better known as "Hard Rock Stadium," home of the AFC Dolphins.

July 14, 2026 [LINK / comment]

All the stars gather in Philadelphia

The 2026 All-Star Game is being played in Philadelphia this evening, and once again, I won't be there!

Three Washington Nationals made the All-Star roster: C.J. Abrams (SS), James Wood (RF/DH), and Foster Griffin (LHP). Abrams has 20 home runs, is batting .275, and has 67 RBIs. Wood has 28 home runs, is batting .279, and has 89 runs and 79 bases on balls, in both cases the most in the majors. Griffin has a 2.77 ERA (ranked #13 in MLB), has a 10-2 record, and has thrown 109 strikeouts. He is the Nats' best pitcher since Max Scherzer. Can he keep it up? And can the Nationals front office keep him in Washington?? Luis Garcia Jr. has also been putting up All-Star caliber batting numbers, and Keibert Ruiz is not far behind.

2026 Home Run Derby

In last night's Home Run Derby, Bryce Harper didn't make it out of the first round and was thus denied the chance to win the Derby in his home stadium twice. (He did so during his final year as a Washington National way back in 2018.) His team mate Kyle Schwarber (another former National!) made it to the final round, but fell just short of the winner, Jordan Walker of the St. Louis Cardinals. The new rules took the pressure off time-wise, giving the batters a chance to get ready for the next pitch. Walker connected on his last five (?) pitches, after I thought that Schwarber had already wrapped up a victory.

Oops: They blew it again! *

For most teams, going into the All-Star break with a nine-game home stand would be a welcome opportunity, but for the Washington Nationals it was the road to disappointment. They had a good chance of winning the first series (against the Pirates) on Sunday, July 5, with a 4-4 tie going into the 8th inning. That's when the Nats' infamous bullpen choked once again. Brad Lord, who is usually the team's most reliable reliever, gave up 5 runs and then newly acquired Justin Lawrence gave up 2 more in the 9th. Final score: Pirates 11, Nats 5.

The next day the Houston Astros came to town, and this time the Nats were ready, amassing 5 runs in the 3rd inning and 6 runs in the 5th inning to take a 12-6 lead. But the Astros came back with 1 run in the 6th and 4 more in the 8th to narrow the gap to just one run. The weary home fans' nerves were on edge, but this time the relief pitchers held the line, and Clayton Beete got the save in a 12-11 cliffhanger. Starting pitcher Miles Mikolas had an unusually strong outing, going 6 innings and getting the win. But the next day Houston got the best of Andrew Alvarez, who was charged in the 6-3 loss. In the rubber game, Foster Griffin only gave up one run over 7 full innings, while Luis Garcia and C.J. Abrams both homered, leading to an 8-2 Nats victory.

After a day of rest, the Nationals welcomed the recently-struggling New York Yankees to Washington. It was a matchup between the two teams with the most number of home runs in the major leagues. The Nats were hoping to take the series and go into the All-Star break with a record above .500, but it didn't quite work out. In all three games, the Nats had the lead going into the late innings, and each time the bullpen choked badly. Manager Blake Butera seems obsessed with changing pitchers based on righty-lefty matchups, but that blew up in his face. On Friday Matt Krook, who has a career ERA in the double digits and had no business pitching in a game with a one-run lead, blew the save in the 9th inning and took the loss. On Saturday, the Nats were leading 2-0 going into the 8th inning, when Clayton Beeter gave up 4 runs and was charged in the loss. And on Sunday Andrew Alvarez gave up a 2-run triple to "Uncle" Ben Rice, giving the Yanks a 4-3 lead which they padded with one more run in the 9th. I should mention that the decisive triple might have been caught if the usual center fielder, Jacob Young, had been playing. He is only so-so as a batter, but he has made some spectacular catches on defense. Dylan Crews missed that catch as he bumped into the wall in front of the "Red Porch" section, and a photo of that play filled the front of the Washington Post sports section the next day. The Nats hit 6 home runs during that series, but the Yankees hit 7, thus widening their lead. It's now the Yankees with 142 total home runs this year, and the Nationals with 138.

And so, the Nationals now have the dubious distinction of leading the major leagues in blown saves, with 28 altogether! THE WORST BULLPEN IN HISTORY? Maybe. The MLB record for team blown saves in a year is 37, and with two-fifths of their 162 games left to play, the Nats are well on their way to surpassing that ignoble level of incompetence. The Washington Nationals BIG moments page will soon be updated to include James Wood's second career grand slam and the recent 9th-inning reversals.

It's really quite striking that a team that are veritable juggernauts on offense are so weak on the pitching side. A team that was a contender for one of the NL wild card spots is slowly fading into insignificance just because the front office can't seem to field a reliable group of pitchers. The upshot is that whereas the Nationals were considered possible "buyers" as the trade deadline approaches at the end of July, they are now more likely go trade away some of their top talent, going back to the drawing board in a never-ending ritual of "rebuidling." It is all such an awful shame.

* with apologies to Britney Spears

Several more page updates

Over the past couple weeks, I have been revamping the format of several stadium pages, making them much more consistent and (hopefully) accessible. Other than Citizens Bank Park (because of the All-Star Game, of course), I focused most of my attention on the eleven past and present MLB stadiums in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Texas. I mentioned this endeavor in my July 3 blog post. Of special note on the Arlington Stadium page, I have edited the (low-resolution panoramic mosaic images) sent to me long ago by Clifford "Bucky" Nance, such that the previous sharp differences in lighting between the three segments have been substantially eliminated.

Views of Citizens Bank Park when I saw Nationals-Phillies games there in April 2005 and September 2016.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Independence Hall, downtown Philadelphia skyline with the City Hall in the left foreground; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Liberty Bell.