Andrew Clem home
Andrew Clem banner

Blog post


Monthly archives
(all categories)


May 16, 2008 [LINK / comment]

The Nationals (heart) heart New York!

Thanks in no small part to the amazing -- dare I say miraclous -- horizontal dive catch by Willie Harris of a fly ball hit in the ninth inning by Ryan Church down the left field line, the Nationals held on to beat the Mets, 1-0. Several commentators said that catch was the "play of the year" -- so far. The lone RBI in the game was a sac fly in the eighth inning by Felipe Lopez, allowing Jesus Flores to score. The Nationals also won on Wednesday night, 5-3, as Tim Redding got his fourth win of the season. Against all odds, the Nats took three of four games up in New York, hopefully getting their season back on the right track again.

I checked my records, and found that the Nationals have had much better success against the Mets in Shea Stadium than at home. Remember when they swept the Mets up there in late September last year? I'm sure the Mets remember -- they got knocked out of the playoffs! From 2005 until the present, the Nats have a 19-14 record against the Mets when playing in New York, and a record of only 8-22 when playing at home in Washington.

I heart N.Y.!

And so, in honor of the Mets' aging, soon-to-be-retired home, which has been so friendly to the Nationals, I have updated the Shea Stadium diagrams, adding lights and other details. Note that I have lowered my estimate of the total diameter of the stadium by about 40 feet, which works out to about seven rows. Basically, there is more overhang by the middle and upper decks than I had realized, so they are a bit more "squeezed together" than I had thought.

Shea Stadium

Watching the Nats-Mets games on TV (MASN!) was a great opportunity to see the construction progress on Citi Field, which looms menacingly over Shea Stadium's left-center field. The west side of the new structure is only twenty or so feet in back of the center field black screen.

UPDATE: For some great photos of Shea Stadium and Citi Field, see baseball-fever.com; hat tip to Mike Zurawski.

Nick Johnson on DL

Nick Johnson hurt his wrist the other day, and after an MRI test, it was found that he has a torn tendon sheath in his right wrist. He is expected to be out for four to six weeks, but has been put on the 15-day disabled list, presumably in case he heals faster than expected. The Nats really need him, as he is one of the highest on-base percentages on the team, mostly because of his ability to draw walks. (Patience!) See MLB.com. Coincidentally, the man who replaced him at first base last year, Dmitri Young, is just coming off the DL. In any case, Aaron Boone has been playing extremely well -- both as backup first baseman, and as a batter at the plate. It's another example of how the Nationals have acquired one of the deepest rosters in all the majors, with multiple solid players at almost every position. It's just too bad some of their first-stringers can't perform at All-Star levels on a consistent basis...

Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 16 May 2008, 3: 45 PM

(unformatted URL)
      .



This post is over a week old, so comments are closed.


© Andrew G. Clem. All rights reserved. Your use of this material signifies your acceptance of the Terms of use.


Hits on this page (single blog post) since July 2, 2007:

Category archives:
(all years)



This (or that) year's
blog highlights

Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.


Explanation

The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:

  1. Wild birds (LAST)
  2. War
  3. Science & Technology
  4. Politics
  5. Latin America
  6. Culture & Travel
  7. Canaries ("Home birds")
  8. Baseball (FIRST)