I looked down from section 205 at Nationals Park with “Zimmerman” and the number 11 on my back.  In my pocket, there was a ticket card with “Seat 11” stamped on the front.

The Nationals had already lost one game Friday in a season that has not come close to matching expectations after last year’s playoff run.  In seemingly every situation in which the Nats of then got a clutch hit, this group has found a way to squander opportunities.

This night, however, Ryan Zimmerman walked to the plate in a tie game with one out in the ninth inning  My family — who had seen two of his seven career walk-off home runs — talked about it happening again in that hopefully predictive way sports fans do.

Mets pitcher LaTroy Hawkins threw three balls.  Then a called strike.  Then a fastball that Zimmerman slammed into the seats in right-center field.  The home run horn sounded and his teammates gathered at home plate ready to celebrate their second walk-off home run win in as many days.  As Zimmerman crossed the plate, teammate Ian Desmond added something I’ve never seen by giving the whole group a Gatorade shower (great view of it at 1:05).

It’s no secret the Nats need a lot more of these moments, and quickly, if they are going to make it back to the playoffs.  For one night, at least, things were back to normal.

One other fun thing from the game came when they put the list of group outings and celebrations up on the scoreboard.  As part of our ticket plan, we get one free message, which last year we used to wish my new nephew happy birthday.

This time, with no babies arriving this week, we went for something far more hilarious.  It’s possible there were only four Arrested Development fans in the stadium paying attention at that moment, but I think they had to enjoy the joke:

We were originally thinking of several options, including something involving the banana stand, but what’s better than an obscure pop culture reference?