If you want to make money betting on baseball next season, keep track of how the Washington Nationals do in the first few games I attend. If they win a few, bet on them to lose. If they lose a few, bet on some wins.
Why? Because during the 2013 season, the Nats went 11-11 with me in attendance. You might think that’s a small sample size, so let’s expand it. In 2012, the Nats went 10-10 with me in attendance. Not satisfied yet? Fine. In 2011, the Nats went 7-7 with me in attendance.
That’s three seasons, 49 games, and a perfect .500 record. Of course I know this because I’m a nerd and have a spreadsheet with data on virtually every major sporting event I’ve attended in my life:
This season was certainly a disappointment for the Nationals, who missed the playoffs by a few games after winning their division last year. But they were still playing baseball, and a season at the park with my mom and brother was a great time. We saw Stephen Strasburg and Dan Haren pitch five times each, with sometimes frustrating results, but were also treated to a few surprisingly positive starts by Ross Ohlendorf and six games with the amazing Jordan Zimmermann.
Zimmermann is one of my favorite Nats both for the way he just goes about his business and also the pace at which he works. A game with him on the mound is much more likely to be over in 2.5 hours than 3.5. This year we saw him pitch two complete shutouts in which he gave up a combined three hits.
There were also some pretty crazy things that happened at our games.
Opening Day brought a pair of home runs by young star Bryce Harper. It’s a shame he got hurt early in the year because he was about as locked in as a hitter can be. Hopefully next season he won’t run into any fences.
Near the end of an 11-inning game in June, I began noticing smoke wafting in from across the stadium. It was the kind of thing you see sometimes from the restaurants behind right field, but not at that point in the night. Then there was what I can best describe as a loud electrical “zoink” noise with an accompanying flash of fire. A bank of lights had shorted out, sending entire sections of people rushing to relocate.
In early August, the analog clock next to the scoreboard began malfunctioning, sometimes freezing, sometimes going super fast and other times going backwards. Naturally I began documenting the saga on Twitter, part of which ended up in a Washington Post article:
Side story of this #Nats game: the clock next to the video board is going CRAZY fast
— Chris Hannas (@cjhannas) August 9, 2013
Real-time that inning took 10 minutes. #NatsClock said an hour and 15 minutes. #Nats
— Chris Hannas (@cjhannas) August 9, 2013
#NatsClock now slowly going backwards. #Nats
— Chris Hannas (@cjhannas) August 10, 2013
#NatsClock froze at 3:43 before going forward again. I feel like there’s a secret message in there. #Nats
— Chris Hannas (@cjhannas) August 10, 2013
#NatsClock really moving again. That half-inning took 3 mins, clock said 23. #Nats
— Chris Hannas (@cjhannas) August 10, 2013
#NatsClock stuck again…but the #Nats scored 4 so 4:15 is apparently a good tme for them to hit http://t.co/BvJLy2YhMs
— Chris Hannas (@cjhannas) August 10, 2013
Scratch that theory. #NatsClock still says 4:15, but no runs for the #Nats that inning.
— Chris Hannas (@cjhannas) August 10, 2013
Another inning stuck at 4:15 and no runs for the #Nats. Everyone please pray for #NatsClock.
— Chris Hannas (@cjhannas) August 10, 2013
In case you were concerned, the clock was fixed in time for our next game.
In September, we saw something I didn’t know was possible. Braves pitcher Alex Wood was upset about a pitch he thought was a strike and the umpire called a ball. He expressed that frustration. His manager brought in a new pitcher because of the game situation. The moment Wood handed over the ball and began walking off the mound, he SCREAMED at the umpire, who then gave the ejection sign. So a player who had already been taken out of the game was thrown out of the game. Fun times!
Speaking of fun, one of the great things about working overnights not far from Nats Park is that I can just go in a little early and catch the bulk of a game if I want to. One night Zimmermann was pitching against Giants starter Tim Lincecum, who is someone I’ve always thought was cool to watch but had never seen in person. So the day of the game, I grabbed a $15 ticket online for a decent seat on the lower level and got to see most of that matchup. Of course since I had to leave early I did miss Denard Span make probably the catch of the season to save a win for the Nats.
I also enjoy when we get to see players make their Major League debuts. In 2011, pitcher Tommy Milone hit a three-run homer on the very first pitch he saw as a hitter. This season, pitcher Nate Karns didn’t have that kind of moment, but there was cool sky above the park as he threw his first pitch:
Here’s to another great year in 2014.