Author Topic: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1  (Read 18135 times)

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Offline nats2playoffs

  • Posts: 23843
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #250: March 31, 2008, 02:41:33 AM »
If anybody saw someone in a gorilla suit on the jumbo-tron in the 8th inning, that was me.  I wore the red Curly W shirt over it, that was given out when the Lerners took over.  I was sitting in the Diamond Club, behind home plate, in the 5th row, directly in line with the pitcher and batter.  I never had seats that good in my entire lifetime.  I was blown away at how close I was to home plate.  I could see the grass blades that had the white Curly W painted on them behind the plate.  I was sitting five seats away from the GEICO Caveman, one of the actual guys who has appeared in the TV commercials.  He was jumping up every time the Nationals did anything good, rooting for them.  He officiated the RIGGED President's race at the finish line.  (I probably embarrased the Nationals officials by yelling RIGGED at the TOP OF MY LUNGS, BEFORE the Presidents even got into the outfield, and for the ENTIRE RIGGED race!  I then BOOED George Washington for his TAINTED PHONY win! 

The GEICO Caveman got a big kick when I put on the gorilla suit, and tried to get us posing together for the Jumbo-tron.  But there were no cameras around, so we posed for photos together.  LOTS of people took photos with me.  Everybody wanted me to pose with them, as a reminder of Opening Day at the new place.  The Gorilla (Rally Monkey?) became an instant celebrity. 

I was SO close to the plate that I'm pretty sure the players could hear the encouragement being yelled at them by me and another fan.  As soon as I put the gorilla suit on, Ray King walked his first batter.  So I wondered if he saw me and it threw him off.  King did look thinner, but he could NOT find the plate with almost EVERY pitch.  Not close.  I was amazed from that angle at how well all the pitchers threw.  That stuff looked difficult to hit.  I think Zimmerman simply expected it to be that way, and slammed that homer out anyway.  We were yelling for him before he did it.

People in the Diamond Club seats behind home plate have free access to three clubs there, and a LOT of people were sitting at a bar or at tables eating (good) food in the President's Restaurant behind home plate, which has lots of TVs.  They had cheesecake!  That and the fact that some of those folks left after the 6th inning explains the empty seats behind home plate.  The tickets were NOT sold out anyway, and these were the ONLY tickets available on-line Sunday afternoon.  But frankly, the mob of people in the bar were not really watching the game.  Most of them were just hanging out at this bar, as they would at any other private bar.  We'll take their money...

People were buying me free beers in the President's Lounge after the game, and still taking photos with me in the gorilla suit.  A good looking woman (there were MANY) offered to KISS me, if I'd take off the mask... (LOL, alcohol...)   

I did NOT tape the game on TV, and I forgot that it was NOT on MASN.  So I don't know if ESPN showed me on TV in that gorilla suit, or if I could be seen behind home plate.   My brother probably has it on Tivo, but I didn't even know I would be attending until 3:30 pm the day of the game.  WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!

nats2playoffs


Offline saltydad

  • Posts: 3722
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #251: March 31, 2008, 02:45:00 AM »
I had to DVR the game, and just finished watching it. WOW!! I remember a while back people said RZ wouldn't have many walkoffs. WHEEHOO. Couldn't have scripted it better. Won a game that, based on pitching alone, the Braves deserved winning. The Wookie closed it out, albeit a bit shakily, but we're used to that with Chief. Odalis wasn't as bad or as good as I thought he might be, Ayala looked mughty fine, NJ and AK are indeed unsung heroes of the game. Was it as cold as it looked? What a beautiful way to open Nats Park.

Offline nats2playoffs

  • Posts: 23843
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #252: March 31, 2008, 02:59:35 AM »
I had to DVR the game.... Was it as cold as it looked?

NOT if you were wearing a GORILLA SUIT!  I always wanted to do that, and I couldn't resist the home opener on national TV in a new stadium, when it was expected to be cold.  If you re-run it, see if you can see a gorilla suit in the 5th row directly behind home plate.  I was in direct line with the umpire and pitcher.

I was supposed to get free parking, but ALL the police on the street around the stadium were extremely rude and completely UNhelpful.  I ended up driving to RFK, where there was little help to direct people to express buses, all but one of which were idle.  The only one that ran drove slower than a grandmother who just had her third stroke.  LOTS of buses sitting there doing nothing.  I somehow arrived in the first inning, but missed ALL the pre-game stuff, (including NOTLD cheering President Bush's first pitch.)

I had Atlanta's starting pitcher, Hudson, on my WNFF Fantasy team. 

Offline sportsfan882

  • Posts: 93631
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #253: March 31, 2008, 03:02:08 AM »
If anybody saw someone in a gorilla suit on the jumbo-tron in the 8th inning, that was me.  I wore the red Curly W shirt over it, that was given out when the Lerners took over.  I was sitting in the Diamond Club, behind home plate, in the 5th row, directly in line with the pitcher and batter.  I never had seats that good in my entire lifetime.  I was blown away at how close I was to home plate.  I could see the grass blades that had the white Curly W painted on them behind the plate.  I was sitting five seats away from the GEICO Caveman, one of the actual guys who has appeared in the TV commercials.  He was jumping up every time the Nationals did anything good, rooting for them.  He officiated the RIGGED President's race at the finish line.  (I probably embarrased the Nationals officials by yelling RIGGED at the TOP OF MY LUNGS, BEFORE the Presidents even got into the outfield, and for the ENTIRE RIGGED race!  I then BOOED George Washington for his TAINTED PHONY win! 

The GEICO Caveman got a big kick when I put on the gorilla suit, and tried to get us posing together for the Jumbo-tron.  But there were no cameras around, so we posed for photos together.  LOTS of people took photos with me.  Everybody wanted me to pose with them, as a reminder of Opening Day at the new place.  The Gorilla (Rally Monkey?) became an instant celebrity. 

I was SO close to the plate that I'm pretty sure the players could hear the encouragement being yelled at them by me and another fan.  As soon as I put the gorilla suit on, Ray King walked his first batter.  So I wondered if he saw me and it threw him off.  King did look thinner, but he could NOT find the plate with almost EVERY pitch.  Not close.  I was amazed from that angle at how well all the pitchers threw.  That stuff looked difficult to hit.  I think Zimmerman simply expected it to be that way, and slammed that homer out anyway.  We were yelling for him before he did it.

People in the Diamond Club seats behind home plate have free access to three clubs there, and a LOT of people were sitting at a bar or at tables eating (good) food in the President's Restaurant behind home plate, which has lots of TVs.  They had cheesecake!  That and the fact that some of those folks left after the 6th inning explains the empty seats behind home plate.  The tickets were NOT sold out anyway, and these were the ONLY tickets available on-line Sunday afternoon.  But frankly, the mob of people in the bar were not really watching the game.  Most of them were just hanging out at this bar, as they would at any other private bar.  We'll take their money...

People were buying me free beers in the President's Lounge after the game, and still taking photos with me in the gorilla suit.  A good looking woman (there were MANY) offered to KISS me, if I'd take off the mask... (LOL, alcohol...)   

I did NOT tape the game on TV, and I forgot that it was NOT on MASN.  So I don't know if ESPN showed me on TV in that gorilla suit, or if I could be seen behind home plate.   My brother probably has it on Tivo, but I didn't even know I would be attending until 3:30 pm the day of the game.  WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!

nats2playoffs

(Image removed from quote.) (Image removed from quote.)

HOLY CRAP! THAT WAS YOU?? WHEN I SAW IT ON THE HD SCREEN I THOUGHT OF YOU BUT I WASN'T SURE.

Offline ronnynat

  • Posts: 23269
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #254: March 31, 2008, 03:24:15 AM »
The game is on ESPN2 right now

Offline nats2playoffs

  • Posts: 23843
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #255: March 31, 2008, 03:28:38 AM »
HOLY CRAP! THAT WAS YOU?? WHEN I SAW IT ON THE HD SCREEN I THOUGHT OF YOU BUT I WASN'T SURE.

They don't actually show it live; they delay it for about a minute, in case someone makes obscene gestures or something.  I can't hear as well with the mask on, and didn't even realize that I was being taped at first.  The people around me were unsuccessfully trying to get a Wave going, and I tried to help them.  The guy with the camera really WANTED me to ham it up, and I was happy to oblige.  He was calling out to me, and the folks around me told me to look at the camera. 

It's too bad the GEICO Caveman wasn't there.  He was sitting at the end of my row, and I had to walk past him, with a gorilla suit in a bag, to get to the seat.  I kept staring at him in disbelief that it was really him.  LOTS of people came up to him; a woman touched his face; he said, "It's REAL.".  I think his forehead sticks out around the eyebrows kind of naturally, which might have helped get him the job.  (When I had the Gorilla suit on, I told him that I was a long-time GEICO policyholder, which is true.)  He's the one in the very newest Caveman commercial, not the one who argues with the newscasters or is at the airport.  He seemed to be having a good time.  I thought I heard him refer people to the Caveman Apartment Web site that WNFF sited in Off Topic.


I think the one on the left was at the game

Offline ronnynat

  • Posts: 23269
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #256: March 31, 2008, 03:34:41 AM »
John Lehr (from 10 Items or Less on TBS) is one of the cavemen. I wonder if he was the one.


Offline ronnynat

  • Posts: 23269
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #257: March 31, 2008, 03:42:39 AM »
Up to this point in the game (through 3), Perez looked great. That pickoff move to get Kelly Johnson even fooled me.

Offline nats2playoffs

  • Posts: 23843
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #258: March 31, 2008, 03:43:10 AM »
The game is on ESPN2 right now

Washington is ahead 2-0.  I don't know if I have blank tape. It shows 3 am-5am as the schedule.

I noticed that the sound system was LIGHT YEARS better than RFK, where you often couldn't make out what was said.  Since I arrived in the 1st inning and got pulled into the Lounge after the game, I really got no good look at the Concourse.  I never attended a baseball game with such high attendance, so it seemed just as crowded in the Concourse because SO many people were there.  I could see that it was physically much bigger.  I don't think I got the ticket until 5:00 pm.



Offline nats2playoffs

  • Posts: 23843
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #259: March 31, 2008, 04:02:22 AM »
John Lehr (from 10 Items or Less on TBS) is one of the cavemen. I wonder if he was the one.
(Image removed from quote.) (Image removed from quote.)

I was actually sitting closer, and the Caveman pictures are not the sharpest.  He didn't look like he had a lot of makeup, and the hair looked real, but he was definitely a Caveman.  I saw his profile a lot. I'm not sure how many of them were in those commercials, but they recently started running a new one, where they're watching TV.  I think this guy was in it.  I recognized both his face and voice INSTANTLY, as I was walking down the aisle toward him.  He was wearing a red Nationals jacket, like the one President Bush wore in the photo.  He also had a tag around his neck, so I figured he was there as a promotion for GEICO.  He walked up to the cage a few times and was gesturing with his hand.  I think he was questioning calls or trying to show where to pitch it; I think he was trying to be funny.

The Washington Times has posted photos, and I do recognize people in them
(um...me), but the Caveman isn't in them.  They're not jpg.

Offline ronnynat

  • Posts: 23269
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #260: March 31, 2008, 04:08:53 AM »
I was actually sitting closer, and the Caveman pictures are not the sharpest.  He didn't look like he had a lot of makeup, and the hair looked real, but he was definitely a Caveman.  I saw his profile a lot. I'm not sure how many of them were in those commercials, but they recently started running a new one, where they're watching TV.  I think this guy was in it.  I recognized both his face and voice INSTANTLY, as I was walking down the aisle toward him.  He was wearing a red Nationals jacket, like the one President Bush wore in the photo.  He also had a tag around his neck, so I figured he was there as a promotion for GEICO.  He walked up to the cage a few times and was gesturing with his hand.  I think he was questioning calls or trying to show where to pitch it; I think he was trying to be funny.

The Washington Times has posted photos, and I do recognize people in them
(um...me), but the Caveman isn't in them.  They're not jpg.

I think it has to be the one that's on all of the local Comcast SportsNet commercials. He also goes to most of the home Wizards games. Not sure which one it is, though.

Offline ronnynat

  • Posts: 23269
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #261: March 31, 2008, 04:47:53 AM »
OK, in watching the replay of the game, Lo Duca and Rauch had their signs mixed up the WHOLE time. That'd explain better what happened on the passed ball.

Offline nats2playoffs

  • Posts: 23843
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #262: March 31, 2008, 04:52:20 AM »
I think it has to be the one that's on all of the local Comcast SportsNet commercials. He also goes to most of the home Wizards games. Not sure which one it is, though.

That's probably where I saw the recent commercials.  John Lehr has a web site with caveman photos and links to his commercials at

http://www.johnlehr.com/caveman.html

I'd want to see that commercial again.  I think the one at the Opener had a little less hair than the commercials, which made you double-take.  But maybe it was Lehr.  His voice in the golf commercial link sounds similar.

Offline nats2playoffs

  • Posts: 23843
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #263: March 31, 2008, 05:02:44 AM »
OK, in watching the replay of the game, Lo Duca and Rauch had their signs mixed up the WHOLE time. That'd explain better what happened on the passed ball.

I loved when Rauch caught the line drive on the mound.  After the passed ball tied the game, I yelled to Rauch, "Now YOU can be the winning pitcher."  And he was, thanks to Zimmerman.  The kid in the front row who caught Zim's home run HAD to be the happiest fan at the game.


 

Offline shoeshineboy

  • Posts: 7934
  • Walks Kill!! Walks Kill! Walks Kill!!!!
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #264: March 31, 2008, 07:55:37 AM »
I'd have to guess that most of those people weren't even big Nats fans, but just wanted to be at the event. I know that nobody here would ever leave early. It's going to be REALLY hard to keep up attendance this year. We honestly kind of need the away fans at our games to fill seats.

Unfortunately, too many people are slaves to traffic and commutes. I think the national pastime for many is getting out of parking lots faster than others. It will always be the case. But I think this stadium is such a hit, it will be a pretty good draw all season if the Nats are reasonably competitive. We could be in a pennant race with consecutive sellouts and at least 20% of the stadium would empty after the 7th inning.

Offline kimnat

  • Posts: 7172
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #265: March 31, 2008, 07:57:10 AM »
Oh my goodness!!  I had no idea that was you!!  That's so funny!!  SO, I will ask you the question I had when I saw "you", what was up w/ wearing the gorilla suit?

Offline kimnat

  • Posts: 7172
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #266: March 31, 2008, 08:01:05 AM »
I had to DVR the game, and just finished watching it. WOW!! I remember a while back people said RZ wouldn't have many walkoffs. WHEEHOO. Couldn't have scripted it better. Won a game that, based on pitching alone, the Braves deserved winning. The Wookie closed it out, albeit a bit shakily, but we're used to that with Chief. Odalis wasn't as bad or as good as I thought he might be, Ayala looked mughty fine, NJ and AK are indeed unsung heroes of the game. Was it as cold as it looked? What a beautiful way to open Nats Park.

It was pretty nippy, but I thought it was a bit warmer once the game started.  Maybe it was just having so many people there, maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was just jumping around like the "drunkest non-drunk person" Dan has ever seen.  :)  there was a game I went to last year w/ my dad which I thought was MUCH colder than last night!

Offline kimnat

  • Posts: 7172
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #267: March 31, 2008, 08:04:18 AM »
OK, in watching the replay of the game, Lo Duca and Rauch had their signs mixed up the WHOLE time. That'd explain better what happened on the passed ball.

I missed Brian!

natsfan1a

  • Guest
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #268: March 31, 2008, 08:22:55 AM »
Perhaps it was the gorilla suit? ;)

I was supposed to get free parking, but ALL the police on the street around the stadium were extremely rude and completely UNhelpful.

Offline The Chief

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Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #269: March 31, 2008, 08:27:03 AM »
It was pretty chilly by the end of the game, but I didn't feel like I was underdressed *except* for the fact that I wished I had some gloves...  my hands were cold and aching by the time we left and even worse by the time we got on to one of the buses back to RFK (wouldn't you know they were running out of lot 8? ;) )

Great game overall, though I was admittedly furious when we blew the lead in the 9th on a passed ball...  especially after I had been telling my girlfriend (a Braves fan) the whole game "don't worry, that scoring in the first is all we'll do, and then we'll blow it in the 9th somehow."  Of course at the time, I was just trying to use the old reverse jinx trick to stave off disaster, but I turned out to be exactly right.

Thankfully Zimmerman rescued us in dramatic fashion.  You could almost feel when he came to the plate that something was going to happen, it just had to.

And for those who like to keep up with obscure stats, this is now the second consecutive year that the Nationals have won my first attended game of the season via walk-off - I attended last year's game 3 Dmitri Young walk-off against the Marlins at RFK in which Josh "looks foul to me" Willingham let Young's deep fly to left drop in the corner.

natsfan1a

  • Guest
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #270: March 31, 2008, 08:30:52 AM »
Sounds like we have to get you out to more games, Chief. ;)

And for those who like to keep up with obscure stats, this is now the second consecutive year that the Nationals have won my first attended game of the season via walk-off - I attended last year's game 3 Dmitri Young walk-off against the Marlins at RFK in which Josh "looks foul to me" Willingham let Young's deep fly to left drop in the corner.

Offline The Chief

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Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #271: March 31, 2008, 08:34:18 AM »
Sounds like we have to get you out to more games, Chief. ;)


Hey, if the Nationals need me to kick-start their winning seasons, I'll just have to buck up and make that sacrifice :lol:

natsfan1a

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Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #272: March 31, 2008, 08:40:05 AM »
:thumbs: :lol:

Offline ernie0326

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Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #273: March 31, 2008, 09:28:34 AM »
does anyone have a YouTube or an audio clip of Charlie Slowes' call of Zimmerman's bomb?  I'd love to hear it.

natsfan1a

  • Guest
Re: Nationals vs Braves, Game 1
« Reply #274: March 31, 2008, 09:39:10 AM »
I couldn't find an audio clip at the team site, but there are some video highlights:

http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080330&content_id=2468019&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Edit: Not sure whether you're local but if you are, you might try listening to WTOP sports at 15 minutes after or 15 minutes before the hour. They might replay the Slowes call in their recap. Hah - they played it right after I typed that (or played part of it, anyway)! 103.5 FM.