Washington Nationals: Our staff’s favorite Nationals Park memories
By Drew Douglas
Ross Shinberg, Staff Writer
As a belated birthday present, I got the opportunity to see a Nats game. The game was on a Sunday afternoon against the San Francisco Giants. No clouds, a light wind, it was a perfect day for baseball.
On the hill for the Giants was perhaps my second favorite pitcher in the entire league: Madison Bumgarner. And he worked the Nationals lineup front to back. He pitched a complete game (albeit eight innings pitched) with two hits allowed and seven strikeouts.
Opposing Bumgarner, Tanner Roark matched him pitch-for-pitch, throwing seven strong shutout innings.
As one could imagine, the ballpark was relatively quiet for most of the game (with the exception of the Racing Presidents playing volleyball, of course). That was until the seventh inning.
With two on and two out, old friend Ben Revere made an incredible over-the-shoulder catch, bringing back memories of Willie Mays from the 1954 World Series.
In the bottom of the inning, another old friend, Wilson Ramos, snuck a ball over the right-center field wall and sent Nats Park into a frenzy!
And when viewing the tape back, I can be seen cheering him on as he rounds third base. It was a proud moment making it on live TV.
The game ended with the final score of 1-0. It was the perfect game. A rock-solid pitcher’s duel where each hit and each run are so valuable and precious. And, of course, a Curly W!