Losses at RFK

DM, Dexy's and I were at Opening Day today. Not quite as exciting as last year, but a beautiful day, and a day at the ballpark beats a day pretty much everywhere else. Here are my notes:

1. RFK Logistics. Surprisingly, I left the latest - 11:37 a.m. from my home in N.E. Alexandria, but arrived first at the game - about 12:05 or so. Folks, it's simple how to get to RFK. Take 395 to 6th Street S.E., go north on 6th St. to North Carolina, then take that to East Capitol. Left turn at RFK and boom, you are in Lot 3. Easy in, Easy out. OK, now if you would kindly take this information and forget it, so that I can continue to get to the game in 28 minutes or less.

2. Food / Beverage Changes. Since I got to the game earlier than DM and Dexy's, I did a quick tour of the lower and middle levels of the stadium for changes in the food and beverage at RFK. The first place I went was behind home plate, looking for the microbrew stand. It's now a Miller Lite stand, a massive bummer - I really liked the Foggybottom they served last year. DM reminded me there is a reason for this - Foggybottom is no more. So I looked around for new alternative beers. Guinness is back, paired with Harp, and I noticed Dos Equis and Heineken were being sold. I don't recall Heineken last year, but I had pretty much focused on Foggybottom by year end.

Food-wise, I was nearly irate during my walk-around because I couldn't find any chorizo. And you know how I like chorizo. But no, it's not gone. Chorizo has its own stands around the stadium, they just aren't marked. And the chorizo is just as good as ever. Salvation.

Also new is the fact that kettle corn is more evenly distributed around RFK stadium. It's really good, as DM, Dexy's and I enjoyed a $6.00 plastic bowl of it. Here's a tip - if you ask for fresh kettle corn, they will give it to you. Don't take one off the counter.

I also noticed on the 200 level, in front of the Beerpen, that Red Hot & Blue barbeque is being sold. There was a fairly significant line, so I held off buying some, but it did look delicious. You can be sure to look forward to a future report on it.

I didn't see regular ice cream being sold, but the Ice Cream of the Future - Deepin Dots - is still being sold.

3. The Game. As Dexy's hopefully will attest, I called Soriano's home run early in the game. I said that he would hit a home run in his first game at RFK to justify swinging for the fences the rest of the year. I also called Beltran's homer in the ninth, which was an absolute rocket. Dexy's may also confirm that, although he was picking up a voicemail at the time.

As anyone at the game will note, Soriano lollygagged Reyes' double in the 7th into a triple. That single play made me question his attitude towards left field. If he's going to play left field, he should play it right. There was discussion amongst our section whether Frank should bench him based on that. He homered in his next at bat, of course.

Ramon Ortiz (that's the Ortiz we have, right?) looked OK through 3 innings as the game really zipped along. But it doesn't take much to beat the Nationals these days, and the game was pretty much over when David Wright beat Zimmerman down the line with a double in the 4th. Worse, the game slowed considerably after that point.