Game 1: Washington Nationals 2 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 1

The first game of the trip was a great one in my opinion, as my team won. Mik was a little disappointed, but he really got into the ninth inning when the Dbacks scored 1 run and had a shot of winning. He mostly played his DS and PSP during the game, but in the bottom of the 9th he shut it off and even said "This is exciting." That's the best I could hope for, especially after his close to annoying complaining of wanting to leave as early as the 7th mainly because the Dbacks were losing.

Honestly, I did not expect the Nats to win, as they have not been great this season and I think today's win makes it the first time this season they have won three in a row and they still are the worst team in baseball. I also expected it to be a hitter's game with lots of run, which seems to happen a lot when the Nats are involved in a game. Instead it was an interesting low run game, although I would not exactly call it a pitcher's duel with the Nats starting pitcher, Lannan, walking about one Dback an inning and a decent amount of hits from both teams. Nevertheless it was a fun game to watch and a great start to the trip.

The seats we had in section 105 were not too bad. The scoreboard was kind of hard to see, but not impossible. The one thing that annoyed me a little is the bar in front of the handicap seats that are right in the line of sight for watching the game if you are short. It really is a poor design thing in my opinion, especially for those in wheelchairs that cannot really stand up and try to get that out of their view when something really exciting happens. Unfortunately, that is pretty standard for handicap seating as far as I have experienced. Of course, Mik does not mind, as he mostly played his video games and actually found he could lean forward and get a good sight line below the bar. It is the only time I do not bug him for not sitting up straight. I kind of felt like this bar was a little higher than most other areas, though, because it never seemed to bug me as much. Or perhaps it is all the non-handicap seats I sat in last year at the Nats and got used to no people or bars in my sight line.

Besides the helmet sundae and Mik's meatball sandwich we had some other good food. I had a good veggie wrap and also had an interesting Green Apple Jolly Ranger Slushie. More on the food to hopefully come in the form of Mik's Food Review, which is a category I going to try to get Mik to consistently help post to or at least post the food scrapbook photos from this trip to.

Right now I am posting as we drive back to Tucson using the handy USB Internet thing for my laptop. It works pretty good, but not too great for trying to upload a bunch of photos, so I will get the rest of the photos from the game uploaded later. I will try to remember to update (here or a new post) when I do, but the photos will be uploaded in the album that can be seen if you click the photos in this post.

Now just 12 more days until the real road trip part of the trip begins. Today was just a small taste of the trip and I am totally excited for the actual trip begin. I sort of wish it was sooner, but then again there is still a lot I need to take care of at home before we hit the road for two and a half months.

Update 5/10/09: The photos I took at the ballpark and the game are now all uploaded here. They can also be seen in the album you get to by clicking the photos in the post.