Opening Day Watch Report: Marlins at Nationals

HarperOpeningDay2013

[Nationals 2, Marlins 0]

Started the day off by watching the Nationals take on the Marlins with the Pirates game on the radio. Should have been on my way to Cincinnati for the game but some things fell through. Not a bad way to take in the day with some MLB.tv, though. Here’s some bullet points from this one:

  • Bryce Harper, need I say more? Guy is absolutely unbelievable with two swings to start the season, two tape-measure type blasts off Ricky Nolasco.
  • Ryan Zimmerman made a run-saving diving stop in the top of the first inning.
  • Stephen Strasburg cruised through 7-innings, never really got into any trouble. His command was on point. He had a relaxing, quick afternoon that made the game fly by. Only three strikeouts, but no walks.
  • Everyone will talk about Bryce Harper’s bat in this one, but he also made a throw to home plate that was a piss rope holding up Giancarlo Stanton (who doubled) at third base and allowing the Nationals to preserve the shutout.
  • Light rain throughout the game.
  • The Marlins lineup is pretty barren.
  • The Nationals played Take on Me after the seventh-inning stretch. Pretty awesome, wasn’t sure what they would do with this since it was Mike Morse’s song and he was traded to Seattle. In the back of my mind I had a feeling they would keep it since it’s one of baseball’s best (new) traditions. I could faintly hear it before the bottom of the 7th inning was played and it sounded like the Nationals were into it.
  • Rafael Soriano locked it down with his first career Nationals save in his first career Nationals appearance. Two strikeouts including a freeze of Stanton to end it.

Here’s some running total stats from today’s game, and from my couch:

Home Runs: 2 (Bryce Harper 1, 2)
Strikeouts: 9
Runs: 2
Hits: 7
Errors: zero
Stolen bases: zero
Official time watching baseball: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Times taking the dog out to pee: 2
Chores my wife asked me to do during (unofficial): Zero

STATS during the 2000-Inning Quest:

Home Runs: 3
Bryce Harper home runs: 2
Strikeouts: 29
Runs: 12
Hits: 22
Errors: 1
Stolen bases: zero
Official time watching baseball: Five hours, ten minutes
Times taking the dog out to pee: 4
Chores my wife asked me to do during (unofficial): Zero
Innings left to go: 1,982