Game One - Washington at Pittsburgh

PNC Park --Pittsburgh, PA

So, the Tour started out on a positive note. Our first game, the Nats at the Bucs, turned out to be an exciting game. Notice I didn't say "good" game. It was anything but. It's very clear why these two teams are near the bottom of the standings.

Here's the game story from the local paper. Here's how the Nationals official writer saw the game. And here's the Pirates take on it.

The Pirates won the game, 3-1. According to the box score, there were only two errors in the game, but that's the scorer being awfully generous. There were at least four or five plays botched that could've gone for errors ... for each team. It was some miserable baseball, to say the least.

I think our seats qualify as the best price-to-location ratio I've ever seen. We payed just over 30 bucks each, and we sat almost directly behind home plate, less than 20 rows up. You can see just how close we were from some of the pictures I'll soon upload to the site.

We ended up sitting behind two guys who were alumni of the school I (A) used to be the SID at. They were plenty pleasant, until the one guy told me I was dumb for quitting the job and becoming an editor. He also said "Everyone wants to write a book." Thanks for the pick-me-up, buddy. But he was pretty cool to us the whole night and even laughed at my jokes, so I guess he can't be all that bad.

Speaking of jokes, have you seen Dmitri Young? The Nats have him listed at 6-2, 300 lbs. on their web site. There is no way he's that slim. He is by far the most out-of-shape professional athlete I've ever watch play. He makes the athletes in the Sunday softball I play in look like physical specimens. In addition to the play I mentioned earlier -- in which Young wasn't paying attention on a dropped third strike and didn't cover first, allowing the runner to beat out the play -- we also saw Young run 125 feet to chase down a pop foul, only to fall backward on his ass and have the ball bounce less than three feet from him. Sad thing is that the right-fielder (who had to run 250 feet) and the second baseman (200 feet) both had a better shot at the ball. I'd say, "Well, at least he can rake ...," but Da Meat Hook went one-for-four and left three guys on base to drop his average to .265. All-Star, Gold Glover in the making, I tell 'ya.

The coup de grace of the game was when the Bucs' closer, Matt Capps, came on. Apparently, he's a fan of the country music. So before he comes on, the stadium starts BLASTING some cruddy country song and they play a video up on the massive video board in left field. Not exactly "Enter Sandman," like when Mo Rivera comes on for the Yanks. The best part, though, is the video. They show old clips of Capps coming on, interspersed with clips of rampaging cattle. It almost seems as if the Pirates staff are trying to equate Capps to a cow. Cheap shot, if you ask me ... Dude only weighs 255, at, well, 6-2. Alright, he's a fatass (I'm kidding). All joking aside, Capps mowed down the Nats in the ninth for his 16th save. Not bad for a closer for the Buccos.

Overall, a great start to the Tour. Not a great game, but we had a great time. The game provided plenty of fodder to laugh at, and held our attention throughout. That can't be a bad thing.

Pics are coming soon, as soon as Picassa uploads them all (slooooooowly). More updates coming ...