A Fresh Look

I'm heading over to Nationals Park tonight for the "Beltway Series" between the Orioles and the Nats.

I've been very public in my "meh" opinion of NP. In fact, I've said -- many times -- that I think the park is "antiseptic." Don't get me wrong, the park is a great place to see a ballgame (save for the ticket prices), and all-in-all, that's what a park is for. But I said the antiseptic thing about NP before I went on Ballpark Tour 2008, and now that we saw Jacobs, Comerica, GABP and PNC Park, NP looks even more like a dentist's office.

What I mean is that there's no flavor. The outside looks like either a downtown office building or a science building on a college campus (look, prospective students, we have buildings with a bunch of windows on them!)

Anyway, tonight I'll give the stadium a fresh look. I noticed in a few pictures of the vantage point from our seats tonight that the scoreboard is in full view. In my first trip, we sat in right field and couldn't see the scoreboard. I'll actually look at it tonight (so I can see the Yanks/Mets score), and that'll be a start toward a new, critical eye for the park.

I'm going to bring my camera, and I'll chronicle what I notice via images and words later on.

'til then ...

It's things like ...

these why the 'Tour' needs to hit Yankee Stadium this summer before it closes down.

Dmitri Young Redux (but certainly not a reduction ... in weight)

Remember the greatest play we saw on the Ballpark Tour? The one where Dmitri Young forgot to cover first base on a dropped third strike and Xavier Nady beat him to the bag? Well, this pic -- from the WaPo this morning, via the D.C. Sports Bog -- perhaps illustrates why Dmitri has such a hard time getting going.

Still, can you imagine the force he creates once he does get going? Wow. That's inertia.

This shot is from The Post's John McDonnell, taken during Saturday's loss to the Rangers.