Everything you need to know about D.C. sports in one place.
Last night's Nationals game drew the fewest fans since the team moved from Montreal to Washington. Adam Kilgore describes what it felt like to be one of 10,999 (announced attendance) at the park last night.
With that said, last night felt like a touchstone moment in this disappointing season. The most obvious thing about last night, even before the three errors and six-run loss, was the crowd. Or the lack thereof. I devoted the majority of my game story to it. The park was strangely silent at first pitch. You could hear players. It was impossible not to notice.
People immediately began to question the progress the team has made in winning over the hearts and minds of the City. Based on what we saw last night, it doesn't look like much.
But if you were at a game that Strasburg pitched, than you know people in this city are willing to come out to the park if there is a product on the field worth seeing. Lost in the attendance figure was the quality of the game; a six run loss to a less than impressive Houston club that included three Nationals errors. That's not the type of effort that is going to put butts in the seats.
I am confident that fans would be willing to come to Nationals park if they saw a competitive team out on the field. Kind of like Field of Dreams, except with a winning club instead of a diamond in a corn field.
The brand of baseball that the Nationals have been playing recently will never be a truly successful draw, but that doesn't mean that baseball in general won't work here. If you build it, Mike Rizzo, they will come.
Todays' must-reads from around the SB Nation network:
- DeAngelo Hall went off yesterday. Hogs Haven, as well as the vast majority of their community, totally agree with him.
- Javale McGee is going to be a very important part of the Wizards this season. The guys at Bullets Forever want to make sure he is up for the task.
- Week two of the Designed Rush at SB Nation takes a look at, amongst other things, the resurgence of the running game.
On tap at SB Nation D.C.: Brian Murphy is already prepared to call the Donovan McNabb trade a win for the Redskins.