Camera phone FTW

Monday night marked the first game of the Angels-Nats interleague series, so I dusted off my incredibly large Angels jersey (no really, it's like really big. I bought it before they started making the women's cut, so I swim around in the smallest men's size) and headed down to Nationals Park.

A few highlights (and eh, lowlights while we're at it) of the game:

- I went with Josh, a friend of mine from high school and fellow Angels fan who recently moved to DC for grad school. I haven't seen Josh since I graduated from high school over eight years ago (uh, wow that was a long time ago), so it was great to catch up with him. He's really tall now, and, like, a man. Crazy.

- Upon exiting the metro, I was greeted by several Greenpeace/CCAN/FOE/whatev protesters urging me to boo ExxonMobil during the 7th inning stretch. Yes, protesters at a baseball game. Welcome to Washington, DC. Instead, I cheered for ExxonMobil during the 7th inning stretch and made a mental note to wear an "I love Exxon" shirt to the next game.

- While I was waiting for Josh, a Nats employee who hangs out around the automated ticket machines and box office started chatting with me. He then offered to sell me tickets to the game that he personally had in his possession. Yes, a Nats employee was scalping his own personal tickets to the game. WTF?

- Hour long rain delay, but once the weather cleared, it turned out to be a perfect night for a ballgame.

- The service at the concessions stands is still horrible, or maybe I'm just cursed. At the last game I was at, Mike and I waited 20 minutes for our hot dogs. This time, Josh and I waited 15+ minutes for our nachos because the cheese was "cold" and needed to warm up. I asked one of the workers at the concession stand if they could give us our trays of chips, and then we could walk across the breezeway to the nacho stand there and ask them for cheese. The worker looked at me like I was an idiot, shook her head and said, "No, I can't vouch for them." WTF? You can't vouch for the nacho stand 30 feet away? So we waited...and waited, until I finally said, "Hey, ya know, how about you just give us the cheese as it is? We don't care if it's cold." (I'm thinking, how cold can this cheese possibly be?). Again, the worker gives me a "I can't believe I have to deal with this idiotic customer" look, reaches for a tray, pumps a small amount of cheese into it, and tells Josh and I to dip our fingers in it to see if it was alright. And you know what? THE CHEESE WAS NOT AT ALL COLD! WTF!? Seriously, worst concession stands I've ever been to. Love the Ben's Chili Bowl half smoke, but don't want to wait 20 minutes for it.

- Later that evening, I went to the beer concession stand to grab us two beers. The old lady running the stand said to me, "You're coming up on your third round. I've been watching you." Actually, that was my third round, but still, WTF is up with the beer police?

- During the traditional 4th inning Presidents Race, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington proceeded to chase down Teddy Roosevelt and beat the hell out of him with sticks, LAPD style. No joke. It was kinda disturbing, yet hilarious.

- Attendance was really, really low. A few innings into the game, we had an entire row to ourselves, and several rows in front of and behind us were vacant as well.

- I'm always amazed when I run into people on the East Coast wearing Angels gear. It's comforting to see fellow California expats in their jerseys and flip-flops.

- Sadly, my Rally Monkey is back home in California.

- ANGELS WIN!

- I think we thoroughly annoyed the Nats fans on our metro car on the way home ("Hey, who won that game?" "I think it was, uh, yeah, pretty sure it was the Angels.")

Next month, I expect that Josh and I will watch the Angels take on the Orioles in Baltimore. Watch out, Camden Yards.