May 18, 2005 [LINK]
Trouble brewing for Nationals?
After winning their third game in a row on Monday, beating Milwaukee 5-2, the Nationals failed to get a man on base until the seventh inning against the Brewers last night, and would have been shut out for the first time since April 27 if Nick Johnson had not hit a home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. There has never been a no-hitter pitched in RFK Stadium, much less a perfect game. The Nationals have been scoring consistently lately, but their slugging performance is clearly lagging. Where did that near-perfect pitcher Wes Obermueller come from? In contrast, Nats' starting pitcher Claudio Vargas got clobbered with six runs in the first two innings, but the good news is that Tomo Ohka served surprisingly well as a reliever, giving up only two hits in 5 2/3 innings.
D.C. representation
D.C. Council member Carol Schwartz (a Republican) wants to put a billboard inside RFK Stadium with the slogan "District of Columbia: Taxation Without Representation" to publicize their demands for a full voting representative in the House of Representatives. See Washington Post. I dislike politicizing baseball, but it's a reasonable way to promote a good cause. Too bad Mrs. Schwartz voted against the stadium deal that brought the Nationals to town in the first place! It's also too bad that television coverage of games in Washington is still so poor (thanks to you-know-who) that hardly anyone outside the District is likely to see those political billboards.
More upgrades
The Oakland Coliseum diagrams have been tweaked slightly to conform to the new standard, and revisions to RFK page incorporating the 2005 layout are imminent. 
Also, I've added separate text sidebars on the pages of ballparks where movies were filmed to highlight their "cinematic careers," and have filled in the remaining "gaps" in the chronology section of the Baseball in D.C. page. Whew! Finally, for the amusement of those folks who don't often visit my main home page, see our pet canary George at RFK Stadium. 