August 14, 2018 [LINK / comment]
New page: Stadium construction!
I realized to my horror that I had not updated the "Stadium construction" portion in the right column of my Baseball blog page in over a year, when construction is in fact already well underway on the Texas Rangers' future home, "Globe Life Park II." That prompted me to follow through with an idea that I hatched a few years ago: Stadium construction (chronology), a timeline showing when it was that various MLB stadiums were under construction. The page itself is subject to considerable revision, so please stay tuned.
I relied on my own blog posts to find out when groundbreaking occurred on the more recent MLB stadiums. I'll have to look up the rest of them elsewhere.
- May 4, 2006: Nationals Park
- Aug. 17, 2006: New Yankee Stadium
- Nov. 13, 2006: Citi Field
- Aug. 2, 2007: Target Field
- July 3, 2009: Marlins Ballpark
- September 17, 2014: SunTrust
Field[PARK] - September 28, 2017*: Globe Life Park II
* Woefully belated recognition (March 30) in this blog.
And after scrutinizing the Baseball blog page for other errors, I deleted Candlestick Park, Comiskey Park, and Marlins Park from the list of stadiums for which I do not yet have photos, because I now do have such photos. I could have deleted Braves Field from that list, since I took some photos of what is left of it (Nickerson Field) two years ago, but that doesn't really count. I also added Andrew Owen to the list of photographic contributors; he sent me photos of SunTrust Park back in April.
Website maintenance chores
For the record, I have also updated the following baseball-related pages:
Stadium chronology: Including a link to SunTrust Park, etc.
Stadium chronology, annual: Including Wrigley Field renovation work, etc.
Stadium milestones: Including All Star games, etc.
Stadium names: Including "Guaranteed Rate Field" and a couple other details.
My ballpark visits: Including Three Rivers Stadium, which I saw twice, once from close range. Also enhancing some high-resolution photos.
Football use (of baseball stadiums): ???
Other baseball pages will be updated soon...
Nationals lose again
The Nationals did show some spunk in the game against the Cardinals tonight, but not until the latter innings, and so they fell short once again, 6-4. Gio Gonzalez had decent command of the ball, but the Cardinals' pitcher John Gant hit a two-run homer in the third inning -- his very first hit in the major leagues! (Since his debut in 2016, he has gone 0 for 30.) What's more, it's the first time in his career that Gio has given up a home run to the opposing pitcher. When outrageously improbable things like that happen, you really don't have a chance. Bryce Harper hit a two-run homer (his 30th) in the eighth inning, sparking a small rally, but Adam Eaton struck out with runners on second and third to end the inning. So now the Nats are back down to an even .500 record for the year, eight games behind the Braves, who have surged ahead of the Phillies. Before long all the Nats will have left to hope for this season is a wild card berth. Should it be considered a good thing that they have outscored their opponents 550 to 484 this year?