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I invite fans of this Web site to share any photos which they have taken of the major league ballparks. There are currently no photos on the pages for the ones listed below, most of which are no longer in existence. I would also be glad to include photos of stadiums that served as "neutral venues," or photos that are of better quality than the current ones...July 1, 2017 [LINK / comment]
Bullpen woes = misery for the Nationals
NOTE: Obviously, I've been struggling to keep up with various things lately, but as all good sports fans know, I'm not giving up! 
I will leave until tomorrow the task of systematically recounting the Nationals' successes and failures over the past two months.
They say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and for the Washington Nationals this year, that weak link is obviously the group of relief pitchers in the bullpen. When was the last time a team with such enormous talent in the slugging and starting pitching departments didn't even have a regular closing pitcher??? After some early struggles and a brief stint on the disabled list, Koda Glover was on his way to settling down in that position, but then had a spectacular failure on June 10, blowing a save and paving the way for the Texas Rangers to win in extra innings. After the game, Glover disclosed -- too late -- that he had a sore shoulder. Not being candid about physical infirmities like that is just inexcusable. Since then he has been on the DL once again, as is Shawn Kelley, who was the losing pitcher in that game and also briefly served as closer.
Two weeks ago (June 15), the Washington Post had a story indicating that Nationals' bullpen is one of the worst in the major leagues since 1980. "The Nationals have lost 10 games with their starter exiting the game on record as the would-be winning pitcher, [second only to the Mets.]" Such an outcome has not been repeated since that article came out, but the starting pitchers started failing more often -- especially Tanner Roark, who only lasted three innings against the Cardinals last night. Thus, the Nats finished the month of June with a mediocre record of 14-14. What is especially disheartening is that some of those gut-wrenching losses happened at home in Nationals Park, where the Nats actually had a losing record for the month: 6-8. For the record, here are the vital pitching stats for the Nationals' usual relief pitchers, ranked according to innings pitched. Not a pretty picture...
| Pitcher | ERA | Saves | Save oppor-tunities | Innings pitched |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacob Turner | 5.08 | 0 | 3 | 39.0 |
| Enny Romero | 3.35 | 2 | 4 | 37.2 |
| Blake Treinen | 6.11 | 3 | 5 | 35.1 |
| Matt Albers | 1.82 | 2 | 4 | 29.2 |
| Joe Blanton | 8.24 | 0 | 0 | 19.2 |
| Koda Glover * | 5.12 | 8 | 10 | 19.1 |
| Shawn Kelley * | 7.00 | 4 | 6 | 18.0 |
| Oliver Perez | 3.78 | 1 | 1 | 16.2 |
| Matt Grace | 4.73 | 0 | 0 | 13.1 |
* = Currently on disabled list.
SOURCE: MLB.com
Wounds healed at Nationals Park
One day after the terrible shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise and others at a ballpark in nearby Alexandria (June 14), the annual congressional baseball game went on as scheduled at Nationals Park. If ever a time there was for The National Pastime to bring this country together, this was it. Members of Congress mostly wore uniforms from colleges in their home states, so it was hard to tell who was on whose side. They said a prayer before the game, and partisan differences were left aside at least for one day. One positive side-effect from the tragedy was that many more tickets were sold than usual, as over 20,000 people attended. See the Washington Post.
Comiskey Park update
About a month ago, I posted updates to the Comiskey Park diagrams, adding a new variant for 1983. These revisions were prompted in part by a photograph, and partly by the fine photographs of that ballpark taken by Al Kara, which I mentioned on April 21. My estimate of the distance to the backstop is now just 67 feet, rather than 78 feet as before. Why? Because of one aerial photo I saw of the 1959 World Series (photoshelter.com), taken from almost directly overhead in broad daylight. Comparing the backstop distance to the distance between home plate and the pitching rubber left no doubt: It could not possibly be 78 feet! (Bruce Orser concurs with my judgment on that, by the way.)
This reduced my estimate of foul territory from 29,500 to 29,000 square feet. Estimated fair territory remains the same as before, 113,600 square feet.
NOTE: I made finishing that diagram update my top baseball priority in May, and as so often happens, I encountered some unexpected hangups. For example, after supposedly finishing the updates in late May, I discovered that the grandstand was a few feet too shallow along the baselines compared to the curved portion between the dugouts. Making that adjustment forced me to make further compensating adjustments elsewhere.
Minute Maid Park
My friend Dave Givens was in Houston several weeks ago, and saw the first-place (!!!) Houston Astros play in Minute Maid Park, which underwent revisions during the off-season. I plan to revise the diagrams on that page, but I'm still waiting to see better photos of the new center field area, which is now perfectly flat. 
Minute Maid Park from the upper deck on the third base side. Photo courtesy of Dave Givens, taken May 9, 2017.
