May 30, 2026 [LINK / comment]

The Nationals almost sweep the Guardians

Tensions were high in Cleveland on Wednesday afternoon as the first two Washington Nationals batters singled in the 9th inning at Progressive Field . The AL Central first-place Guardians were in jeopardy of being swept by the (until-recently) lowly Nationals, who had won the first two games with relative ease. Daylen Lile then hit a sac fly that allowed Curtis Mead to score from third base, and C.J. Abrams stole 2nd base. One more single would tie the game! But instead, Jose Tena and Jorbit Vivas both struck out and the game ended. Vivas has a streak of 24 or more at bats with runners in scoring position without getting a hit. And so, Cleveland eked out a 3-2 win to avoid being swept.

The games on Monday and Tuesday were both very encouraging for the Nationals, who keep rising to the occasion in spite of facing a very challenging schedule, against one first-place team after another. I already recounted in an unintended "live blog" sort of way how the Nats racked up six home runs on Monday, with Curtis Mead hitting two four-baggers. That game ended 10-2 in Washington's favor. The next day the Nationals scored 4 runs in the 2nd inning, thanks to a clutch 2-run single by the suddenly-hot Keibert Ruiz, followed immediately by a home run by James Wood. Both teams scored 2 runs in the 9th inning, as the Nats prevailed again, 6-3.

Then last night, after a day of rest and travel back home, the Nats welcomed the San Diego Padres to Nationals Park. The groundskeepers had done an admirable job of repairing the outfield grass after the big concert two nights previous. (See below.) I was watching on TV, thanks to the new broadcast rights arrangement between the Nationals and Gray Media. Once again, the Nationals got off to a fine start, and were leading for the first five innings, whereupon relief pitcher Mitchell Parker came in and gave up 3 runs in the 6th and 7th innings. (Two of those were unearned, as Nasim Nunez and Keibert Ruiz were both charged with errors.) The Padres' top-notch closing pitcher Mason Miller came in to stifle a Nats rally in the 8th inning, and closed out the 9th inning with only one runner reaching base, on a walk. Padres 7, Nationals 5. And so, the Nats are back down to an even .500 record, 29-29.

Under new management

It would be hard to discount the role played by the all-new management team in the Nationals' striking success thus far this year. Manager Black Butera seems awfully young to be taking on such a responsibility, but the results seem to indicate that he knows what he is doing!

Manager Blake Butera (left) and Bench Coach Michael Johns (right), at the game on May 15.

The Philadelphia Phillies have also improved since they fired their manager in April, and replaced him with former Yankee star Don Mattingly. The Phillies have pulled ahead of the Nationals and now occupy 2nd place in the NL East.

Politics at Nationals Park

While the Nationals were on the road this past week, Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen gave a concert in their home field. This was part of a tour that has an explicit political agenda: protesting the abuses by ICE agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere. (He released a song "The Streets of " in March that included sharply negative lyrics about President Trump, White House official Stephen Miller, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.) Springsteen rallied the enthusiastic crowd, and warned that there would be a "ruckus" in the months to come.

Meanwhile, the Nationals' director of community relations, Sean Hudson, was fired after a hidden video showed him saying that Nats pitcher Trevor Williams (who has been on the Injured List all year) was banned from Nats' social media postings because of his religious beliefs. The video was posted by James O'Keefe, a conservative political activist. See washingtonpost.com. That was very unfortunate, and seems to reflect poor judgement on Hudson's part. All I can say is that I wish baseball would serve more of a healing and unifying function in our badly divided society.

Vacation hiatus

I'll be on the road (literally) for the next couple weeks, hopefully visiting a few MLB ballparks and/or some football stadiums of note in the Great Lakes region. There won't be any blog posts until mid-June or so. Stay tuned for some new photos after that!

May 25, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Birding in Virginia, January 2025

January 5: Almost all of my birding during the cold spell was from inside looking through the window onto the back porch. I needed to get outside for a bit of exercise, so I went to Bell's Lane and soon saw a Northern Harrier in the distance, as well as a Short-eared Owl flying overhead just after sunset.

January 9: I made two trips to Bell's Lane after a snow storm, but just couldn't find a Short-eared Owl that had been reported there. The only notable bird sightings for me were out back, where the usual woodpeckers, sparrows, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Blue Jays keep showing up.

January 12: I went out to Bell's Lane right after dusk, and before long I heard the familiar "bark" call of the Short-eared Owls. So I drove in that direction and saw one owl perched in the top of a distant lone tree. I used a flash on one of the shots, just to see if it would make any difference, and you can see the reflection in its eyes!

January 15: I was one of the lucky people who got to see the Rough-legged Hawk that had been reported east of Mount Sidney, southeast of Blue Ridge Community College. (Thanks to Tim Burnett who alerted me to its presence.) It was at least 1/3 mile away, so the images aren't very good, but I was more than satisfied. Other highlights in and around that part of Augusta County: Common Raven, Savannah Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlarks, Red-shouldered Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, an American Kestrel, and a probable Peregrine Falcon.

Rough-legged Hawk (top right and bottom center), etc. east of Mount Sidney, January 15.

January 17: I went birding at two separate locations, first on the campus of Christendom College, east of Front Royal. There I saw a Northern Flicker and two Hermit Thrushes. The second place was at Lake Shenandoah, southeast of Harrisonburg. Upon entering the neighborhood, I saw a gorgeous adult Bald Eagle circling in the sun overhead, but there was no place to park and get a photo of it. Within just a few minutes of arriving at the parking lot, I spotted and photographed the American Tree Sparrow, which was my target bird. It was my best-ever photo of that species!

Hermit Thrush & N. Flicker at Christendom College (east of Front Royal), American Tree Sparrow at Lake Shenandoah (east of Harrisonburg), January 17.

January 25: Since it warmed up just a bit in the afternoon, I went for a walk along the trail behind the Murphy-Deming School near Fishersville. It's still mostly snow-covered, rather hard to walk on. Eventually I had nice looks at two target birds: Hermit Thrush and Yellow-rumped Warbler. Also present were many Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins, a White-throated Sparrow, a Song Sparrow, and a Field Sparrow. Later on along Bell's Lane, I saw a Northern Harrier and met a group of birders from Roanoke. I also saw Eric Pritchett, the chief meteorologist for WVIR Channel 29 in Charlottesville.

Hermit Thrush and Yellow-rumped Warbler near Fishersville, and Northern Harrier, etc. on Bell's Lane, January 25.

Additional photos and montages, including individual photos of some of the birds in the above montages, will soon become available on the Wild Birds chronological (2025) page. (I am still struggling to get caught up with describing my bird outings via blog posts, part of the task of reorganizing my bird photos.)

May 25, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Nationals almost sweep the Braves!

Expectations were low for the Washington Nationals (then 25-26) as they arrived in Atlanta on Friday for a three-game series against the National League-leading Braves (then 35-16). In the Friday game, Miles Mikolas entered the game as the Nationals' pitcher in the 2nd inning, and allowed only 3 hits and no runs over 5 innings. The Braves scored twice to take the lead in the 7th inning, but then C.J. Abrams tied it with a solo homer. In the 10th inning, Abrams batted in two runs with a triple, but the Nats wasted the easy opportunity to tack on another run, and the Braves tied it in the bottom of the 10th. With 2 outs and 2 strikes in the bottom of the 11th, Chadwick Tromp (!?) singled in the winning run: Braves 5, Nats 4. D'oh!

After that disheartening wasted opportunity to prevail against the best team in baseball, the rest of the weekend didn't look good. But somehow the Nats kept their cool and ended up prevailing in two astonishing, high-tension pitchers' duels. On Saturday Jake Irvin went 5 full innings without giving up a hit, but had to exit the game due to a shoulder strain. (He was later put on on 15-day Injured List, replaced by P.J. Poulin, who was recalled from the Nats' minor league affiliate in Rochester.) Brad Lord came in from the bullpen in the 6th inning, and kept the Braves off the scoreboard for 3 innings, but the Braves managed to break the no-hitter. Richard Lovelady got the save in a 2-0 triumph. The game on Sunday was remarkably similar, with the Nats taking a 2-0 lead into the 9th inning, whereupon the Braves put together a rally with some "help" from young 2nd baseman Nasim Nuñez, who booted what should have been a game-ending double play. Perhaps unnerved, Richard Lovelady then walked the bases loaded, but fortunately his replacement Orlando Ribalta got out of the jam to win the game, 2-1. And that is how the Washington Nationals pulled back ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies to retake 2nd place in the NL East! Foster Griffin went 6 innings and got his 6th win of the season.

The 2026 season at the one-third mark

This Memorial Day weekend is an appropriate moment to step back and take a broader look at things, not only because it's a national holiday but also because many teams (I counted 10), including the Washington Nationals (now 27-27), are exactly one-third the way through the 2026 season. 54 is one third of 162. For a more thorough review of all this, read what Buster Olney and the other experts at espn.com have to say. Main takeaway: the standings situation now bears only a loose relationship from what the situation is going to be in late September.

The six divisional standings display a rather uneven spread among teams thus far in 2026. One thing that has stood out to even casual observers this year is the oddly skewed divisional standings, with all five teams in the National League Central Division consistently above the .500 mark. After a solid first six weeks, he Chicago Cubs have suddenly lost 9 in a row, enabling the Milwaukee Brewers to claim 1st place honors for the time being. In the NL West, the San Diego Padres are putting up a very stiff fight with the back-to-back World Series champion Dodgers, with the Arizona Diamondbacks not too far behind. But in the NL East, only Atlanta has had a winning record for most of this season. The All-Star rosters of the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets have simply not performed according to expectations. The last-place Mets in particular are a disaster thus far, with a 22-31 record that is barely above the ,400 "threshold of respectability."

Meanwhile, the American League is mostly rather mediocre, with the notable exception of the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays, currently in 1st place in the AL East. Momentarily both the AL Central and AL West had no teams above .500, which is incredible. The Cleveland Guardians have been on a hot streak lately, however, and enjoy a 4-game lead over the Chicago White Sox, who have improved tremendously over the past couple years. And on the west coast, the Sacramento Athletics continue to perform better than expected. The Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners were expected to repeat as postseason contenders this year, but that is very much in doubt in both cases.

Home run rampage(s) by the Nats

Yesterday's Washington Post highlighted the Nationals' surprising offensive performance thus far in the 2026 season. Even with the low-scoring weekend games in Atlanta, they still lead the majors in total runs scored, with [296]. (Before tonight's game against the Indians it was 288.) The have been climbing up the ladder in terms of home runs as well, currently ranked #4, with [71] four-baggers!! (While I was writing this they hit [six] more homers, surging ahead of the Reds and the Dodgers from 7th place. And there are still [four] more innings to go in Cleveland!) [UPDATE: Final score: Nats 10, Guardians 2. Curtis Mead homered twice, while James Wood, Jacob Young, Luis Garcia, and C.J. Abrams homered once each. "Reliever" Zack Littell pitched the last 7 innings to get the win. Yet another success against a 1st-place team!]

The May 12 game in Cincinnati in which the Nationals hit six home runs got me to wondering how often they had hit so many four baggers in a single game. Most baseball fans would consult some database to find out, but not me! In additional to my spreadsheets of each Nats game since 2005 with the scores and home attendance, I also keep old-fashioned accounting-style green paper ledger pages with additional details such as win-loss records, place in the NL East standings, starting pitchers, home runs, and miscellaneous feats and goofs of note. Anyway, here is what I came up with. There's a possibility that it omits one or two games with 5 home runs, but I doubt it.

Nationals' games with the most home runs

Date	Nationals' score	Opposing team ("@" = away game)	Opponents' score	Number of Nats home runs	Two (or more!) home runs
July 27, 2017	15	MIL	2	8	B. Harper & R. Zimmerman
Aug. 18, 2019	16	MIL	8	8	J. Soto, B. Dozier
June 29, 2018	17	@PHI	7	7	J. Soto
May 20, 2011	17	@BAL	5	6	J. Werth
Sept. 4, 2012	11	CHC	5	6	A. Laroche
Sept. 5, 2012	9	CHC	1	6	B. Harper
Aug. 29, 2014	8	@SEA	3	6	W. Ramos
July 19, 2021	18	MIA	1	6	J. Soto
June 3, 2022	8	@CIN	5	6	L. Thomas (3!)
Sept. 26, 2025	9	CHW	10	6	L. Garcia (3!)
May 12, 2026	10	@CIN	4	6	L. Garcia & D. Lile
May 25, 2026	10	@CLE	2	6	C. Mead
June 10, 2008	7	@PIT	6	5
Sept. 9, 2013	9	@NYM	0	5
May 24, 2016	7	NYM	4	5
June 2, 2017	13	@OAK	3	5
July 16, 2017	14	@CIN	4	5	D. Murphy
July 31, 2018	25	NYM	4	5	D. Murphy
Sept. 20, 2020	15	@MIA	0	5
May 31, 2023	10	@LAD	6	5	K. Ruiz
Sept. 29, 2023	10	@ATL	6	5
May 18, 2025	10	@BAL	4	5	C.J. Abrams

NOTES: = Nats loss

MLB will be on ABC!

I recently noticed that ABC plans to broadcast three MLB games this year, in each case an afternoon game on the same day that NBC will broadcast one of their Sunday night baseball games. Since ABC and ESPN are both owned by the Disney Corporation, this isn't really a big deal. This piqued my curiosity about network broadcasts of MLB games, and I have started doing a bit of historical research about that. One thing I learned is that Bob Costas, who was the play-by-play announcer for many games on NBC in the 1980s and 1990s, announced in 2024 that he was retiring as a sports announcer. It's a shame that it's too late for the ever-youthful, ever-enthusiastic baseball fan to be part of the rebirth of MLB games on NBC.

May 24, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Birding in Virginia, December 2024

December 8: I paid a visit to Bell's Lane as the sun was about to set, and was delighted to see THREE Northern Harriers swooping around! The adult male "gray ghost" shown below perched on a fence post was the best view that I had. Short-eared Owls had been reported in that area recently.

December 8, Bell's Lane

December 9: A quick visit to Verona proved very rewarding, as I spotted a dozen or so Hooded Mergansers on the pond behind Hardee's (the first ones of the season for me!), along with a Great Blue Heron, and a Belted Kingfisher -- probably the same one I saw there last week. Near the Mill Pond trail I heard a familiar loud PIT-PIT call, and soon located the Yellow-rumped Warbler that was making the noise.

December 14: Along Bell's Lane in the afternoon, I saw two Northern Harriers (adult male & female/juvenile), as well as a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1st-year male), White-crowned Sparrow, and the usual American Robins. There were more Robins back home, along with ten or so Cedar Waxwings in a Bradford pear tree.

December 15: I covered various parks and wooded areas in Staunton for the Christmas Bird Count, enduring bone-chilling sleet and snow for the betterment of Citizen Science! No really big finds, unfortunately.

December 17: Not only was the weather nice, but the raptors were plentiful in the Bell's Lane area! I saw a probable Red-shouldered Hawk as well as a Sharp-shinned Hawk early on. Then there were at least three Northern Harriers squabbling with a Red-tailed Hawk, as the sun began to set. Then I headed up to the gate at the high elevation point, where Scott Priebe was standing vigil, and just after sunset I was astounded to see a Short-eared Owl flying past.

December 19: Just like two evenings ago, the Short-eared Owls came out shortly after sunset, i.e. 5:00 PM. There were three once again, but this time were farther south, near that big red barn, and this time they perched in a tree so that I could get a recognizable photo. I also saw two Northern Harriers in a low-altitude tussle very close by, but my camera simply cannot deal with motion in low light.

December 26: The sun finally came out in the afternoon, and I got a few good views of birds here and there. A Red-tailed Hawk was perched alongside the bypass on the west side of Staunton. The rest of them were in the Verona area, including a Belted Kingfisher at the pond behind Hardee's and a Red-shouldered Hawk a few hundred yards to the south. In the cat-tail reeds by the Mill Place trail there was a lone Winter Wren, a nice surprise.

December 26, Mill Place, Verona

December 28: The sun came out this afternoon after much rain, so I headed over to Bell's Lane and saw a few good birds, including a Red-tailed Hawk that had been perching on a fence post and flew off. Also an American Kestrel in the distance.

December 30: I drove out to Swoope in hopes of seeing the Loggerhead Shrike that has been reported there, but did not succeed. I did, however, see my first Brown Creeper of the season, along the trail/road heading into the forest from the Boy Scout camp. It was on the same tree as a White-breasted Nuthatch. On the pond there was a Great Blue Heron but nothing else. I spotted American Kestrels at three different locations, but no other raptors.

December 31: Nothing really spectacular along Bell's Lane during a post-rain end-of-year stroll this afternoon, but I was mildly surprised to see an Eastern Towhee, which are much scarcer here during the colder months. It was in the bushes next to the house on the corner with the "Beware of dog" sign.

Additional photos and montages, including individual photos of some of the birds in the above montages, will soon become available on the Wild Birds chronological (2024) page. (I am in the midst of a major reorganization of my bird photos, so that they will be sorted year by year.)

May 23, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Artemis II: Humans go back to the moon, (almost)!

On Wednesday, April 1st (no fooling), four astronauts -- three Americans* and one Canadian** -- were launched from Cape Canaveral to begin the historic and quite successful Artemis II mission. It was the first manned mission relying upon the Space Launch System (SLS), consisting of a large liquid-fueled rocket with two solid-fuel boosters strapped to the side, just like how the Space Shuttles were launched. It has even greater total thrust than the Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo program. This was also the first time that NASA's Orion space capsule had flown with humans aboard.

The objective of the Artemis II mission was quite similar to that of Apollo 8, when men first circled the moon in December 1968 as a preliminary step toward an actual landing. Artemis II had a different flight trajectory, however: It took a slower, more indirect approach to the moon, beginning with a maneuver into a highly elliptical orbit during which the Orion spacecraft's various systems were checked out. After about four days in transit it simply looped around moon in a broad arc, rather than entering lunar orbit. (You can see a nice map showing all the phases of the Artemis II mission at www.nasa.gov.) Whereas the Apollo missions took about two and a half days to get to the moon, with a total mission lengths ranging between six and eleven days, the Artemis II mission lasted about nine days. On April 10 the four astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, and the mission was a complete success. See NASA.gov.

* Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch
** Jeremy Hansen
I still remember most of the names of the Apollo 8 crew (Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders), as well as the Apollo 11 crew (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins) from when I was a teenage space enthusiast. Lovell gained fame during the Apollo 13 mission, which nearly ended in disaster and was later the subject of a movie starring Tom Hanks and .

Background: recent space developments

NASA's Orion spacecraft has room for four astronauts, compared to three in the Apollo capsules. After the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011, eight full years elapsed without any manned space missions launched from the United States. (During that period and since then, a number of American astronauts have flown to the International Space Station aboard Russian Soyuz space capsules.) Then in 2020, the first Dragon capsule (with two astronauts) was launched into orbit aboard the SpaceX Falcon-9 booster. The Dragon capsule has room for four. This was the fruition of NASA's post-Shuttle policy of collaborating with private enterprises, aimed at economizing via the good old-fashioned incentive of capitalist competition. Since 2022 there have been nine SpaceX "Crew" missions run by NASA (two per year, numbered 4-12), as well as four SpaceX "Axiom" missions (numbered 1-4), financed by private capital. There was also the "Fram2" mission in 2025, financed by Chinese-[born] entrepreneur Chun Wang. All those "Crew," "Axiom," and "Fram" missions use the same combination of a Falcon-9 booster with a Dragon capsule. Elon Musk's SpaceX Corporation, which is expected to go public via sales of common stock in the next few months, is vying with Jeff Bezos's Blue Origins Corporation and with the Boeing Corporation.

In June 2024, after repeated delays due to a leak of helium in the fuel system, the first crewed Boeing Starliner capsule was launched via an Atlas V rocket, and it soon docked with the International Space Station. (The Atlas V rocket is derived from the Atlas rocket used in the Mercury space program of the early 1960s, but production has ceased because it relies on a Russian-made engine, and relations with Russia have soured in recent years.) But after another helium was detected, it was decided to have the crew stay aboard the ISS until a Crew Dragon capsule became available for a safe return to earth, which did not happen until March 2025. Since then the future of the Boeing Starliner capsule for use in crewed space missions has been in doubt.

Yesterday (May 22) there was another step forward toward the ultimate goal of landing men and women on the moon in 2028. The SpaceX Starship "Version 3" with the Super Heavy booster successfully launched from Texas, and about an hour later the Starship (sans booster) landed in the Indian Ocean. It apparently hit the water harder than expected and burst into a huge cloud of flames. See USA Today via Apple News. The Super Heavy booster stage (which is designed to be reusable) was first launched from the SpaceX "Starbase" complex at the southern tip of Texas on April 20, 2023. Several of the 33 clustered rocket engines failed, however, and the mission self-destructed about four minutes into the flight. The SpaceX Starship [was first launched in April 2023 but self-destructed due to a malfunction, and several attempts since then ended the same way. The fourth test flight in June 2024 succeeded in reaching earth orbit, re-entering the earth's atmosphere, and then landing at the Starbase launch tower equipped with giant "grips."]

NASA's (confusing) plans for a moon landing

SpaceX's Starship was designed explicitly with several distinct mission objectives in mind, one of them being to land [humans and/or cargo] on the moon: [the "Starship Human Landing System (HLS)." Another would be to carry up to 100 passengers to Mars, in the far-off future. Thus far, however, there have been no flights of a Starship with human crews.] Unlike the relatively squat profile of the Apollo lunar module and various unmanned lunar landing vehicles, Starship is very tall (about 170 feet) and narrow, and would require a flat surface to land safely. Given the small margin for error, and the possibility that the whole thing could simply tip over, it seems more likely that Starship will be used to transport supplies and habitation modules to the moon, rather than the astronauts themselves. It requires a complicated refueling process in order to be able to land and then return to the earth, something that has never been done in space.

Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin company is developing the "Blue Moon Mark-1" lunar lander, but it too is designed primarily to provide supplies and equipment for a future lunar base. It would be launched by the the New Glenn rocket, which is also under development. (See blueorigin.com.) NASA is planning the Artemis III mission for next year as a way to test docking between the Orion capsule and the SpaceX Starship and/or Blue Moon Mark-1 lunar lander. One of those systems will presumably be adapted to actually carry astronauts to the surface of the moon, but the details remain murky. See NASA.gov.

The reason I described the specific phases of the Artemis II and SpaceX Starship / Super Heavy booster missions was to clear up the many lingering questions that many people have. The Artemis program stands in sharp contrast to the Apollo program in the late 1960s, when NASA provided full information on exactly what it was doing. About all we know for sure is that NASA is planning a series missions to the Moon's South Pole, where a substantial quantity of ice is believed to exist. Given the multiple uncertainties about the details of the planned lunar landing, 2028 seems like an unduly ambitious target to me. The possibility that President Trump would want this mission to be completed by the end of his term adds a political dimension to an already-complicated technical problem.

Space race with China?

China's space program remains shrouded in mystery, but it is believed that they intend to land humans on the moon by 2030. Certain technical hurdles must first be overcome, however. China launched its first man into space, Yang Liwei, on October 5, 2003, on the Shenzhou 5 mission. (This was about nine months after the U.S. space shuttle Columbia burned upon re-entry into earth's atmosphere due to damage to its heat shield during launch.) Altogether, China has launched 16 successful crewed missions, two per year since 2021. [] China has [built] its own series of space stations, and unlike Russia is not a partner in the International Space Station. (I saw the ISS passing almost directly overhead last Wednesday night, after learning about it on a local weather program. It was going from northwest to southeast.) [Evidently, China is partnering with Russia in its plans to land humans on the moon and build a permanent base near the lunar south pole. It will thus be an interesting race to the moon between the United States and a Chinese-Russian alliance, with a strong parallel to the contemporary geopolitical rivalry among the three great powers.]

Space missions page update

While the future remains very uncertain, the past and present of human space exploration are clear. Accordingly, the Space missions page has been updated for the first time in two years. (It lists a variety of print and online sources, some of which I consulted while writing this blog piece.) Among the corrections to previous entries, I removed the Tianzhou Chinese missions, since they are unmanned (or uncrewed, in modern parlance) missions, delivering cargo to China's Tiangong-3 space station.

NOTE: Corrections [in brackets] were made one day after the original post.

May 21, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Nationals almost sweep the Orioles

Tensions were high in Our Nation's Capital as the Washington Nationals welcomed the regional rival Baltimore Orioles to town. It was the official MLB Rivalry Weekend, when all 30 teams played against their cross-town, cross-state, or regional rivals -- except the Atlanta Braves, who played their long-ago cross-town rivals, the Boston Red Sox, and the San Diego Padres playing at the Seattle Mariners. Historically, since the Nationals' first series against the Orioles in 2006, they have won 46 games and lost 58, or 44.2% overall.

My friend Dave Givens and I arrived at Nationals Park about 20 minutes early, and we soon discovered it was a virtual sell-out game, as all of the promotional "Bad day to be a hot dog" hats had already been given away. (I didn't really care since it seemed like a dumb promotion to me, but with all those hats being worn around the stadium, I felt a little left out.) The early innings were relatively uneventful, with the Nationals wasting a leadoff double by Daylen Lile in the 2nd inning, and no hits by the Orioles until the 3rd inning. Finally the Nats scored a run on a sac fly by Brady House in the 4th inning, while the Nats starting pitcher Zack Littell kept racking up more scoreless frames. In the bottom of the 6th inning, while I was standing in line for over 15 minutes waiting to buy a fancy hot dog (why weren't they ready to handle all the customers??!!), Curtis Mead walked, and one batter later Daylen Lile knocked a home run into the corner to the left of the bullpen in right field. I was watching on a TV monitor but still felt a bit cheated not to get to see it in person. In the 7th inning the Mets had runners on 2nd and third base, but relief pitcher Andrew Alvarez struck out Gunnar Henderson to end the inning. In the 9th inning the Mets loaded the bases with nobody out, and Gus Varland came in to pitch. He got two outs and the Mets scored their first run on a sacrifice fly, but then Henderson singled in a second run, and another relief pitcher was called in. Tensions were soaring after Richard Lovelady walked Taylor Ward, but then he struck out Adley Rutschman to end the game. WHEW!

Scenes from the May 15 game at Nationals Park.

Attendance on Friday night was 38,912, which is 94% of capacity (41,376), which is technically considered a "sellout." On Saturday it was 40,559 (only the third games in Nationals Park with more than 40,000 fans this year), but dropped to 26,715 on Sunday. The last time I had been to a Nats game with so many fans was four years ago: June 18, 2022, when 42,730 attendees were there for the Ryan Zimmerman retirement ceremony. (That's the day that I shook Jayson Werth's hand.) I fact, that was the biggest attendance of any baseball game I had ever seen in Washington, including at RFK Stadium, which had a bigger capacity than Nationals Park.

"My" Nationals home games: Top 10 in attendance

Date	Nationals' score	Visiting team	Visitors' score	Attendance
June 18, 2022	1	PHI	2	42,730
Aug. 18, 2012	0	NYM	2	42,662
June 8, 2013	3	MIN	4	41,587
Apr. 30, 2005	5	NYM	3	40,913 *
Sep. 22, 2012	10	MIL	4	40,493
May 15, 2026	3	BAL	2	38,912
Sep. 21, 2018	2	NYM	4	37,895
Sep. 27, 2014	5	MIA	1	37,529
Sep. 29, 2019	8	CLE	2	36,764
Aug. 15, 2013	3	SF	4	36,719

* played in RFK Stadium. All Nats home games since 2008 have been played in Nationals Park.

Meet the new Nationals!

One advantage of sitting in the lower deck on the third base side was that I had a great view inside the Nats' dugout, and therefore could see not only the players in that game but all of the starting pitchers who were awaiting their next turn in the rotation. Given the high turnover in the Nats pitching staff during the offseason, that was especially handy.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Zack Littell, Daylen Lile*, James Wood and Shane Baz (the Orioles' starting pitcher), Miles Mikolas, Mitchell Parker, Jake Irvin, Foster Griffin, and Cade Cavalli, at the game on May 15, 2026.

* In the dugout behind Daylen Lile are Manager Blake Butera (in red) and Bench Coach Michael Johns (in blue).

NOTE: I had not previously photographed four Nationals players whose names are underlined.

I got much-improved photos of a few Nats players who have played in previous years, but somehow I neglected to get good photos of two of the new ones: Curtis Mead and Jorbit Vivas. Also, I still don't have one of Jose Tena, the usual designated hitter. (He didn't play that day.) In any event, the Washington Nationals page now has much fuller photographic coverage of the team. In one of my ultra-zoom photos, I noticed that Daylen Lile has a Bible reference tatooed on his right arm: Proverbs 3: 5,6.

Flirting with the .500 mark

Since last Friday, the Nationals twice reached the .500 win-loss level, and both times they then fell back again. In the Saturday game, Keibert Ruiz led the Nationals' offensive onslaught, with a single, double, and a home run, batting in 5 runs altogether. Jacob Young also homered, as the Nats cruised to a 13-3 victory, giving them a 23-23 record for the year. But on Sunday the Orioles scored early and often, winning by a score of 7-3. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Phillies continued their recent surge, so the Nats fell into third place.

On Monday the Mets began a 4-game series in D.C. with a back-and-forth contest that went into extra innings thanks to a clutch RBI double by Nats utility player Curtis Mead in the 8th inning. Neither team scored in the 10th, as the Nats squandered a golden opportunity to win with the "ghost" runner on third base and only one out. Both teams scored 1 run in the 11th, and then all hell broke loose in the top of the 12th. Relief pitcher Paxton Schultz was charged with 6 earned runs plus an unearned run, and only got one out before he was replaced by ... Jorbit Vivas, the Nats' usual 2nd baseman! He gave up 3 more runs, as the Nats must have set some kind of record with the opposing team scoring 10 runs in an extra inning. Final score: 16-7. That game will regrettably go down in Nats history as a negative "memorable moment."

On Tuesday the 19th, the Nats' best pitcher was on the mound, Foster Griffin, but he uncharacteristically allowed 5 runs to score in the first two innings. But the Nats loaded the bases in the bottom of the 2nd, and with two outs James Wood smashed a long ball to the fence in left field. Nick Morabito failed to grab it, and center fielder Tyrone Tyler just stood there for a moment, either out of confusion or concern for his team mate, while Wood sprinted around the diamond in just 15 seconds. It was an inside-the-park grand slam, the second such feat in Nationals history! (Michael A. Taylor had done likewise on Sept. 8, 2017.) The Nats took the lead one inning later, and a late home run by former Nat Juan Soto proved irrelevant as the Nats won it, 9-6. After Monday's debacle, that comeback win was a much-needed tonic! That game will qualify as a positive "memorable moment."

The Nats won again on Wednesday, as a 3-run homer by CJ Abrams in the 1st inning put them ahead for good. After a couple days on the Injured List due to a hit-by-pitch, Jacob Young hit another home run in the 8th inning (his 6th this year), another example of his big improvement as a hitter. Starting pitcher Zack Littell got his second win of the year, and Andrew Alvarez got his first career save, pitching four full innings. Nats 8, Mets 4. But late this afternoon, the Nats' bats fell mysteriously flat once again, with multiple run-scoring opportunities coming up empty. In the 3rd inning, the Mets' Bo Bichette hit a bases-loaded single to give his team the only 2 runs they would need to win the game. In the 5th inning, a double by James Wood put two runners in scoring position with nobody out, but Wood ended up stranded at third base. The Nats' starting pitcher Cade Cavalli went a full 7 innings and struck out 9 batters, but was credited with the loss. What a shame. So, the Mets pulled off a 2-2 split in that series.

Only two of the Nats' seven series wins this year have been at home, whereas five of their seven series losses have been at home. They have split one four-game road series (at Pittsburgh) and one four-game home series. Even with today's low-scoring game, the Nationals still lead the major leagues both in runs scored (280) and in runs allowed (296)! Tomorrow they begin a road trip in Atlanta, where the first-place Braves are in second place in runs scored (276)!

May 15, 2026 [LINK / comment]

New stadium for the A's in Vegas!

I have been admittedly skeptical of the Sacramento (!) Athletics' plans for a new stadium in downtown Las Vegas, where groundbreaking ceremonies took place last June. Imagine my surprise when I saw photos of an actual stadium being built, with a substantial portion of the grandstand steel beams already in place! If everything goes according to schedule, the Athletics will move to their new domed stadium in 2028. Just in case there's any doubt, you can watch the live construction cam, courtesy of MLB.com!

New stadium for the Rays in Tampa?

The Tampa Bay Rays announced a "nonbinding memorandum of understanding" with local governments with regard to their plans for a new stadium east of the Tampa airport, near where the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers play. The Rays would pay slightly more than half the cost of the $2 billion project, but it could be a few more years before construction begins. There are still many ifs... See ballparkdigest.com.

New stadium for the Royals in KC?

The Kansas City Royals unveiled a proposal to build a stadium where the Hallmark Corporation is currently located, east of the Amtrak station. See MLB.com. I remain dubious of that scheme, however. The neighborhood is already crowded with buildings that would have to be demolished, and there would be hardly any parking. Meanwhile, Kauffman Stadium has a classic, iconic design, and I think it should be preserved.

With the two struggling, virtually "homeless" MLB franchises apparently taking care of their "housing shortage," it would seem that almost all 30 major league franchises are now squared-away, stadium-wise. Which other current stadiums might end up being replaced in the next several years? Angel Stadium in Anaheim (built in 1966) is often mentioned, and sometimes Guaranteed Rate Field (built in 1991) comes up as well. It's almost unthinkable that any other stadium would be replaced, but I've been wrong before.

New name for Dodger Stadium??!

In one of the most absurd stadium-naming deals that I can think of, the L.A. Dodgers have officially renamed their home "UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium." If anybody other than public relations officials and sports announcers actually uses that name, I will be extremely surprised. But I suppose I'll have to update the Stadium names chronology page in the near future.

R.I.P. Bobby Cox and Ted Turner

Bobby Cox, who managed the Atlanta Braves during their period of dominance in the National League East, passed away last week at the age of 84. He played with the Yankees in the late 1960s, and managed in Atlanta in 1980 and 1981, and then from 1990 to 2002. He epitomized the gruff but smart manager, much like Casey Stengel.

And the media tycoon who eventually transformed the Braves from perennial also-rans to regular winners also died: Ted Turner passed away. The owner of Turner Broadcasting System he purchased the Braves in was instrumental in the complicated deal whereby the 1996 Olympic Stadium was transformed into the stadium that bore his name -- until the Braves moved to the suburbs a few years ago, that is.

Nationals "almost" sweep the Reds

With their new ace pitcher on the mound (Foster Griffin), the Washington Nationals seemed poised to complete a sweep of the Reds in Cincinnati yesterday. He had gone 7 full innings against the Marlins in Miami the previous Friday, getting his 4th win and bringing his ERA down to 2.29. Might he get chosen for the All-Star Game this year? After yesterday's debacle, as we shall describe below, his chances at that honor seem to have faded.

But first, let's review the past week. The Nats jumped on top with a 3-run 1st inning in that first game in Miami, and then the Marlins came back with 2 runs of their own. And then nobody else scored for the rest of that game (3-2), which was quite peculiar. On Saturday, James Wood started the game with a home run, and four batters later C.J. Abrams knocked in 2 more runs with a single. It was 4-0 after 3 innings, but the Marlins gradually closed the gap, and when Mitchell Parker came in as a relief pitcher in the 8th inning, all hell broke loose. The Marlins led 8-4 going into the top of the 9th, whereupon the Nats put together an admirably heroic rally that fell just short. Final score: 8-7. Then on Sunday Cade Cavalli had a respectable outing, giving up just 2 runs over almost 6 innings. But then the Marlins had another 8th inning rally, this time with 3 runs that were charged to reliever Gus Varland. The Nats could not answer and therefore lost, 5-2.

After a day of rest the Nationals began a series in Cincinnati, and to the surprise of many, Miles Mikolas got through 3 1/3 innings in good shape. The Nats got on the board with back-to-back solo homers by James Wood and Luis Garcia in the 3rd inning, and kept adding more runs in a 10-4 win over the Reds. Altogether, the Nats hit SIX (6) home runs in that game for just the 7th time ever! (According to my meticulous and usually-accurate records, twice they hit 8 home runs in a game, and once they hit 7.) On the next day, the Nats ended up prevailing 8-7 in 10 innings, with the deciding runs coming from Daylen Lile's 2-run home run high up into the right field seats at cozy Great American Ballpark. That game lifted the Nationals's record to 21-22, and hopes were high for a sweep to guarantee sole possession of 2nd place in the NL East. But things got out of hand for Foster Griffin in the 4th inning, when the Reds scored 4 runs to take a 6-0 lead. The Nats' bats were ice cold, and Griffin gave up 3 more runs in the 5th inning, almost doubling his season total of earned runs, which went from 11 to 20. His ERA is now 3.53. Meanwhile, the Nats' only run came on a wild pitch, as they suffered their worst defeat of the season, 15-1. No sweep! So for the umpteenth time over the past two years, the Nats wasted a golden opportunity to bring their win-loss record up to an even .500. Oh, well...

With that mixed bag of good news and bad news to digest, the Nats return to D.C. today, welcoming the regional rival Baltimore Orioles to town. And I'll be there!

May 14, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Birding in Virginia, November 2024

Here we go again with another "catch-up" blog post summarizing an especially busy month of birding ...

November 2: I led an Augusta Bird Club field trip, hiking along the Chimney Hollow trail, with clear blue skies and relatively mild temperatures. I tabulated 17 species at that location, including the Brown Creepers that Antonio Martinez found, and we added a few more at Braley Pond afterwards. We came upon one of the target birds -- Winter Wrens -- soon after we began, but they were very difficult to actually see for more than a half second at a time. Purple Finches and American Goldfinches were also there. Later on we went to nearby Braley Pond and had a great closeup view of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, as well as an Eastern Phoebe.

November 2: ABC: Chimney Hollow, Braley Pond

November 3: At Bell's Lane in the late afternoon, I found TWO first-of-season species: Northern Harrier and White-crowned Sparrow! (Someone else had reported a Harrier there a few weeks ago.) Other highlights included a dozen or so Cedar Waxwings, many American Robins, several Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice, a few Eastern Bluebirds, and one Red-bellied Woodpecker.

November 4: We saw hundreds of American Robins and dozens of Black Vultures on Penny Warren's bird walk for the Augusta Bird Club along Bell's Lane this morning, but the big highlights were the Cedar Waxwings, Purple Finch (F), American Kestrel, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (M), and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. (The latter bird and the Downy Woodpecker shown below were both in our back yard after I got back home.)

November 6: I went for a walk around the Mill Place trail in Verona in the afternoon, and saw 25 or so Cedar Waxwings flying all around, as well as five or so Yellow-rumped Warblers, some Song Sparrows, and a Swamp Sparrow or two. A Belted Kingfisher was at the pond behind Hardees. Then on Bell's Lane I spotted a White-crowned Sparrow.

November 8: I drove out to Augusta Springs, and eventually managed to spot two of my target species: Hermit Thrush and Brown Creeper. Both were the first ones of the season for me. Other highlights included Pileated Woodpeckers (at least three), Pied-billed Grebe, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Purple Finch, Eastern Towhee, and best of all, an American Woodcock that flushed only about 15 feet away from me! That twittering sound they make in flight is very entertaining. No photo of it, unfortunately.

November 8: Augusta Springs

November 13: I found a Pied-billed Grebe on the Mill Place trail pond late in the afternoon, along with some kind of duck that flew away before I could identify it. There were lots of sparrows as well, including Field and Swamp Sparrows, plus a dozen or so American Goldfinches and a few Red-winged Blackbirds.

November 16: Just before noon I drove up to the place west of Dayton where the Snowy Owl was seen yesterday, to no avail. Then I headed over to nearby Paul State Forest, and embarked on a hike that turned out to be twice as long as I expected: nearly two miles each way. (I had only been there once before, and figured that I might as well go to the very end of the trail, since I'm unlikely to return there any time soon.) Eventually I saw five of the six woodpecker species that are found in most parts of Virginia: [Pileated, Hairy, Red-bellied, Downy, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.]

November 16: Paul State Forest.

November 22: A nice side-effect of the bitterly cold temperatures is that more birds come looking for food provided by us nice humans. I barely even had to step outside to get nice views and photos of a wide variety of colorful birds! The highlights were a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (or maybe two) and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. The Carolina Wrens now have their rich beige winter plumage, the opposite of most birds which tend to be duller in the colder months.

November 23: Jacqueline and I went up to Dayton and Harrisonburg for shopping today, but a brief visit to Silver Lake proved fruitless: just a few Mallards, and nothing else. Later on I went to Bell's Lane and had my first view of a male "gray ghost" Northern Harrier of the season! A female or young one was also swooping around in the distance. Other highlights included some distant Cedar Waxwings, very close White-crowned Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, etc.

November 25: We had a Northern Flicker out back in the morning, and it happened to be accompanied by a Red-bellied Woodpecker. In the afternoon I paid a quick visit to the Swoope area, but didn't see much other than an American Kestrel. At Montgomery Hall Park I lured two Hermit Thrushes into my vicinity by playing their call, but otherwise it was very quiet there, bird-wise. Back home, finally, I spotted a Downy Woodpecker and a White-breasted Nuthatch.

November 27: One of my favorite trails during the colder months is behind the Murphy-Deming College (part of Mary Baldwin University) in Fishersville, so that's where I went for a walk. Eventually I got to see almost all of my target birds, starting with a Red-breasted Nuthatch and ending with a Winter Wren, both very close by. I also saw a White-breasted Nuthatch, Purple Finch (F), a Hermit Thrush (hard to see in the bad lighting conditions), and a few Yellow-rumped Warblers.

November 28 (Thanksgiving!): A mid-afternoon walk along Bell's Lane yielded some of the usual winter residents, including 50+ American Robins, Northern Mockingbirds, White-crowned Sparrows, and a Northern Harrier (male), as well as a few nice surprises, such as a Red-tailed Hawk, an American Goldfinch, and best of all, a Great Blue Heron that flew right in front of my car and then landed in an open field. I had not seen any of that species for well over a month!

November 28: Bell's Lane.

November 30: It was brutally cold again, but I really needed the exercise, so I went for a walk around the Mill Place trail in Verona. There were a few Field Sparrows and other kinds of sparrows, but not much else. Birds are smart! A lone Belted Kingfisher was patrolling the pond behind Hardee's, and I almost got a closeup shot. Over at Bell's Lane there were some White-crowned Sparrows, House Finches, American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, and a distant Northern Harrier.

Additional photos and montages, including individual photos of some of the birds in the above montages, will soon become available on the Wild Birds chronological (2024) page. (I am in the midst of a major reorganization of my bird photos, so that they will be sorted year by year.)

May 8, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Nationals slowly climb into 2nd place

To the surprise of almost no one, the Washington Nationals lost 3 games out of 4 in the home series against the red-hot Atlanta Braves two weeks ago. The Nats won the second game (Apr. 21) thanks to another fine outing by Foster Griffin (6 innings) and home runs by James Wood and Curtis Mead; final score 11-4. The next day, the Nats grabbed a 4-1 lead in the 1st inning, but Zach Littell kept giving up runs, and the Braves came out ahead, 8-6. In the final game of the series, Cade Cavalli went 5 innings and threw 10 strikeouts, but the bullpen (more specifically Cionel Perez) folded in the late innings, and the Braves won it, 7-2.

Nevertheless, the Nats continued to show show spunk and even some occasional signs of professional maturity. On April 24 they headed to Chicago and came up short (5-4) against the White Sox. Once again, P.J. Poulin started the first couple innings for the supposed "starter" Miles Mikolas, who seems averse to actually "starting" games. But somehow the Nats bounced back with two straight games that went to the 10th inning, winning by scores of 6-3 and 2-1. Then they got another road series win against the Mets in New York, getting trounced 8-0 in the first game, and then getting revenge 14-2 the next day, capped by Brady House's first career grand slam. In the rubber match game, C.J. Abrams hit a clutch 2-run homer in the top of the 8th, giving the Nats a 5-4 victory. With two straight road series wins, the Nats were climbing close to the .500 mark.

Then on May 1, the Nats welcomed the Milwaukee Brewers to Washington, and the Brew Crew clearly had revenge on their minds after the Nats swept them at American Family Field three weeks earlier. The Nats barely got on the board in the first two games (6-1 and 4-1, respectively), but they pulled off a 3-2 win thanks in great measure to the two RBI singles hit by Nasim Nunez. After a day of rest, the Minnesota Twins began a 3-game series in their franchise's original home city, when they were the Washington Senators. The Twins won 11-2 in the first game, as Nats starting pitcher Cade Cavalli seemed to fall apart in the 2nd inning. But the next day Miles Mikolas actually started the game, and he actually got his first win of the season, as C.J. Abrams' late-inning grand slam put the icing on the cake in a 15-2 rout. The rubber match game was a back-and-forth affair, and the Nats managed to come out ahead, thanks largely to none other than Keibert Ruiz. He hit two doubles and a home run, batting in 4 of the Nats' 7 runs, in a 7-5 decision. That put the Nats into sole possession of 2nd place in the NL East, one game ahead of the Phillies.

Tonight the Nats hit the road again, and in the 6th inning are ahead of the Miami Marlins 3-2.

Washington Nationals page update

My Washington Nationals page has been updated to reflect data for the month of April (including 5 games in March), and trying to keep up with the fluid defensive position assignments. As just one example, James Wood started the season in left field, but now plays in right field.

Among the new pitching rotation, Foster Griffin (ERA of 2.22, with a 3-1 record) thus far has proven he is worth every penny of the $5.5 million contract that he signed in December. The same cannot be said of either Zack Littell ($7 million) or Miles Mikolas ($2.25 million), however. Jake Irvin and Cade Cavalli are a mixed picture, in need of adjustments.