Havana Rose

We are back from our Linda’s birthday tour of the nation’s capital. It could not have been better — outstanding weather, great game, great movie, great eats. Wow. Hey, this was odd: Driving back to Jersey, on Route 78, the GPS lady warned us of an object on the road ahead. But as I approached it, I could tell it was a subject.

We were only charged half the regular rate for admission to the National Women’s Museum of Art because they were setting up for a wedding that was being held there after it closed. It’s a beautiful building and a great museum, from my standpoint of utter ignorance. Here’s one objet I recognized.

And, of course, we loved everything by Shirley Gorelick, Norrie’s cousin’s mom. Here she is!

So, because of the wedding there were all sorts of people very much dressed up. We even got to see the bride. As we were walking down a grand stairway, towards the level from which we were going to exit, a gentleman in a black suit, who might have been in charge of the catering staff, was walking down as well. We exchanged smiles and he asked me: “Are you on the groom’s side or the bride’s side.” I said we were just visiting the museum. He got me! I was dressed in jeans, a schlumpy polo shirt, and a Gnats cap. He knew I wasn’t there for the wedding. He was joking and I fell right into it. D’oh! Kudos, buddy.

What if a baseball game ended but nobody knew it was over? How could that be? Our Gnats game against the Pods was excellent on Sunday. Zack Littell was pitching for the home team. He got off to a terrible start this year but was doing much better of late so we were cautiously hopeful. He was brilliant but so was the Pod arm, Griffin Canning. All we could muster through four innings was a solo dinger by Luis Garcia, Jr. No way that would suffice against a potent San Diego lineup. So it was good when slugger James Wood got a hold of one with a man on in the fifth. A little breathing room at 3-0 going into the seventh.

Littell was dealing . . . until he wasn’t. Leaving him in after six was a mistake. Walk, single, double, yikes! No outs, one in, tying runs in scoring position! Help! Ribalta came in and finally got an out: but it was a deep fly that scored a run to make it 3-2. Still only one out, tying run on third. Next batter walked. And then good things happened in very rapid succession. The runner on first took off for second. The pitch crossed the plate. The ump at second called the runner out stealing. The ump at home called the pitch a strike, strike three. A strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out DP! Inning over, and we’re still up, if only by one. Whew.

I’ll finish up in a moment, but it was one of those games you usually only come across in the playoffs: every pitch was fraught, every swing. mattered.

In the bottom of that inning, the Gnats got one back when Chapparo chopped a double to left. And we went to the ninth up by two. Better than one, but it means all you need is one baserunner to bring the tying run to the plate. And the Pods had some bangers due up.

Clayton Beeter took the mound. Bogaerts grounded out but Merrill singled. Oy. Exactly what I feared. Ty France was up. Did the batter have to be named “tie?” Merrill took off for second. Who cares? His run didn’t matter: we were up by two. It looked like he beat the throw easily. And the pitch looked outside to me, but we were in the upper deck so I couldn’t really tell. Then, wait, what? The runner over-slid second — the ump called him out. Anything else? Oh, yeah, it turned out the pitch was called a strike while no one was watching since all eyes were on second. Strike three. So, wait — that’s three outs? The infielders were all just looking at each other. Doesn’t three outs mean the game is over? It took a little while to sink in. Yeah — let’s celebrate!

What a great win!! The Gnats took three series in a row, from three top teams: Atlanta, Cleveland, and SD. They were over .500 by two games. (Never mind that they followed up by dropping two to lowly Miami right after that. )

Here’s Zack — love the beard, man!

We had a few free hours before hitting the Metro to get to the game, so we soaked up the shade and people-watched in Dupont Circle. The weather and the scene were great.

Monday afternoon we took in a movie in the historic Avalon Theater: Tuner. Loved it! As good as he was in a funny supporting role, Dustin Hoffman didn’t steal the show from the handsome/beautiful young folks. Terrific movie. Even the (Israeli) bad guys were compelling.

Havana Rose Liu is exquisite. She’s Irish-Chinese and a Brooklyn girl! Phil says it’s hard to capture how beautiful she is in a photo. Seems like you got pretty close, Philly.

All the touring and activities can really tire you out. Linda got this shot of me napping during our visit to the National Zoo Monday morning. I’m kidding, of course. That’s Trump at a Cabinet meeting.