My dad and I went to the Nationals' new stadium for the first time, catching all three games of the series. Thought y'all might like to see some photographs. These are all from the first game, a thrilling 3-2, come-from-behind victory.

Great thing about Nationals Park is that it's just a 300-yard walk down a festive street from the metro line. Took me about 15 minutes' ride from my nearby station. Then you walk up to the entrance above, which puts you on the concourse of left-centerfield, where there's a bunch of commerces, including a singles bar (!). The field is sunken down. And yes, that's a couple of Masshole friends of mine. It's not my fault!

You walk in, catch some Angels' BP. Lotta Halo fans in the stadium, which was nice.

Two of the other great things -- there's a good selection of beer (including Pilsner Urquell on tap!), and man, are those concourses wide & with good views. Comparing this to Dodger Stadium in that regard is like the difference between, I dunno, the laptop I'm typing on and an IBM 386. It's the way humans should watch baseball. Also, note Beachbum's sweet gangsta Angels hat, which got a few compliments from the locals.

Halfway through Angels BP, it started pouring rain. Soon, they kicked us all out of our seats and sent us wandering through the park.

Most of the bells & whistles were pretty standard -- take or throw some simulated BP, hang out at the "Rushmore" arcade -- but this build-your-own-bear thing kinda freaked me out.

Needless to say, don't come to D.C. for the Mexican food. Not that the Big A is any better in that regard. We were never able to locate the source of the meat, BTW.

When they started taking the tarp off, there appeared the damndest rainbow.

I mean seriously, it was one of the better rainbows I've seen in a while. And there was even a double ring outside it, but I couldn't get my new camera to capture it.

Finally, the National Anthem in Nationals Stadium. The scoreboard is pretty cool -- especially the stars around the W to the right (though I agree with those on a previous thread who said the "DC" logo is far superior).

Much to my delight, the singer was none other than the D.C. Gay Men's Choir! (Dudes in the red shirts.)

Despite the late start, the game was taut and swift, an exciting pitcher's duel, until the Angels scored two in the 8th inning to go ahead, and wait .... IS THAT A RALLY BABY IN THE 6TH ROW?

Yes, that's a Rally Baby in the 6th row. A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

The Nats tried a little comeback voodoo of their own, through the exhortations of "Screech," a terrifying hip-hop eagle of sorts, who was coming straight at us.

Words and pictures alone cannot describe what a hideous beast Screech is.

Though at least he's not a Scottsdale cop!

Anyway, Frankie closed it down, like he does. Re-sign Frankie! Also, did I mention that our seats were pretty damned sweet?

Panther of the day, though, goes to these two Angel fans, and their half-dozen pals, who piled in an RV from Cali and caught up with the team for the Phillies and Nats series, only to see them go 5-1 and play pretty good baseball. They were all eating homemade sandwiches, wearing their homemade shirts, and flying the panther flag high. I told them about Halos Heaven, and they promised to stop by. Nice to see a new generation of fans rocking it hard!

OK, the end. Nice stadium, all in all, though I wish it was someone else's tax money....