I tell my friends ALL THE TIME, that sports, more than anything, are about moments.
You never know when your going to witness history.
Sometimes when its happening right in front of you, you don’t realize it.
Case in point, last night at Nats Park. Two of my homies and I decided last week that we just HAD to attend next Wednesday’s game vs the Detroit Tigers because we just HAD to have the Bryce Harper Bobblehead Doll that was being given away.
I know, I know…how juvenile. LOL
Earlier in the day, I realized that our former pitcher and fan favorite Jordan Zimmermann would be facing us for the first time which made the game even more intriguing. I should have known that we would eventually witness something historic.
So we all met up at the park like an hour earlier than usual just so we can be guaranteed our Bryce bobblehead. Once we got our “prizes”, we did what we normally do, “shoot the shit” and catch up on normal day to day shit like we always do at baseball games. So in the midst of us walking around and taking a restroom break, the homie Chris comes out the bathroom and states, “Man, Max has 8 strikeouts all ready and its just the 4th inning!” I almost didn’t believe him so we just monitored the strikeout total from that point.
9…10…11…
We get in line to get a chicken sandwich….
12…13…14…
Line forms for sandwiches…vendor is swamped.we are given free shots of booze and french fries for waiting patiently…
15…16…
Now it’s a super buzz in the park.you can feel the electricity…
I try to count the strikeouts on the Out of Town Scoreboard…I THINK it says 18…Chris thinks it’s 17…
No matter, the PA announcer states that it is indeed 18 strikeouts and a new team record….crowd is going bonkers…
9th inning comes and boom, he gives up a moonshot to J.D. Martinez to make it a 3-2 game. Now I’m a little worried but fuck it, this is for history!
Remember, we live in Washington, DC. Stuff like this never happens for us, we are always on the losing end of memorable moments so I’m sure that fans across the DMV were waiting for the other foot to drop…but it didnt!
Scherzer struck out Miguel Cabrera for #19 and Justin Upton on a nasty slider to tie the record. The park is going NUTS!!!
A groundout to Anthony Rendon put a capper on one of the greatest pitching performances I will ever witness in person.
A complete game, 20 strikeout, zero walk, six hit masterpiece. Scherzer threw an astounding 96 of 119 pitches for strikes in a six-hitter for his sixth career complete game.
Five times in the history of the sport has this occurred. Scherzer is now linked with legendary names as Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens (2x) and Kerry Wood.
And I was there, with my road dogs, to witness it.
Thank you Bryce Harper Bobblehead Night.
