2011 Father's Day weekend at Nats Park, Orioles vs. Nationals (June 18 & 19)

June 18 & 19, 2011: What's better than a baseball game on Father's Day? Spending the Father’s Day weekend with your daughter at the ballpark.

Sofia and I spent Saturday and Sunday (mom joined us for the Father's Day game) at Nats Park to watch the Beltway Series. We had hoped to see the Nationals sweep the Orioles, but rather saw them split the games we attended.

As a father it is amazing to watch your daughter grow up. Sofia's happy attitude is contagious, but with the good comes the challenges. The Nationals are known for their challenges, but this season they have experienced some success. They have kept their record at nearly .500, something they have not done this late into the

season since their inaugural season, and we hoped to see them reach .500 in the two games we attended.

During Saturday's game the Orioles took an early lead with Adam Jones' homer in the 1st inning, but the Nationals’ recently returned Ryan Zimmerman responded by tying the game with a homer of his own later that inning. From there the Nats took the lead and took the second game of the series with a 4-2 win.

Sunday, Father's Day, the Nationals had a chance to reach .500. We arrived at the ballpark as Sofia snoozed in her stroller. We had hoped this would be a much-needed nap and would result in her being in a good mood for the game.

As Sofia napped we snuck in a few photo ops with the Racing President (George, Tom, Abe and the lovable Teddy), something that would never have occurred with her awake, she's scared of them and who can blame her for being scared of a politician.

Like yesterday the Orioles took a quick lead in the second inning as a result of yesterday's Player of the Game, Ryan Zimmerman, error. Seems his being out for most of the early season has finally caught up with him. I would like to believe that the O's early lead upset Sofia. She was suddenly in a foul mood and mom hoped that food would help calm her down. As mom went to get some hot dogs, I struggled to sooth Sofia. We sat above the O's bullpen and maybe this was Sofia's way of communicating her discontent at the Orioles lead, but O's pitcher Koji Uehara wanted to help me out. As one father to another, Koji tossed a ball up to us, but not even

this act of kindness could help. Sofia rejected the ball, but it didn't go to waste, we gave it to the father sitting next to us who gave it to his son and told him it was the first ball he had ever caught at a ballpark.

As a blessing from the sky, it began to rain. The rain washed the tears off Sofia’s face as I quickly pulled out our umbrella. Sofia smiled, reached for the umbrella’s handle and twirled it like Mary Poppins. The rain stopped and mom returned with lunch. Sofia's attitude had changed. She entertained the fans around us and danced with dad to "Boogey Shoes" that landed her on the jumbo-tron.

Although I write about my challenging moment with Sofia at the game, but my Father’s Day at Nationals Park with my family was certainly the highlight of the day. As for the Nationals, they may have lost the game to the Orioles 4-7, but they took two out of the three games of the Beltway Series.

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Baltimore, MD (April 4, 2011) - Orioles 2011 Opening Day

Sofia just turned two a couple of months ago and today she attended to her first MLB Opening Day.

I knew this Opening Day experience was going to be unique. The weather in DC has finally started to warm up after some crazy spring snow fell last week. Sofia has been begging to go the park every day. This morning I asked her if she meant to say the baseball park and she confirmed in spanish that yes she wanted to visit the baseball park: "parque...parque de beisbol!" (We are really trying to make her bilingual).

As expected, Baltimore was mobbed with Orioles fans. Who can blame them? Their 3-0 start is the best since 1997. Could this be a new Baltimore Orioles team?

The Orioles got on the score board in the 2nd inning with Matt Wieters stealing home on Porcello's wild pitch. The Tigers responded by tying it up in the 3rd.

Sofia was excited to be back in the ballpark. She hammed it up for the fans in the stands and cheered the O's on as she bounced from step to step out if her seat.

By the 4th inning Sofia was ready for a change of atmosphere. We headed to the Orioles' kiddie area (which honestly leaves much to be desired in comparison to the carnival rides at the Detroit Tigers' Comerica Field) where she discovered a small moon bounce where she spent most of the 5th inning which featured Brian Roberts nailing a three-run homer to the right field stands where we were seated. As the inning finished up, Wieters singled to add another run giving the Orioles a 5-1 lead that they would hold for the rest of the game.

Luckily for dad, the park had strategically placed a monitor in perfect view by the moon bounce so I did not miss a single play.

Back in the day I would have been frustrated missing the best part of the game, but today I confirmed a new source of enjoyment at the ballpark: spending time watching Sofia enjoy a baseball game in her unique way as a two-year-old little girl.

The game was not a complete loss. We returned to our seats in time for "God Bless America", "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (the Orioles 7th inning staple). Sofia sang and danced during the 7th inning stretch and we watch the Orioles beat the Tigers 5-1 and taking their record to 4-0. Much better than the last time we were there to finish up our "30 Ballparks and a Baby" tour in 2009.

I don't remember my first Opening Day, but will certainly always remember this one with my daughter.

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