Nationals Honor Those Fallen at Virginia Tech University

(Sorry for uploading this so late, I had a doctor’s appointment this morning for an adverse reaction to some medication I took last night.)

The Washington Nationals lost to the Atlanta Braves last night at RFK by a score of 6-4. Jerome Williams struggled in the first inning as he allowed three runs to score, and by the third inning it was 4-0.

The Nationals battled back in the seventh inning to get the score to 5-4, but Rafael Soriano shut the rally down. The team scored twice in the 7th inning to get within one run; however, big bats, Ryan Zimmerman nor Dmitri Young could get anything done. The Braves made three errors, two by shortstop Edgar Renteria and he in a way helped the Nationals get back into the ballgame.

Looking back from last night, the result did not matter much, as in the second inning, the Nationals sprinted out to the field with maroon Virginia Tech caps on, some of the coaches wore white caps with the school logo, and those in attendance rose and applauded. The announcement was made via the PA system that the team would be wearing the caps for the remainder of the game to honor those who lost their lives at Virginia Tech University on Monday.

It was the Nationals’ small way to help with the healing process. For the past two nights, the team has held a moment of silence before the national anthem to remember those fallen.

According to the Washington Times, “The idea to wear the Hokies hats came from a fan, Dave Lanham, who e-mailed team president Stan Kasten yesterday morning suggesting the tribute. Kasten immediately liked the idea and had club employees get permission from Major League Baseball while tracking down a sporting goods store in Alexandria that was willing to donate the caps.

MLB signed off on the plan, the hats were located and players were told during batting practice they would be wearing them for the game. However, some unforeseen traffic problems prevented the caps from making it to the ballpark in time for the first pitch, so it wasn't until the second when all nine Washington players took the field in the new caps as the crowd stood and applauded.”

For one day, at least, the box score didn’t matter so much to fans, but the little things that we can do to help one another in a time of need took precedence.