And now, baseball is back! I couldn’t be more excited, to be totally honest. I was even surprised to see in my email inbox yesterday, an email from the Red Sox ownership (sent to anyone who receives promotional emails from the Red Sox through mlb.com), with an image that totally captures how I feel about opening day and the return of our nation’s pasttime.

So, although it wasn’t opening day, Nicole and I, with our friends Caroline and Drew, went to the Nationals exhibition game against the Orioles this past Saturday. As per our ritual last season, we stopped off at Cantina Marina for some drinks pre-game, and just walk to the stadium from there.

The weather was good enough; a clear night but a bit chilly. We arrived at the ballpark in the bottom of the first inning as the Nationals were in the process of loading the bases. By the time we grabbed a beer and got to our seats in Section 110 (view), Josh Willingham was batting for the Nationals and took a pitch deep into left center field for a grand slam! The paltry crowd went crazy, and from then on out, the Nationals were in cruise control.

Though they only scored one more run, it was necessary, as the Orioles clawed back with three runs in the third inning and tied it at four in the seventh inning. The tie didn’t last very long though as Willingham came up again in the bottom of the inning and drove in the go ahead run for the Nationals.

The Nats held on for the win… too bad it doesn’t count for the regular season!