"Homestead Grays" edge "St. Louis Stars" 3-2 OR Uniformly great fun

On the night that the Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals honored the Negro Leagues by wearing replica jerseys of their city's long-defunct Negro League teams, the Washington Nationals Homestead Grays defeated the St. Louis Cardinals Stars 3-2 before 27,992 at R.F.K. Stadium.

With some former Negro League players in attendance, fans got to see the players in what I thought were some outstanding replica jerseys (modern uniforms just aren't as cool looking, in my opinion) and listen to 1940's music over the stadium sound system, and see scoreboard presentations of some of the great Negro League baseball stars, such as Satchel Paige, "Cool Papa" Bell, and many others.

Grays starter Tim Redding had a wonderful outing, going 6 1/3 innings, allowing 1 run on 7 hits, walking 2 but striking out 8. He threw 71 strikes on 107 pitches (67%).

The bullpen of Ray King, Jon Rauch and Chad Cordero was effective, but Rauch did allow the tying run on 3 hits. Chad Cordero struck out 2, allowing 1 hit, and he got the win.

Ryan Report: Church went 0 for 3, Zimmerman went 3 for 5 with a double and had the winning R.B.I., a walk-off single, his 6th such R.B.I. in his short career, Langerhans went 1 for 1 and Austin Ryan Kearns was walked in his 2 plate appearances.

The other hits came from Felipe Lopez (1 for 5 with a double and an R.B.I.), Ronnie Belliard (1 for 4 with an R.B.I.), Dmitri Young (1 for 3), Brian Schneider (1 for 1), Nook Logan (1 for 4) and Tony Batista (1 for 1).

It was 90 degrees at 1st pitch, but there was a nice 8 m.p.h. breeze blowing to help keep the evening from being stifling. I brought my friend Kathryn, and we got to the park a few minutes after 7:00, and made the rounds, but to my dismay, there was no Rico tonight and no Ellie! We stopped at Capital Q Barbecue, and made our way down to the seats. We both really enjoyed seeing the throwback uniforms of the Negro Leagues, and we both appreciated the pitcher's duel that took place, with Tim Redding emerging the victor, though he did not get the win. If Redding continues to fan batters the way that he has been, then there is NO way that he is coming out of the rotation. He has the lowest E.R.A. of any of our starters (2.43) and he can obviously eat innings and spell the bullpen a bit, and Manager Manny Acta wasn't reluctant to let him throw over 100 pitches. I hope that he, too, becomes an "Iron Man" of our rotation, the way that Matt Chico has been all season, having not missed a start.

There is nothing, I repeat, NOTHING like a walk-off hit, and Ryan Zimmerman has delivered several of his 6 career walk-off hits at R.F.K., much to my delight. The awful anticipation of the crowd, everyone on their feet, the roar of celebration as the ball cleared the infield past the gloves of the infielders, the "BANG! ZOOM!" of the fireworks (as Charlie Slowes says on the radio), and last night was just such a joyous moment. Not a thrilling homerun, just a simple single into the gap. The whole bench clearing to rush out to congratulate Zimmerman is a thrilling site to see. I've listened to the replay of Charlie Slowes calling the hit several times now, and it still gives me goosebumps. One of the most wonderful moments a baseball fan can have.