Road Trip #2 - Frederick

Because it's such a relatively short jaunt, it's hard for me to consider this a road trip, but I guess when you're gone nearly seven hours, it still counts.

What kills me about the trip to Frederick is that I usually end up dropping $4 or more in tolls because I prefer to go through Leesburg on the way to, and take 270 to the Dulles Toll Road on the way back, in my vain effort to avoid I-66 during the daytime (seriously, it's one of the best "rules" I've come up with for avoiding traffic).

And I'm fairly certain this is the fourth straight year I've made this trip on this weekend. It's funny how little the schedule can change from year to year.

In terms of the game itself, it was one of those affairs where if you came late and only saw the middle three innings, you saw all there was to see. Steven King homered twice off O's prospect Brian Matusz, who struck out eight over six innings, and Chris Marrero doubled to deep left-center. That was pretty much it for the PNats' offense - the third run coming on two Frederick errors; one to reach base, the other to attempt to nail a runner trying to steal third.

Defensively, the PNats threw this game away with two errors and a misplay in a near-comical fashion in the six-run fourth inning, the only one in which the Keys scored. That's the one thing that strikes me thus far this year - both teams on any given night have looked really, really shaky.

Otherwise, it was the usual easy-in, easy-out that I love so much about Harry Grove stadium (not to mention free parking!!!)