Take Me Out to the Ball Game

The Washington Nationals recently granted Capital Cooking exclusive access to its clubhouse during the Nats-Orioles Battle of the Beltway for Nationals Blogger Night 2012.  The program provided non-stop action and was part of an effort to bolster and fortify the team’s reputation as a social media-savvy organization.

The baseball related activities of the afternoon were eye-opening and gave this blogger a window into what life as a sports journalist is like.  We sat in on Nationals Coach Davey Johnson’s pre-game press conference and had a chance to interview Nats rookie Tyler Moore at the same podium.  Coach Johnson was particularly zen during his half hour with the media, attributing his at-ease state to a monster lifting weights session he had just completed.  Apparently the media has a tendency to incite frustration with coaches they interview.  Who knew?

From there, we were able to enjoy batting practice for both teams while standing on the field behind the backstop.  It was a gorgeous day outside and the sunshine was a welcome change from sitting deep inside the stadium moments before.  A surprise visitor to the field during batting practice was Redskins second year defensive end Ryan Kerrigan.  In addition to snapping a picture with me, he got a chance to meet Ryan Zimmerman and Bryce Harper.  As a DC sports fan, it was particularly exciting to see Kerrigan interact with the two of them.  All three are believed to be stars for this city’s sports teams for years to come.

We finally made our way to the press box, our final destination for the evening.  It was there that Nationals Executive Chef Dave Peterson showed us the culinary highlights of what the stadium has to offer.  It’s a rather diverse selection, and the organization has done a great job of distributing quality choices throughout the different sections of the stadium.  Whether it’s ribs smoked in-house at Red Porch, the restaurant above center field, a salad from Field of Greens, the Main Concourse’s healthy alternative, or a good old fashioned hot dog from Nats Dogs, there’s an item offered for practically every type of foodie.

One item that stood head-and-shoulders above the rest was the crab pretzel.  As someone who is from the area, I can’t believe that I hadn’t seen something like this before.  Steamy crab meat, topped with melted provolone and garnished with scallions was generously stuffed inside a toasted, foot-long pretzel.  It was so delicious and left us bloggers wanting for more that Chef Peterson brought up ten more samples.  The crab pretzels can be found outside of Section 136 on the Main Concourse.

Finally, the Nationals will be hosting their first ever tweet-up on Tuesday, July 3rd.  The link can be found on the corresponding tweet for this post on Capital Cooking’s Twitter account.  There will be a special fireworks display that night as well as special prizes for those people that get their tickets through the tweet-up.  The more people that RSVP via Twitter, the better the ticket deals will be and the greater number of seats allotted for the event.  Ignite Your Natitude!