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It’s not fun as a baseball fan when two teams you root for let you down on the same day.

First, the New York Mets completed their historic collapse by losing to the Florida Marlins. Tom Glavine performed every bit the part of a player who should hang up his glove, giving up 7 runs to just a single out in less than one inning of work. Ugh. And that it was the last place Florida Marlins who dealt the blow was most cruel.

However, that was only the first letdown, because less than 10 minutes after the Mets lost, the Washington Nationals lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, thus handing the Phils the division championship in the NL East. The Nats could’ve saved the Mets’ bacon with a win, but they also failed to find a good bat or and effective pitching strategy to hold off the resurgent team from Philadelphia.

Bugger.

At least the Boston Red Sox have home field advantage for as long as they remain in the AL playoffs. That’s something.

Well, the last baseball game, at least.

sprite and I had a great time at the game. I managed to get us seats in the outfield mezzanine, which allowed for a great view from left field. We really got to see the extent of the crowd on hand, which was the largest attendance for a Nats game in 2007 (slightly over 41,000 seats sold – not a sellout, amazingly enough, given the historic nature of the game).

The Presidents Race was a fun one, as the Nats’ bullpen emptied to try and help Teddy win. They blocked Abe, George and Tom, but to no avail: Teddy ended up at the new ballpark, where he ran to home plate with no competition (or live audience, other than construction workers and a camera crew). The audience booed the other presidents, chanting “we want Teddy” for a few minutes after the race’s conclusion.

And the Nats played well. They went out to win their final outing at RFK, and kept on the offensive and defensive pressure throughout the game. Even though Chad “The Chief” Cordero threatened to blow his save opportunity by allowing a run, but he then struck out the final batter – “theeeeee Nats win!”

And after the game’s conclusion, the ceremonies continued for another hour or so. The players gave away their game jerseys to lucky fans. Manny Acta dug up home plate to transfer it to the new ballpark. Screech the Eagle entered RFK on a zipline. Fireworks were launched over the outfield for the final time.

sprite and I wandered around the stadium for a few minutes before leaving. We went up to the yellow, upper-deck seats to see one of the white seats where Frank Howard’s home runs landed in the late-60s and early-70s. We marveled at exactly how long these home runs were, looking back toward home plate from almost 500 feet away.

And then it was over.

Fare thee well, RFK. Sure, I’ll be back for DC United games and the occasional concert, but I’ll miss baseball in your old, shaky shell.

(You can see photos from the game here.)