It’s Pride Week in Washington DC. It started off with Shakira canceling her concert at Nats Park three days before it was to be performed and continued with a fight between the National Park Service and the DC government about whether Dupont Circle Park should be cordoned off.  A little spice was added when Pete Hegseth said the ship named for Harvey Milk would be changed to honor a white, heterosexual man.

What was interesting was our Metro ride from the Petworth Metro Station to Nats Park for yesterday’s baseball game and back again. When we got on the train, we were accompanied by throngs dressed for Pride Day

When we got to Gallery Place, the Pride costumes left the train and were replaced by baseball jerseys and caps. I will say that the Pride folks had more fun, as the Nats lost to the Rangers 5 to 0.

My reaction to the Pride attendees was interesting. At least, interesting to me. There were a lot of them on the subway. Most were quite young. There were some, say, in their 40s, but few older than that. And they were, to put it mildly, a motley crew. While a few were dressed to the nines, most looked like they just got out of bed, or that they looked hard to find their ugliest, mismatching clothes. But more than that, they looked like members of a society with which I had nothing in common. And visually, this had nothing to do with sexual orientation. It had to do with hair style, types of tattoos, and clothing. It was like I was a tourist in a foreign country. And it was surprising.

As I said, the game was disappointing.  The Nats played the Texas Rangers and their records are pretty equal. The night before, the Nats won. But the Rangers pitcher, Jacob de Grom, has long baffled the Nats (and others). De Grom is 36 years old and most of his career has been with the New York Mets. The last time the Nats beat de Grom was in 2017. In 2027, most of the young Nats team was in high school. Some were in middle school. Young star James Wood, for example, was 15.

I don’t pay much attention to the other 29 teams in Major League Baseball. How could I? Back in the day, when there were half as many teams and I was 1/6 of my current age, it was easier.

I certainly don’t pay attention to the Rangers. But I discovered something interesting yesterday. The Rangers won the World Series in 2023, but last year wound up losing 6 more than they won (the Nats win the World Series in 2019 and then fell apart, as well). Thos year seems to be a replay of last year for the Rangers so far.

But here is what is interesting. If you look ag Major League earned run average statistics (in other words, how many runs a pitcher allows), the Rangers are third of all 30 teams in allowing the fewest runs by opponents. In fact, of the 11 statistically best pitchers, 3 (including de Grom) are Rangers. But…..if you look at the team hitting statistics, the Rangers are the second worst hitting team of the 30 teams. I wonder how often, if ever, there has been such divergence on one team.

So, Pride and baseball. How to bring them together? Maybe with the Pride of the Yankees.

Now back to my regularly scheduled activities. Like following the Trump induced riots in Los Angeles.