From the affordable seats 400-plus feet from SunTrust Field’s home plate, I hardly expected to call balls and strikes. But the views were crisp and sharp. The whole field unfolded from that block of seats.
An hour before the game, I scarcely expected it would be played. No sooner had we reached Atlanta that afternoon than the skies opened up, a pounding rain adding another sluggish layer to Friday rush hour. The rideshare took a series of backroads into the development surrounding the Braves’ new ballpark. The rain still fell.
Then 20 minutes before the game, the sky dried up, and the rough weather moved on. Fears of a rainout were unfounded. A batted ball might die on the wet infield dirt but we were guaranteed a baseball game.
After walking through the gates, I could claim to have visited all three Braves stadiums in Atlanta. First came cavernous Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, where Hank Aaron hit No. 715 and I saw some of the worst years of Braves baseball in a generation. Their 80s superstar, Dale Murphy, could not save a team of nobodies and has-beens, and the Hall of Fame pitching of the 90s had not arrived. Turner Field was a one-time gig, a game against the Brewers in 2008 when Prince Fielder mashed two monster home runs, which I always assumed was to shut up the fans heckling him about his father. The actual ballpark is no slouch either. Unlike its two predecessors, SunTrust Field should stick for the long-term.
SunTrust has a big advantage over the earlier stadiums– better access for people from outside Atlanta. That made it attractive for a road trip from Nashville.
Sitting at the junction of interstates 75 and 285, visitors don’t need to endure a drive or lengthy public transportation journey into central Atlanta. The brick accents give the park a vintage feel, even as every modern convenience is crammed within its walls. One warning about the right-field seats – there are all sorts of games of chance and kid-related activities in the area below the seats.
Surrounded by The Battery Atlanta, a massive upscale development with restaurants, bars, apartments of hotels, SunTrust anchors a new neighborhood. After the game, it was easy enough to funnel out of the stadium and into any of the bars. The crowds were thick for the next hour, and when we finally stepped out to the rideshare pickup, only a handful of people remained. The hotel drive time took 10 minutes at midnight, almost an hour at rush hour.
The choice of seats was myriad. But right-center field provided the perfect vantage point. In baseball’s all-or-nothing age, I wanted to see where the ball goes from the pitcher’s hand. With the resurgent Braves one of the National League’s most interesting teams and the Nats expected to challenge for a playoff spot, we expected a strong game.
This game produced a pitching clinic. Stephen Strasburg threw for the Nats, no longer a prospect but still one of the game's exciting pitchers. The Braves sent out Mike Foltynewicz, who I’d never heard of but probably should have.
Strasburg and Foltynewicz kept the game scoreless. We questioned Washington’s decision to send Strasburg out for the seventh inning, his third time through the Atlanta lineup, the point at which hitters have a better grasp on the pitcher.
Strasburg immediately appeared mortal and gave up four hits, culminating with a three-run home run from Dansby Swanson. As the game turned, Strasburg signaled to the dugout and pointed at his arm. A week later, he landed on the disabled list.
I concentrated a little much on the balls and strikes at times, not seeing the pitching gem unfolding in front of me. After Foltynewicz gave up a single from Bryce Harper in the first inning, which killed chance of a no-hitter, we didn’t notice that Foltynewicz threw a complete-game, two-hit shutout until his teammates congratulated him on the mound. He was in command throughout the entire game.
No one remembers a two-hitter. It was the kind of game no one remembers unless they attended it. If you don’t live in a baseball town and only attend one MLB game a year, it’s the kind that is not soon forgotten.
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