Washington Nationals @ Miami Marlins (1)

There was quite a long shower of rain early this morning, which dampened everything down, but it soon cleared up to leave a mostly sunny day.

I had looked at the transportation maps to see how to get to Marlins Park and found that it required a short walk to a subway station, a trip on the subway and then on the special trolley service. The hotel recommended a taxi - and after giving up on the idea of walking to the subway station, so do I - it's just far too hot and humid to walk any distance here. After some confusion caused by the lady on reception apparently ordering the taxi but not telling the valet, the valet sent the taxi away again. I now know just to ask the valet directly. The driver took a circuitous route, I thought, going up the interstate and around, as if going to the airport, like going around two sides of a triangle instead of the direct route. Seeing as I had to actually tell him where Marlins Park was, I was less than impressed with the $25 fare, including mandatory tip.

I actually saw the stadium last night from the Supershuttle, as you go past it on the way to the hotel. Up close, the stadium is impressive and clean, unsurprisingly as it only opened last year. As I'd just missed the start of the game with messing around at the hotel waiting for the taxi, I went straight in and up to the Lexus Legends Level to go to find my seat.

I was a little worried going around to my section, as there was nobody in the corridor. All the concessions seemed to have the shutters down and I had to go quite a way before I came across a security guard as the first sign of life. I had begun to wonder whether they'd closed the level off due to underuse, but no, it was open.

I was in section 223. When I say I was in section 223, I mean I was in section 223 and nobody else was in section 223 at all. So I sat in the front row for a better view. Later on two other couples did turn up and sit in the same section. The roof is closed for games at this time of year, particularly with the threat of rain around. That means it is a pleasant atmosphere for watching a game.

The stadium has a lime green, yellow and blue scheme which is bright, but somehow makes it look a bit like Teletubbyland, to be honest. It is a shame that the crowds are so small, though. With the roof closed, there was lots of echoing on the stadium announcements, which made them somewhat hard to hear, however I had an excellent view of the main scoreboard in centre.

There was a Mariarchi band in the lower level, occasionally playing their own music to supplement that of the official stadium music. I have no idea whether or not they are an official part of the Marlins, but there were quite good, as far as I could tell, and people enjoyed their music. Again, they were pretty much the only people in their section too. There were more people in the sections behind the plate and infield. Some sections on the club level and the upper deck were completely empty.

From my spot up the third base line, I was just about level with each team's left fielder. I also had an excellent view of the special thing in centre that lights up, has jets of water, flying dolphins and flying marlins whenever the Miami Marlins hit a home run or win the game. I'm not sure what it's called.

In this game, the Marlins scored early and heavily, scoring 7 runs to back their young bright prospect Jose Fernandez who didn't give up a hit to the Nationals until the 6th inning. He looked really good, although he's only going to pitch once more this season, as Miami are trying to protect his arm. He's got a good fastball and looked almost unhittable - 7 innings, 1 hit. The relief pitchers held on to complete the shutout and the crowd, such as it was, were happy.

As soon as the game was over, the roof was opened - it moves quite quickly, and takes only a few minutes to open completely. The roof is always opened, but tonight, there it was the regular Friday Fireworks night, so everybody moved around to the infield for a better view. The display lasted 5 minutes and I thought the fireworks were very good - they had some very loud ones and lots of pretty ones and good combinations.

The knowledge of taxi drivers in this city leaves a lot to be desired. After the one who took me to the game didn't appear to have actually heard of Marlins Park and needed me to tell him it was in Little Havana, the taxi back to the hotel went the direct route - once I'd explained that the hotel was in Coconut Grove. It was a good job I knew where it was, or we could have been driving about all night. It was $10 cheaper, so I'll be volunteering directions to the driver in future!