As you probably have noticed, the game started on time. It was a miracle, and a testament to the ground crew, who saw the first window of opportunity, yanked off the tarp, squeegied the puddles and got the field in shape.

As you probably also noticed, my wireless signal went out for about an hour and a half. And finally, you probably noticed I gave the wrong time for the start of the game. Forgive me, I've been watching the NBA Finals and expect late starts.

Anyway ... sorry, Brian, who replied to the last posting by saying he was staying home. Who knew? I was expecting an old lady pedaling a bike to go flying by during that storm. Yet there's a nice crowd here, and it started streaming in as soon as they started taking up the tarp.

Oh, one more thing worth noticing: Nationals 3, O's 1 in the fifth. Ryan F. Langerhans and his .154 batting average just took Steve Trachsel out to dead center. Tomorrow you will read that under the circumstances - and you actually might not know this, but Adam Loewen's season-ending surgery is official and will take place tomorrow - the starting pitching could be a lot worse this season. Feel free to skip over that and read about the Ravens' minicamp.