As with all other aspects of life, Republicans stomped democrats...

...in Roll Call's annual congressional baseball game at RFK Stadium. About forty representatives and Sens. Ensign and Santorum took the field in a seven-inning matchup between parties.

There were many parallels between the game and the modern world; the 19-11 final score was certainly not proportional to the talent of the players, in sports or politics. The Republicans started it off with 5 runs from 5 hits in the top of the first inning, and it only got worse. Senator Ensign, who sits on an unheard-of five Senate committees, pitched a no-hitter for thee innings. I don’t have an official count of the K’s, but I’d put it in the 6-7 range for the whole evening.

The Republicans were winning by double digits. The crowd was loving it, except for the dems, who were actually heckling a Senator on the mound. Ensign understandably was getting tired; I think dems scored 4 in the 4th and 5 in the 5th, but not on hits. They relied on walks and base-stealing to even come up with half of the Republicans score. After an explosive first inning, the Republicans generally scored 3 or 4 in the five other innings they played offense. There was one scoreless inning, but they stayed constantly successful even as second-stringers batted. On the other hand, when the score was 17-9, I think dems actually had six hits for their collective nine runs.

The game ended 19-11 after good Republican field work for the last two innings (Ensign and Santorum had to leave in full uniform and go to the floor for a vote on the energy bill).

As with the rest of life, the 19-11 score gives the Democrats way too much credit. There were many allusions to the recent elections, likely future elections, and legislative abilities in the solid trouncing (Nancy Pelosi, the dems team manager, actually was caught crying on the jumbotron). After last years 14-7 victory, this is something like the fifth win in a row.

Iowa action: no Iowa congressman played, but Leonard Boswell was able to waddle onto the field to sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”.

It was a great partisan evening. I think my favorite sign was:

GOP rules
the field
…and the House
…and the Senate
…and the White House