I clicked, I typed, I pulled out my bank card. I tried to buy two seats high up in a $10-per-ticket section. The Website rejected my offer and made a counter offer: The two best available seats, it said, would cost more than $300 apiece. Did I want them? No, I did not.

In random desperation, I tried to buy two seats in a field-side section down the right field line. They were about as expensive as filling up a large-tanked minivan with premium gas during the summer driving season. I made the investment.

It was worth it. The next time taxpayers build a $600-million stadium near where I live, I will do it again.

I could spend many paragraphs telling you why I believe Nationals Park was built more for investment-bank lobbyists than minivan-driving families. I could tell you why I suspect the marketing directors for Major League Baseball have come to the curious conclusion that their customers are digital-age idiots who will not sit for two and half hours to watch a ballgame unless they are constantly bombarded with audio-visual stimuli that may or may not have any connection to the game.

But what really mattered that night is what happened when Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman stepped to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The game had been mostly a pitchers' battle, and the Braves had only tied it in the top half of the inning -- on a passed ball.

Zimmerman was calm and purposeful. Destiny was in the air. My 7-year-old saw what Zimmerman did, and will remember forever.

Baseball took the field against a modern Major League stadium that night, and baseball won with a walk-off home run.