Behind the scenes on a peculiar night at Nationals Park

A night at the ballpark. Friday, July 17, 2015, Dodgers at Nationals. I got the chance to host "Nats Xtra," with Bob Carpenter off for the weekend and Johnny Holliday calling the game.

5:30 p.m. - The night started off in normal fashion, with our "Nats Xtra" producer John Harvey, along with Ray Knight and production assistant Rich Nodonly, going over the rundown for the pregame show. I put together previews of each pitcher on the first page. The second page is usually notes on individual players, hot streaks, trends and records of the team at home and away.

6:10 p.m. - I start with taped voiceover promos for the show and then record the last segment of the pregame show, which runs about four minutes. This covers up the national anthem, which is live from Nationals Park at 6:55 p.m. while "Nats Xtra" is still live on air. Last night, I introduced the Matt Williams pregame news conference, where he gave rehab updates on Anthony Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman.

6:30 p.m. - The show begins and runs up until first pitch.

8:19 p.m. - The bank of lights go out along the third base line.

8:40 p.m. - I get a call from Harvey to hustle up to the television play-by-play booth to do a live Q&A session with Knight about what's going during the delay, what's it like for the players, highlights from the first four innings and other information. Game producer Mike Dressman tells me in my headphones what elements we are going to see and what highlights he is going to play.

9:00 p.m. - We inform the audience that the delay is continuing so the television stations will go on to regular programming or ESPN News until the game resumes.

9:40 p.m. - During the second delay, I get a call from Harvey to head to the camera well to the left of the Nationals dugout where there is a television camera, still photographers and a baseball authenticator. It is the spot where MASN's Dan Kolko usually sets up.

I get to that spot and immediately observe what the players are doing, Bryce Harper and Tanner Roark are there with a few other guys. The entire coaching staff is also in the dugout. Players continue to come out every few minutes to check on the bank of lights. Some go back to the clubhouse, others grab a bat and go to the cage to hit underneath the stadium.

Roark ran up the steps one time and looked at the lights and said, "We can play it!" Harper grabbed a bat and headed toward the cage.

They fitted me with another headset and I started talking to Holliday and color analyst F.P. Santangelo about what I was seeing. The Dodgers were doing the same thing in their dugout. I saw some of their players also getting some swings in the cage during the delay.

After speaking to a couple of team sources, I found out that if the lights went out again, they were going to suspend the game and resume it Saturday. I then got a chance to report that on the air.

From that camera well, after tthe game was resumes, I got to watch Roark hit a double and Yunel Escobar crush a two-run shot off of Dodgers right-hander Chin-Hui Tsao.

There is something very special about being that close to the dugout when a player hits a home run, especially one that turns the score upside down, from a 2-1 deficit to a 3-2 lead. Sunflower seeds are flying, every player gives Escobar a high five, Ian Desmond grabs Escobar's batting helmet off his head. The dugout is electric as the team hoots and hollers after the game-changing hit.

Tsao managed to wiggle out of the inning, which included a questionable third strike call against Clint Robinson. It was one of the rare times Robinson has questioned a call by the umpire, so it must have been close.

When the inning ended, I walked up onto the field and crossed over to the Dodgers dugout where the umpire's tunnel takes them up to the field level walkway. It was then that I could hear from behind me another, "Oh, no! No way!!" from the crowd as the lights went out again.

10:45 p.m. - The umpires suspended the game. Harvey contacted me and told the crew to head to the center field stage, as we were going back on the air to recap the suspended game and try to find out when the game would be continued. Manager Matt Williams and starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann were on the show talking about the strange night.

Knight and I showed the Escobar home run again, heard from Williams and found out the schedule for Saturday's resumption of the suspended game and then the regular scheduled 4 p.m. game.

The night was strange and felt similar to the day manager Jim Riggleman resigned after a game in June 2011. That day, I was also hosting "Nats Xtra," and Phil Wood and I were on for 90 minutes after the game. It was an adrenalin rush. I felt that again on Friday night. Hopefully there will be no more lights out moments at Nationals Park.