Baseball Nationals walk off field of new ballpark winners
Filed Under Kitchen Curtain | Posted on April 6, 2008
WASHINGTONæ˜ationals Park had quite an opening. Ryan Zimmerman hit a tiebreaking homer off Peter Moylan with two outs in the ninth inning, and the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 last night in the first regular-season game at the $611 million (U.S.) stadium. With the dome of the U.S. Capitol lit up against the black night sky beyond left field, Zimmerman raised his right fist as he rounded first base. Teammates spilled out of the dugout it’s along the first-base line now, not the third-base line, like at old RFK Stadium and greeted the face of the franchise at home plate for celebratory pounds on the back. Twenty-four straight Washington batters had made out before the walk-off home run Washington’s fourth hit of the game and first since the first inning. Nick Johnson delivered an RBI double in his first at-bat in more than 18 months, Odalis Perez matched Tim Hudson, and Jon Rauch (1-0) earned the victory after blowing a save in the top of the ninth. All in all, it sent the paid crowd of 39,389 heading away with even more to smile about than the gleaming white-stone-and-glass ballpark. With President Bush on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, the Nationals had their first victory in a season opener in four tries since moving from Montreal. Zimmerman was larger than life as he rounded the bases, then came out of the dugout for a curtain call it all was shown on the 4,500-plus square foot high-definition video board above right-centre, the most immediately noticeable perk of the new digs. We’ve waited for so long for a place that can be our own, Zimmerman said. There are just too many people on this team that are tired of being mediocre.
Tags: atlanta braves, baseball, curta, curtain, curtain call, dugout, fist, game, heading, match, victoryRelated posts
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