Thanks, Barry. Back at ya. ;-)

Wow this is a terrible rendition of the national anthem... they couldn't have gotten someone better?

I think that it's more difficult to hear oneself sing in a noisy ballpark.

I cannot believe the crowd was booing the President. Its the position out there, not the man.

love the fact that George W. Nubs Bush got boo'd

It wasn't great, but more disturbingly-- did I hear a loud chorus of "O!"s in the National Anthem? I'd like to personally pummel anyone trying to carry that tradition south from Baltimore. Grrr.

Didn't care for either the "O" or the booing, but I suppose that the latter reflects our partisan times (for the record, I don't claim any particular party myself but I believe in respecting the office even if one doesn't respect the current occupant - politics off, baseball on).

Please someone tell me he's kidding.

*************
Wow this is a terrible rendition of the national anthem... they couldn't have gotten someone better?

Posted by: Jason | March 30, 2008 08:09 PM

Pull up some pine, Kelly Johnson!

Does Odalis have a price tag sticking off his bracelet?

I am disappointeed in the booing, although I would be thinking it. Folks will do the "O" now just to be obnoxious, because there really is a rivalry brewing.

Does Odalis have a price tag sticking off his bracelet?

I am disappointeed in the booing, although I would be thinking it. Folks will do the "O" now just to be obnoxious, because there really is a rivalry brewing.

I wasn't sure. ;)

---

Please someone tell me he's kidding.

Can someone get that geico caveman to sit down and stop dancing? Grr.

I wasn't sure re. the anthem commentary. BTW, is the Journal balking at postings tonight or what?

Does Odalis have a price tag sticking off his bracelet?

I am disappointeed in the booing, although I would be thinking it. Folks will do the "O" now just to be obnoxious, because there really is a rivalry brewing.

Riiight, as soon as I comment on delayed postings, my earlier comment materializes online. :)

Texeira goes down looking and strands a runner. :) :)

Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuzie!

Riiight, as soon as I comment on delayed postings, my earlier comment materializes online. :)

Texeira goes down looking and strands a runner. :) :)

Gotta say I love hearing the 'O' during the National Anthem at the Hope Opener of the NATIONALS new stadium.

Makes me feel proud inside.

Also, gotta love the "classy" fans booing the POTUS.

Sorry about that. Twice. :)

It's "Home" not "Hope."

Woohoo! Go Kearnsy...

Yeah!!!!!! NJ, the leg looks great!

And what did Nick the Stick do? Just had the first exhibition and regular season RBIs in Nats Park history, that's all. Wooo!!

I don't want to curse it, but the good old stadium cam is still going.

Wow, that was a long shot by Dukes

Sa-weet!

The camera, I meant, not the out.

I was disappointed the boos weren't louder and more sustained.

Nice pickoff

and the Braves run into another out...

See, we don't need Brian Schneider to get guys caught stealing! Of course, we didn't need for LoDuca for that one, either.

I'm listening to the radio broadcast - no cable TV in my house - and I want to give kudos to Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler for calling a great game. They are articulate, descriptive, on-topic (ie, they don't talk about their golf game, like the announcers of my home-team Phillies) and entertaining. They really paint a good picture and - from the comparisons I've made by listening to various teams on XM - are among the best radio broadcasters in the Major Leagues.

The only thing . . . they did not comment on the booing of President Bush. Perhaps that order came from management. Did the TV guys mention the booing?

GHF, I like it!

My GHF referred to PHS' comment (I'm slow on the uptake tonite).

I'm listening to the radio as well and agree re. Charlie and Dave. Love 'em!

So after he gets settled down (maybe he's a republican and was upset by the booing?) Hudson gets 7 outs in a row. Uh-oh.

Throw it back?

And the first Homer in Nats Park goes to C Jones...

Time to shut up those Braves fans.

That would be Chipper F. Jones.

Low throw to Nick from Guzman, and I feel a serenity wash over me, as I know that it will be caught.

I admit I did not expect Chipper's shot to go out of the park. Off the bat I was hoping that Milledge would show how he can run them down.

Serenity now...

Why so many empty seats? the shot of the HR showed lots of empty seats in the bleachers, and there's vacant premium seats behind the plate. ...what's the deal?

I have to admit that W is comfortable speaking when he is speaking about baseball. He says he will only be a fan after he is done in the WH, but I believe he is probably still a part of the club. I wouldn't be surprised to see Nolan Ryan ask him to take some position with the Rangers.

Maybe they're in the concession lines?

Booo, Dave sez that Teddy was disqualified. The hunt for a win continues...

C'mon, Austin- let's have a home run!

Okay, then it's up to you, Lo Duca.

They say that every cigarette takes and hour of your life. Guzman's error gives me a hacking cough. and probably takes 0.05 wins off our final record.

Sigh.

"an hour off your life," I mean.

Some hacks by the Braves and some jacks by the Nats ought to take care of that for you. :-)

Dukes need to learn the meaning of taking a pitch...

That cough, I meant.

I think the Nats are going a bit too far in keeping Dukes out of the limelight. Twice he has hit into a first-pitch out which no one could notice while ESPN was still showing the Home Depot commercial lead-in. They should let him take a pitch or two.

Oh, my. Was that a 4-pitch inning?

I can see that Perez didn't get as many starts in Spring Training, and perhaps was the pitcher most likely to go only 5 innings, but they will eventually have to get some 7-inning starts.

Ah, crud.

Either Dukes was removed for re-injuring his hamstring, or for not running out that grounder. I guess I am hoping for the latter.

Charlie and Dave thought the cold might have aggravated his hammy in running down a ball earlier.

Yes, now they're saying pulled due to a tight hamstring.

I'm sorry that this is a delayed comment, but a friend commandeered my laptop for the last hour or so...

I completely disagree with the "respect the office, even if you disagree with the man holding it" argument. Part of the founding philosophy of our nation is the idea that the person in the position of president is just a citizen like the rest of us, not a monarch. Those who disagree with the policies or politics of the man/woman holding the office of president should exercise their first amendment right to boo their hearts out. Those who felt differently cheered. I don't see a difference between those cheering in support and booing in opposition.

That is all.

natsfan1a-

Thanks. As long as it was just from the cold. We can't lose him now.

JennX- I am with you on everybody's right to boo him, but I would have been happier if they hadn't. Widespread abstention from clapping would have led to a weak ovation that would have made the same point in a classier way.

I just don't want future presidents to fail to come for fear of being booed.

natsfan1a -

Sorry- that was me thanking you, and respnding to JennX

Sa-ul Rules!

Folks, we are in Rauch and Cordero territory now. Will their success extend tot he new ballpark? Will Cordero drama be worse for my health than Guzman errors?

Will 3 Nationals swing at first pitches and end the bottom of the 7th before I punctuate this sentence?

Thanks, PHS, I figured that it was. (My last attempt didn't make the cut so we'll see whether this posting gets through.)

Come on, Wookie! Come on, Chief! Come on, Nats bats!!

Jenn, I respect your right to your opinion. Mine happens to differ from yours, but that's okay. To each his or her own. ;-)

OK, so Ooze Exit is OK with pointless provincial dissing of the national anthem, but not with partisan and entirely personal dissing of, well, I'll be nice and just say Abe's place in the national mythology is secure.
I'm disappointed. For a day or so there, there was actually a ray of meaning coming out there of hope for a welcome and worthy adversary, but no. Not his fault--he can't spend what isn't in his purse. Just another moron.
Too bad.

Here comes...Wookie?

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGY!!!!!

Le Roi Ray -- Blow, big man!

Ack!!

I said LOOGY! Take King out!

Charlie says Ayala is up, no Rausch.
Hudson is out.

A walk, Ray?

WT[AB]?? I'm looking at the Navy Yard Metro cam from Ox Blue, and large numbers are leaving a 2-1 game in the late innings??
Man. This just gives the O's among us reason to gloat.

OKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOK-

C'mon now.

This needs to be the 2005 Ayala.

They are probably the O's fans among us.

---

Man. This just gives the O's among us reason to gloat.

It's a shanda fur die O'yim

MIB-

Yiddish? Wish I'd kept my Joy of Yiddish book.

Breathing now. Must get oxygenated before Cordero comes in and makes me hold my breath for 15 minutes.

OK, everybody who dissed Perez starting, the crow buffet starts on the right.
Man up, you know you did.

Hanrahan is up now?? Charlie says ...

I can't eat anything. My teeth are clenched in anticipation of next inning.

P. Odalis ERA 1.80
T. Hudson ERA 2.57

wow, who'd have thunk it?

On another forum somebody said Rauch was up?

Thanks for offering crow, though.

Hanrahan is warming up?

Time for the Meat Hook?

They pulled him for Felipe.

Nope. Lope.

Now for Wookie?

Nicely done Felipe! Why don't you go pout around the dugout now... C'mon Chief, lets shut em down and get win 1 and save 1.

1-2-3, please!

FLop,
showing exactly why he is now a bench player...

Oh okay... John Rauch, I like that move.

Rauch, per Charlie and Dave.

Good thing he didn't have to bend for that!!!!!!

Woooooooooo love that 14 foot fence right about now

Jesus he got a hold of that one too..... where is the Chief?

No word from Charlie and Dave on Chief.

Tightness in the right arm

whimper

Ouch!

LoDuca you bum!

This is directly attributable to people leaving early on Opening [AB] Night of a close game.

The radio says day to day with tendinitis.

I want Schneider back!

So for those watching, could Schneider have gotten that one?

I am whimpering quietly here. C'mon guys... time to send everyone home with a walk-off!

Wish my daughter could have stayed up to see that!

Z-MAN, this kid is amazing!

BANG ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!

Zimmerman for president!!!!!!! RE-SIGN THIS GUY

Listening on the radio, you'd think we just won the World Series. Good game, good win. 161 remain, folks.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need to go hear Charlie's call. Good night, friends!

Jenn called it! YES!!

(to the Lerners regarding Ryan Zimmerman)As Norman Chad would say:
PAY THE MAN SHIRLEY!!!!

And on national TV. Sweet!

---

Listening on the radio, you'd think we just won the World Series. Good game, good win. 161 remain, folks.

ZIM-MER-MAN!

Yes! Now that is how your break in a new ballpark with your star player hitting the GW homer!

Nice job, Nats, from your PDX fan base!

The House That Zim Built

I thought Milledge might go yard...but Zim doing it was *so* much better.
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but that was some serious fan interference. It would have been a ground rule double, I think. Almost as bad as Jeffery Meyers (sp?)

Now if THAT doesn't help sell some seats in the new stadium...!!

SF Fan-

Regardless of how close that was to fan interference (I don't think so, but close), it was definitely NOT a home run in RFK. Perfect first dividend from this park.

Bang! Zoom! Put a Z as a superscript next to your Curly W in the scorebook!

I can't remember whether they mentioned it on the radio. I was too busy screaming my lungs out to hear it if they did.

---

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but that was some serious fan interference. It would have been a ground rule double, I think. Almost as bad as Jeffery Meyers (sp?)

Either way, I'll take the curly w. 'night all!

Sorry, SF, but you're wrong. I'm not sure what exactly constitutes "fan interference" but on the replay, from the side angle, you can see better that the ball easily clears the fence before the fan caught it in the front row, a few inches beyond the wall.

And yes, I've rewatched it over and over on TiVo. :)

1. Zimmerman's unbelievable - particularly off a guy who never gives up HRs. The replay was pretty clear, I thought, that there was no fan interference.

2. Yes, Schneider would have had that pitch. Lo Duca isn't as good defensively. We know that. Let's hope he hits.

3. Cordero day to day with tendonitis after reports that his velocity was down in spring training - not good. I'm glad the Nats have depth in the bullpen, although Rauch gave up two rockets. Thank goodness one found his glove. We all may get a chance to see what life is like without the Chief for a while.

4. Good RBI AB in the first inning for Kearns. He also mved well in RF for several balls.

5. Good RHP will eat up the Nats line up. Hudson is obviously one of the best - like Webb in AZ - but man did the Nats look hopeless against him. They sorely need another LH hitter in the line up. I think Mackowiak will get a lot more ABs than people think.

6. I'm in the "you never boo the president" camp. Of course I never boo anyone.

7. THE NATS ARE IN 1ST PLACE.

Credit where credit is due. JenX called it.

It's a good time to be a Nats fan.

I'm taking tomorrow off.

(Still wearing the Nick Johnson t-shirt.)

Wow. Picture perfect. Welcome Home, indeed!
Off to Philly....

Zimmerman it at his best in front of the big crowds, he is a special player

Jon Miller: "Zimmerman, 6'3" tall, born in North Carolina, grew up in Virginia, and last year he made his hits count: despite only 91 rbi's ,18 of them were game winning rbi's. Belted! Deep left center! The ball game is over! Ryan Zimmerman has delivered! The happy ending for the Nationals in the first game in their beautiful new ball park, Ryan Zimmerman with a game-ending home run!"

Joe Morgan: "You can't ask for a better ending!"

Smilin, grinnin, winnin : < )) What else is there...nuttin

Thanks to LoDuca, Zimmerman's heroics were needed. The Nats win this game by 2 with Schneider catching and Church on Sunday.

Welcome back, Nick! Without you, they're still playing.

And no way that's fan interference - the ball was over the rail.

I'm in San Diego right now, and watched the first few innings on ESPN at a Brazilian beef restaurant in the Gaslamp district.

Got the Nats' text message about Z-man's walk-off as I was getting to my hotel.

May have to figure out how to get Charlie Slowes' call onto my cellphone... :-)

As a life-long Democrat and war-hater,I thought it was incredibly poor form to boo the president. In his state of the union (the 1st, I think,) he called for the return of the national pastime to the nation's capital. And here we are. Gratitude is the mother of all virtues - thank you Mr. President!

JennX - Glad someone called SF Fan out on that "fan interference" post. Not even close. No part of any person reached into the field of play or beyond the wall at any time.

And yes... I too watched it over and over on TiVo.

Spectacular conclusion. I'm almost glad LoDuca gave up the passed ball in the top of the 9th since it lead to that ending.

I agree, nowhere near fan interference and also with Flynie...booing the president is in very poor taste.

From my view in 303, I can tell you there's a foot-wide gab between the top of the wall and the front of the seats. Homer.

And another thing - the security lines were atrocious, and a big part of why the POTUS was boo'd was because people had to wait for about 2 hours in security lines to get in. The cops on that end of the stadium were jerks, and that's not going to make anyone happy.

By the way, this is America, dammit. Booing the president is a fundamental right I get for voting and paying my taxes.

Sure, you have a 1st Amendment right to boo. It's just in bad taste.

----
By the way, this is America, dammit. Booing the president is a fundamental right I get for voting and paying my taxes.

Posted by: Section 303 | March 31, 2008 12:19 AM

a lot of things are in bad taste, torture, striping civil liberties, blind arrogance, and lying...booing is not

Anyone watch Ray and Johnny on the pregame and postgame--I liked that they weren't way out in the parking lot anymore. Good shows though--I wish they had the players talk after the game though.

it was *COLD* out there, but waiting til the very end was TOTALLY worth it.

got some good shots of zimmerman's homer, too. i want to post some tin yurls of a couple of them, but my post keeps getting rejected with tin yurls in them.

Just read on Nationals.com that Dukes was placed on the DL for the hamstring. The Nats recalled Schroeder.

can't post a photo bucket link, either.

can anyone else get NJ to accept a tin yurl or photo link?

http://s299.photo bucket.com/albums/mm284/gbwells/Nationals%20Opening%20Day%202008/

if this works, delete the space between photo and bucket.

Great Game...it only took 2 hours from the exit of the park back to my Richmond home! Major props to Stan and the team for a wonderful night. And the lines for concessions are not bad at all...you just have to know when to go and when not too.

Sitting at a bar around the corner, watching this with about five other people, when Lo Duca (not Rauch) gave up the tying run in the top of the 9th, I called my Pop on the cell and said, "It's cool, it just sets up Zim for the walk-off." And then, of course, he actually goes and does it!

Sure, Sox and Dodgers in Japan is cool, whatever. But that, my friends, is how you open a season. Greetings from the National League!

thanks 231, that link worked!

(and now it's my desktop background...)

To Richmond Dave:

Compared to yesterday, they were much, much better. Something must have happened overnight. Maybe the food ferries came and gave an actual system to the concession stands.

look when bush starts treating the office with respect, so will i

I loved every aspect of this night! I had easy in (got there early having lived here my whole life and a president at many a game) and out! I to hate the ohh during the anthem. My thought is we all yell nooooo. If the entire stadium yells it we win, here's why. Obviously no for Orioles, N before o, and they are not smart enough to get it! Most people here have no idea why they yell O!

I'll post some more thoughts later on this morning, but I just wanted to point out, from my positioning I felt just as many people cheeered "Boooooo" as "O!" during the National Anthem, which made it "O! Booooooo that star-spangled," which for some reason really amused me.

231 -- Thanks! Those are some awesome pics!

Great pix 231. Great game. Great stadium. Great team.

Wow, walkoff, please accept a second thanks for the awesome pix! To anyone wanting to bask in the glow: http://s299.photo bucket.com/albums/mm284/gbwells/Nationals%20Opening%20Day%202008/
You even got the moment of contact, that instant when Zimm, the catcher and the ump are the only ones who know that he hit the the ball hit the sweet spot of the bat and is going a long way! Zimm's head is level, he is a picture of absolute focus. For those using the link, delete the space between photo and bucket. Thanks, thanks, thanks!

Sorry, 231, for crediting walkoff for your awesome pix. Need coffee! Thanks, again! The photos are definitely caffeinated!

As a baseball seer once said, "never mess with a streak" (or something to that effect). ;-)

---

(Still wearing the Nick Johnson t-shirt.)

Great pics, 231. What comes in fast, goes out fast, eh? For those who saw it on tv or in person, was AK one of the first in line to pummel RZ as usual?

Barry has a new post up. Fittingly, we're at 162 in this thread.

A list of reasons why RFK is better than the new stadium:

(1) Wider seats at RFK. I spent most of the game pressed upon by my overweight neighbor who apparently wouldn't fit between the armrests. At least it kept me warm.

(2) A real scoreboard. Maybe there was something more useful on the jumbotron, but the displays in sight of our seats were limited to the score and if you squinted, maybe the inning. No lineup information, breakdown by inning, or pitch speed. Also the update of the pitch count was slow compared to RFK. About as slow as Baltimore.

(3) Concessions. Of course there were long lines and shortages on opening night, but I missed the Long Hammer beer.