Maybe this is the year that Nationals Park feels like a real ballpark. Maybe this is the year that fans walk through the turnstiles, sit in their seats and believe their team has a chance to win — whether they are playing the Marlins in April or the Cardinals in August.
Maybe this is the year that visiting fans don’t drown out Nationals fans in their own ballpark.
Maybe this is the year there are packed crowds at both FedEx Field and Nationals Park on a Sunday in September.
OK, I’m getting a little nuts here. But it sure feels different as the Nationals get ready to face the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday in the 2012 home opener.
The ballpark opened in 2008 in dramatic fashion when Ryan Zimmerman hit a game-winning home run in the ninth inning to beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 before a national TV audience.
There have been good moments at Nationals Park in its first four years — Stephen Strasburg’s 2010 debut was unforgettable — but it never felt as good as it did that first night.
All things seemed possible then — except what actually happened.
Losing 298 games over the next three years didn’t seem possible on that magical Opening Night in 2008. Losing a half million fans from one year to the next didn’t seem possible when Zimmerman sent that ball into the cool March night.
But the vibe began to change last year. It happened when Jim Riggleman quit on the Nationals in a contract extension dispute with general manager Mike Rizzo in midseason and Rizzo pulled Davey Johnson out of his back pocket.
Rizzo likes to call that a “watershed moment” for the franchise, and it was. The Nationals no longer had the manager perceived as the takeover guy — the guy who was always available for duty when you had to fire a manager. Three of Riggleman’s four managing jobs began after a manager was fired in the middle of a season, including here in Washington.
He was a good manager and a good man, but through no fault of his own, he was a symbol of this organization’s love affair with mediocrity.
Not Davey. He hadn’t been in a major league dugout in 10 years, and it took him some time to get his sea legs. But he is full-bore Davey this year, pulling visiting national reporters aside and telling them with a smile, “You know, it’s no secret we’re going to be pretty good this year.”
Those arriving at Nationals Park likely will believe so as well, perhaps for the first time since the ballpark opened its doors.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter recently took a shot at Nationals Park, declaring that it “won’t stand the test of time” compared to Camden Yards.
Showalter will someday find out that Camden Yards is a nice coffin for Orioles managers.
Nationals Park? The rebirth begins Thursday.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
