Even a baseball opener couldn’t escape a football feel.
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Philadelphia fans tailgated four hours before the game, playing beer pong and tossing footballs in the parking lot. It felt more like an Eagles-Redskins game than Phillies-Nationals.
Given Philadelphia traded quarterback Donovan McNabb to Washington hours earlier, it seemed the rivalry was rekindled. Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was asked about the McNabb trade. A Nats employee gently shushed fans discussing it in the elevator, saying it was baseball season.
The trade was a distraction from yet another bad Washington opener. The Nats were drilled like a Virginia offshore oilrig in their 11-1 loss to the Phillies on Monday.
Not that the crowd of 41,290 didn’t enjoy the opener. At least 60 percent were Phillies fans. Lots of subway tokens from Union Station were sold to Philadelphia train commuters. Visiting fans stayed to the end while Nats backers — seeking to beat rush hour — trickled out in the seventh after Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco hammered a grand slam.
“I live in Sarasota, Fla. I watched the Devil Rays for years; filled the stadium with opposing fans,” Nats shortstop Ian Desmond said. “But now they have their own crowd. That’s what we’re looking for.”
It was what Opening Day is supposed to be, though. The perfect weather signaled winter’s end. The afternoon matinee made it an ideal lunch-time getaway. President Obama even ended his first-year snub by throwing out the first pitch — high and outside — while wearing a Nationals jacket … and his beloved White Sox cap. Nats manager Jim Riggleman noted it was “a bad touch.”
Riggleman appreciated Obama spending a few minutes with the team, making small talk mostly. But after losing the opener by 10 runs, Riggleman said questions over Obama’s appearance is “Like asking Mrs. Lincoln, ‘How’d you like the play?'”
Still, “The optimism is flowing,” said Nats general manager Mike Rizzo before the game. Indeed, the Nats can’t be as bad as the past two 100-plus loss seasons. Then again, this sure looked an awful lot like last season, when the bullpen was staffed by matadors whose every move elicited “Ole” from the crowd. Jason Bergman surrendered a grand slam to his first batter.
Indeed, Washington received just one shining moment: Ryan Zimmerman’s RBI-double in the first. Obama left after the third inning and the Nats went from “Yes we can” to “No we won’t.”
Was it just a bad day or another bad season beginning? We’ll probably know soon enough, if we don’t already.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
