In the seventh inning of the first of the three-game series against the Yankees this past weekend, the anti-Bronx cheer filled RFK Stadium, for the first time in the modern era.
“Yankees suck! Yankees suck!”
The Washington Nationals had just taken a 5-3 lead against the boys in pinstripes. The Nats fans sounded off — prematurely.
In the top of the eighth, the Yanks rang up two runs to tie the game at five, after a Nats pitcher walked in the tying run.
“Who sucks now? Who sucks now?” rang out from the Yankees fans, who celebrated a 7-5 win.
Looking around from my seat along the left-field line, I tried to count New York fans. My guess was the crowd of 44,000 was about 50 percent Nationals fans, 40 percent were rooting for the Yankees, and the rest were mongrel fans or folks just there to enjoy the late spring night.
The fan mix is a challenge for the Washington Nationals, in its second season. Washington is often called a town of transients, and the varied roots are on display at RFK. When it comes to baseball, fans tend to drag their loyalties and their team paraphernalia from town to town.
Take the St. Louis Cards. Stan Musial is still a god to an entire group that now resides in D.C. Political reporter and commentator David Broder is a Cubs fan. Full disclosure: This Philly boy is a Phillie fan.
And then we have the 18,000 fans who showed up at RFK stadium on Friday night sporting dark blue hats with “NY” in white, or shirts with pinstripes, or just an attitude that marked them as New Yorkers.
Washingtonians and their Nationals are supposed to have a natural rivalry with the Baltimore Orioles up Route 95. The recent games against the Orioles was billed the Beltway Series, in hopes of kindling a rivalry.
Allow me to suggest the Yankees as a more worthy rival. The Orioles were decent and offered good competition two decades ago, but let’s face it, Peter Angelos has bled the team dry. The “birds” have been mediocre for years and will remain that way for another 10.
The Yankees, on the other hand, are perennial winners, so let’s aim high and save our bile for the Bronx Bombers. The way to build a fan base is to choose a worthy villain and hope to meet them in the World Series.
The other way to build a fan base is to defy the rootless results of free agency and fill the Nats roster with players from in and around Washington. Which brings me to Ryan Zimmerman, the rookie third baseman from Virginia Beach — our developing hometown hero.
It was Zimmerman who launched a drive in the bottom of the ninth to slay the Yankees with a two-run, walk-off homer on Sunday, which gave a 2-1 series lead to the D.C. team. Zimm could fill the stands with Nats fans.
Having bought a Nationals cap with “D.C.” on the front, this Phil’s fan could be one of the converts.
