The Nationals closed out RFK Stadium the same way they opened their three-year stay at the venerable D.C. landmark on April 14, 2005.
That night the stands bounced, the fireworks launched and the home team won, a memorable victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks as the franchise ended baseball’s 33-year hiatus from the District. On Sunday afternoon, the Philadelphia Phillieswere RFK’s final victim in a 5-3 win for the Nats, who head to the new Nationals Park on South Capitol Street next spring.
Closer Chad Cordero struck out the side to end the game, although not before the Phillies (85-71) brought the go-ahead run to the plate. The loss left Philadelphia, in second-place in the National League East, 2 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Mets (87-68). The Nats (69-87) don’t have such lofty goals at this point. But they did pull three games ahead of last place Florida (66-90).
“This stadium has been the first real home for a lot of us so, even though we’re excited for the new place, we’ll still miss RFK,” Cordero said. “Today it felt a lot like that whole first season, where the crowds were huge and every game meant something.”
The Nats took the lead in the first inning off Phillies starter Cole Hamels on a two-out RBI single from Austin Kearns, but fell behind 2-1 in the sixth. Kearns drove in another run with a single in the bottom of the sixth to tie it and the Phillies then hit Jesus Flores with a pitch with the bases loaded to put Washington ahead for good.
“They handled us pretty well the first two games of the series and got us last night in extra innings,” said Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. “We needed to rebound and show what kind of team we are. It’s all part of our growing process.”
Numbers of note
» The biggest crowd of the season saw the final baseball game at RFK Stadium — 40,519.
» The Nats drew 1,961,606 fans in 2007, their lowest total in the three years since arriving from Montreal.
