It’s supposed to be a special season for the Washington Nationals. It certainly was a special home opener. The Nats beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 in 10 innings on Thursday. That alone is news compared to the past.
But there’s more. The victory came before a legit packed house of 40,907. No Philadelphia fans. No measurable visiting fans. The buzz was sizable.
It was a real baseball crowd full of fans who appreciated the game, not a bunch of Groupon bargain hunters killing a crisp afternoon. About 15,000 of them stayed until the end. Past years might have seen 5,000 remain in the stands.
Teddy came as close to winning as ever. Thomas Jefferson needed to elbow past at the tape to win, much to the crowd’s dismay. The gag was old two years ago.
Offseason acquisition Gio Gonzalez pitched two-hit ball and struck out seven over seven innings. Not too shabby.
Even the entertainment was special, from the Quantico Marine Corps Band’s national anthem with a flag covering nearly the entire outfield to a seventh-inning harmonica solo of “America the Beautiful” to a standing ovation for military veterans.
The sobering pregame news of long-term injuries to reliever Drew Storen and outfielder Michael Morse and a bum ankle by minor league prospect Anthony Rendon didn’t matter Thursday. The Nats are managing without them for now.
Washington is atop the NL East at 5-2. That kind of record is what long-suffering Nats fans have awaited since the team’s 2005 arrival.
The Nats’ starting pitchers sport a 1.99 ERA. A few years ago that could have been their per inning mark.
The offense is still struggling. Somehow, it scratched out runs. Three singles and a walk produced two runs in the fifth, nearly all that was needed until a ninth-inning meltdown. The Nats won on a wild pitch with two outs in the 10th. Sometimes luck wins out.
“We had to have something go our way,” manager Davey Johnson said.
The players seem excited, sensing this could be a playoff season for the first time. Close wins are intoxicating.
“We’re close. We’re right there,” shortstop Ian Desmond said. “We have to take advantage of what they give us.”
Said Gonzalez: “Our whole team is just meshing. We want to start something.”
Gonzalez didn’t get the win but did manage his first major league hit after four seasons in the American League. The ball was safely in his locker with “1st ML hit” already written across it for the fifth-inning single.
“Smiling,” he said. “If you’re not smiling, you have no blood.”
It was smiles all around Thursday.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
