Opening Day: Marlins vs. Nationals - Monday, April 2nd, Washington D.C. (RFK Stadium), Photos and Reflections...

Nationals vs. Marlins - Opening Day

The Washington Nationals first game of the season did not go as expected, sadly. Although the weather was picture perfect and fans of all ages were giddy for baseball, the Florida Marlins whooped up on the Nationals 9-2. Fans were treated to music before the game, the stadium was decked in red, white and blue, and there was a dramatic flyover with 2 F-18 military aircraft.

Dontrelle Willis looked solid and earned the win, while John Patterson only pitched a little more than 3 innings, giving up 6 runs.

In the game, Miguel Cabrera and Dan Uggla hit monster home runs for the Marlins, but Nationals shortstop Christian Guzman and Outfielder Nook Logan left the game with injuries. However, Ryan Zimmerman looked impressive, had two hits and made an impressive play at third where he threw a runner out, while basically sitting down.

In the end, perhaps the Ryan Zimmerman and company can beat the doomsday predictions by the pundits and experts throughout the sport.

Notes: There was a problem with my SD card, and I lost about 150 images, all throughout the game.

This and That:

• First off, the Nationals did a great job with the pregame festivities. It made Opening Day that much more special.
• Zimmerman played great, and is no *doubt* the leader of the team…
• Um, I should not miss two innings because of long ATM lines and even longer lines for food! Unacceptable. RFK may be an antiquated facility, but there are too few ATM’s, and the service lines were ever so utterly slow.
• It was great to see a larger crowd out than originally anticipated. There must have been a large walk up number before the game.
• The ushers were definitely nice and very pleasant to me. I sat in section 219 today, and it was a great view for the game, therefore, I sat right in front of the boisterous folks in section 320 (where Nats320 sits). It was awesome to hear the cheers and hoots even though the Nats were down throughout the game.
• Got to shake hands with former Washington D.C. Mayor and AOL Head, Ted Leonsis.