The Washington Nationals opened up their new park tonight with a victory. The sellout crowd was able to see President George W. Bush throw out the ceremonial first pitch (it was a bit high) and got to see their Nationals get on the board in the first inning on their way to a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
The Nationals got most of their offense in the first inning. Shortstop Cristian Guzman got the first hit ever at Nationals Park when he led of the bottom of the first inning with a single off of Tim Hudson. Guzman then advanced to third on a throwing error by Hudson and was brought home on a Nick Johnson double. Austin Kearns followed Johnson with a single, driving in Johnson. Hudson was automatic from there on out, shutting down the Nationals bats for the rest of the game.
On the mound, Odalis Perez did a solid job after being a bit of a surprise opening day starter. Perez went five full innings, striking out two and allowing only a Chipper Jones home run. Following Perez was Saul Rivera who threw two perfect innings of relief. Ray King and Luis Ayala handled the 8th inning before passing things off to Jon Rauch in the 9th. Rauch came in to close things but quickly gave up a double to Mark Teixeira and later allowed a run on a wild pitch, tying things up at 2-2 in the top half of the ninth inning. To start off the bottom half of the ninth that roughly 42,000 fans saw Cristian Guzman strike out and Lastings Milledge ground out. Next up was star third baseman, Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman deposited the second pitch from Peter Moylan into the center field seats to win the game for the Nationals. Not a bad way to open a park and a season.
For the time being the Nationals are leading the National League East. The Nationals will now head to Philadelphia to take on the reigning NL champion Phillies. Matt Chico (7-9, 4.63 ERA in 2007) will get the start for the Nationals. Brett Myers will start for the Phillies.