Nationals Take the Field

New Team Wins Its Spring Training Opener

An infield fly rule call from first base umpire Larry Vanover has Manager Frank Robinson in midseason form Wednesday. (Jonathan Newton - The Washington Post)

VIERA, Fla., March 2 -- The cars poured into the parking lots, the stands were packed with fans and the game was on national television. The Washington Nationals, wearing their home white uniforms, talked about how big a day it was, then celebrated the resulting win so thoroughly one expected the champagne bottles to be broken out.

Wednesday's game may have been an exhibition, but the emotions were real.

At 1:02 p.m. on a chilly, sun-splashed Central Florida day, the Washington nine bounded out of their dugout and onto the Space Coast Stadium field, and a season of firsts had its first first: The Nationals' first exhibition game, the first time any major league outfit had stepped onto a baseball field under the Washington name in 34 years.

"This is a big day for us," said left fielder Brad Wilkerson. "It's the start of everything."

Everything includes working out a compensation package with the Baltimore Orioles -- still seething about the arrival of a Major League Baseball team on their doorstep -- finalizing a television contract, finding an owner for the franchise and completing renovations at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium by next month, when the Nationals play their first game in Washington.

But first, there were Wednesday's firsts: The first pitch, at 1:06 p.m., delivered by Tony Armas Jr. to New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes. The ball smacked into the glove of catcher Brian Schneider -- ball one -- who quickly tossed it to a coach near the dugout, to be preserved in the name of history.

A day that is normally as mundane as they come -- the first game of spring training, where the statistics don't count, and the starting players put in only a couple of innings' work, run a few sprints in the outfield, then hit the golf courses -- was transformed into something bigger.

ESPN televised the game, giving baseball-starved fans in Washington their first glimpses of their new beloveds in full regalia. The tiny press box was overstuffed, with more than 100 media credentials handed out -- a playoff-sized contingent.

When the game was over, the television announcers analyzed its finer points. "I liked the [Nationals'] uniforms," said ESPN's Jeff Brantley. "They had a nice, crisp look."

And still more firsts. The Nationals' first hit, by shortstop Cristian Guzman, a slap single up the middle in the bottom of the first inning. Their first home run, by right fielder Jose Guillen, a towering two-run blast over the wall in right-center field in the fourth. "Everybody wanted to win this first game, for the organization," said Keith Osik, a 36-year-old, third-string catcher who hit the Nationals' second homer. "That was the feeling: 'Let's do it for D.C. Let's do it for Washington.' "

It was not even fair to call this a dress rehearsal, because dress rehearsals occur right before Opening Night. No, this was more like a script read-through, with the actors having barely begun to memorize their lines. The Nationals will not open their real season until April 4 in Philadelphia. "We're getting closer," said Manager Frank Robinson, "to the real thing."

Former Washingtonian Mike Flaherty, who saw the Senators' final game in 1971 and now lives in Melbourne Beach, Fla., had praise for the uniforms and realistic expectations for the team, the former Montreal Expos whose payroll will be among the lowest in baseball: "If they win 65 games, that'd be good."

His wife, Kathleen, said her father was a batboy with the team in the 1930s. "It's been the whole history of my life," she said as she waited to see the first pitch of the first game. "It's really fun to have them back!"

Before the Nationals truly become Washington's boys of summer, they first are Viera's boys of spring -- Viera being the planned community outside of Melbourne on the central part of Florida's east coast, the place the Nationals call home for the spring.

From a vista near the top of the stadium, one could survey all Viera has to offer -- mostly pastureland being swallowed by new houses -- and marvel at the stream of cars, stretching as far as the eye could see, that continued to inch into the parking lots until well into the game. A sellout crowd of 7,558 fans -- many of them adorned with Nationals caps, bright red with a script "W," just like the old Senators' caps -- filled the stands and cheered the home team.

"This was sweet," said veteran third baseman Vinny Castilla, who is the first to wear uniform No. 9 in Washington since the immortal Ted Williams, manager of the final Senators team in 1971. "You always look forward to the first game of the spring, but that's especially true this year."

Most teams wear special practice uniforms for spring training games, saving the good stuff for the regular season. But when Nationals players began arriving at their clubhouse around 8 a.m., they found their home whites hanging in their lockers -- placed there by Mike Wallace, the equipment manager. At the end of the day, there were more firsts for the record book. The team's first spring training win was secured at 3:39 p.m., by a 5-3 score over the Mets. The first winning pitcher was T.J. Tucker. The first save was by Chad Cordero. Check the standings: One game into the spring, and the Nationals are undefeated.

Staff writer Joel Achenbach contributed to this report.