Nats Enjoy An Evening In the Park

General Manager Jim Bowden said he had goose bumps thinking about the moment when the players first saw their new digs. "This ballpark's spectacular," Bowden said. "Nationals Park is the best park in baseball."

Over the course of the stadium's construction, some of the Nationals' players were like any other D.C. baseball fans, pointing their Web browsers toward the construction-site camera at the ballpark, which allowed you to peek in, like a voyeur, as each new detail was added to the interior.

"You could barely notice the differences day to day," said Cordero, who said he looked at the stadium cam a couple of times a week, "but I wanted to see what was going on."

And now that they were finally home, it was clear the cameras could never do it justice.

"It's just impressive, everything about it," pitcher Jason Bergmann said. "Everything is so clean, so new. It's just a stark contrast to RFK. There is nothing here that is similar to RFK."

Moving back inside, the Nationals took the hard left turn into their new clubhouse and may have thought they had taken a wrong turn into a five-star hotel. The carpet was clean enough to eat off, the lockers were made of solid, espresso-colored wood. There were side rooms, and side rooms off the side rooms. The Nationals' entire clubhouse at old RFK might have fit in the dining room here.

Tournament-watchers had their choice of eight flat-panel, HD televisions in the clubhouse -- all of them tuned to CBS -- positioned so that every locker in the spacious, oval-shaped room had a perfect view.

"Words can't explain it," Young said. "There's a lot of room here. This is something to be proud of."

Staff writer Barry Svrluga contributed to this report from Viera, Fla.