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Nationals Will Be Entering a New Dimension
The Nationals host their first game at their new stadium on Saturday, a 3-0 exhibition win over the Baltimore Orioles.
(Jonathan Newton - The Washington Post)
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But does the fact that the alleys at Nationals Park are considerably shorter -- 377 in left-center, 370 in right -- mean it'll be easier to hit home runs? There are other factors involved. The shorter alley in right-center, for instance, is marked by a 14-foot wall, considerably taller than the eight-foot fences at RFK.
"That's a big wall," Kasten said, "so you're going to need a poke."
Still, most team officials -- and the players -- expect you won't need the kind of poke necessary at RFK. Cognizant of that, some Nationals pitchers are making adjustments -- even before they play an official game in the park. Last night's starter, right-hander Jason Bergmann, gave up three fly balls for every two grounders last season, a ratio that put him among the most likely pitchers in the NL to allow a fly. At RFK, no big deal. At Nationals Park, outs from the past might turn into homers. So Bergmann spent the spring working on a sinking, two-seam fastball that will complement his rising four-seamer.
"I'm not going to have the luxury of being a fly-ball pitcher as much," Bergmann said. "It's just to add another element."
All this, of course, doesn't take into account the elements themselves. As the park took shape, the Nationals commissioned studies on wind patterns in the neighborhood. "I have to tell you," Kasten said, "I'm very pessimistic about those things."
So the Nationals players did their own studies of the wind. Friday afternoon, it howled down Half St. SW and into the park through left-center field, but then appeared to whip around out to right. "I was standing in the outfield," said right fielder Austin Kearns, "and the wind was hitting me in the face. But then I looked up at the flags [in right], and they were blowing in."
Last night, the American flag in left sat limp in the early innings, but the flags above the scoreboard were stiff. If that is a pattern -- and no one is willing to say it is, yet -- Kasten believes it will change over the course of the summer, and even into next year. Construction projects could shape not only the ballpark's neighborhood, but how the park itself plays.
"It's going to change as one high-rise goes up, and then another high-rise to match it goes up," Kasten said.
Last night, there was not a single homer in the Nationals' 3-0 victory over the Orioles -- a very RFK-like development. Kearns probably hit the hardest ball, a line-drive double to left that drove in a run. He was asked if he hit it well.
"Yeah," he said, then sarcastically added, "Woulda been out of RFK."
