Team, Transit Officials Pleased With Performance

"We thought we dispersed the huge throng that came," McCarthy said.

District transportation officials said roads were relatively clear. Transportation Department spokeswoman Karyn LeBlanc said "small tweaks" might be made to some traffic patterns for Monday's game.

For those who drove and didn't follow the rules, enforcement officers were out in force. On Saturday, 72 cars were towed from illegal parking places, and on Sunday, 31 were hauled away. The Department of Public Works, which enforces parking regulations, wrote 716 parking tickets over the two days, with fines ranging from $25 to $30.

Public Works spokesman Linda Grant said the department waived a $100 towing fee as a "courtesy" to fans whose cars were hauled.

Metro was promoted as the best way to the ballpark, and more than half of the fans at Sunday's game took the train, transit officials said. The trains carried 21,492 fans to and from the newly expanded Navy Yard Station on the Green Line, fewer than the 26,000 Metro had projected.

Still, the ballgame and large crowds for the cherry blossoms swelled ridership, and Metro officials said they were pleased with the transit agency's performance. On Sunday, ridership was 332,737 trips. Average Sunday ridership is 207,735.

On Saturday, Metro recorded its fifth-highest Saturday ridership, 580,771 trips, of which 15,141 were for the Nationals exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles. The transit agency opened at 5 a.m., two hours early, to accommodate participants in the National Marathon.

The busiest time for the Navy Yard Station on Sunday was from 3:30 p.m. to the start of the game at 8:15 p.m. To help control crowds, Metro Transit Police sometimes directed fans to ride single file up the escalators. Transit Police and rail personnel were monitoring the crowds at both entrances. Metro also deployed 15 extra trains on the Green Line and four extra on the Red and Orange lines, officials said.

There were minor glitches. After the game, some riders were surprised to learn that they had to get off Green Line trains at Mount Vernon Square instead of Fort Totten. That's because those trains were heading back downtown and turning around at the Anacostia Station to return to Navy Yard to pick up more riders leaving the game, spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.

On Saturday, the crowds riding up the escalators were overloading the motors, so technicians made adjustments, according to Dave Lacosse, who oversees escalators and elevators. On Sunday, some escalators shut down briefly because loose screws from nearby construction became trapped in the plate at the top or bottom of the steel steps.