Washington Nationals: 10 greatest moments at Nationals Park
By Brian Foley
4. Ryan Zimmerman’s walk-off home run to open the stadium (2008)
The Nationals were about to begin a two-year stint where they lost a whopping 206 total games, but on March 30, 2008, there was nothing but promise in the air.
With ESPN in town for the grand opening of the new Nationals Park, baseball had finally captured the attention of the city. Finally removed from the shadows of the crumbling RFK Stadium, nearly 40,000 fans piled into the ballpark for the start of the season. In turn, the ragtag Washington squad managed to put together one of their finer games of the year.
With names like Odalis Perez, Jon Rauch, and Austin Kearns playing key roles that night, the Nationals entered the bottom of the ninth knotted at two runs apiece. Braves’ reliever Peter Moylan made quick work of Cristian Guzman and Lastings Milledge, bringing a 23-year-old Ryan Zimmerman to the plate. After taking the first pitch for a ball, Zim unleashed his familiar smooth swing.
Washington would go onto lose their next five home games and finish a league-worst 25-56 at home that season. But in that one moment, the team finally had something special. They had the stadium and they had the young star. Things were looking up.