April 2, 2007 [LINK / comment]
It was perfect weather for Opening Day in Our Nation's Capital, but the scoreboard was not a pretty picture. The Marlins scored a run in the top of the first, and even though Ryan Zimmerman responded in the bottom of the inning with a triple, the rest of the Nationals could not match his performance, and they ended up getting stomped on, 9-2. The newest Nat, Dmitri Young, hit two doubles, raising hopes that this veteran can still provide offensive power. Can he play other infield positions besides first base? With Dontrelle Willis pitching, it was not surprising that the Nats scored so few runs, but the fact that Washington's premier ace John Patterson could not even last four innings before giving up six runs was not an auspicious sign at all. Announced attendance was 40,389, but it will be tough to draw as many as 30,000 fans per game for the rest of the season.
Bruce Orser came across some more photos of the new Yankee Stadium under construction at baseball-fever.com. They are really zipping along there.