The Washington Nationals 2008

The Washington Nationals are a District of Columbia franchise.  2008 is the 4th season for the franchise with DC but it is their 40th season from the teams inception in Montreal Canada as the Montreal Expos.  They are in the Eastern Division of the National League.  Their nickname is the "Nats."

The 2008 season is the first time that they have a stadium of their own.  The first ceremonial pitch was thrown out by President George W. Bush on March 30th to Manager Manny Acta.  The new stadium is located at George Washington University.  Their first game of this season was playing host to the Atlanta Braves. They won that game with a bottom of the ninth walk-off homer by Ryan Zimmerman 3-2; it was their first opening day win since moving to Washington.   Zimmerman's home run in the first MLB game at a stadium was 3rd in Major League history.  In the history of ESPN the game was the most watched MLB opening night.  Their next game was another history maker for the Nationals as the smallest crowd in a second game for a new stadium.

After a starting off the season with a 3-0 start things began to go downhill.  The next 19 games they struggled and lost 16 of those 19.  In May it looked like the team was making a comeback.  They won the three of four games given them a 14 - 18 record.  The rest of the month was an up and down showing. It will be interesting to see how the season will go.  No matter what they can still boost that they have the first LEED-certified green stadium in the United States.