The Washington Nationals opened the 2008 season and their new ballpark with a win tonight over the Atlanta Braves, 3-2. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman called it a night with a walk-off home run over the center field wall. Jon Rauch, who surrended the tying run in the top of hte 9th, was the winning pitcher for the Nats; Zimmerman victim Peter Moylan took the loss for the Braves.
Washington got to Braves’ starter Tim Hudson early, scoring two runs in the first, but Hudson regained control retiring 19 of the next 20 batters he faced. Cristan Guzman and Nick Johnson scored the other two runs for the Nationals, while Chipper Jones homered for Atlanta. Odalis Perez got the opening start for Washington: not bad considering he didn’t have a job two months ago. (More MLB stories.)