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Bot 9. Tonight's announced attendance is 38,389, a sell out. Guzman struck out swinging. Milledge 5-3 groundout. Just prior to the 3rd pitch to Zimmerman I looked to Byron Kerr and said Zimm will hit a walk-off HR. I'm a genius!!!! Nats christen the new stadium with a walk-ff solo HR by the cornerstone of the franchise Ryan Zimmerman. 3-2 final.

Top 9. Jon Rauch pitching to start the 9th. Jones liner back to Rauch and he snared it for the first out. Teixeira doubled high off the wall in right center. Martin Prado pinch running for Teixeira. Francoeur grounded out to second to move Prado to third. Prado scored on a passed ball by LoDuca to tie the game at 2-2. McCann flew out to left to end the inning.

Bot 8. Will Ohman replaces Hudson. Willie Harris ground out to Teixeira in his first at-bat of the night. Ohman replaced by Peter Moylan. Felipe Lopez pinch hitting for Luis Ayala. Lopez got caught looking to end the inning.

Top 8. Ray King replaces Rivera and quickly gets Kotsay to fly out to Harris in left. Brayan Pena pinch hit for Hudson and drew a walk. Pinch running for Pena is Gregor Blanco. Johnson flew out to deep center. Luis Ayala replaces King and gets Escobar to ground into the 6-4 force out to end the inning.

Bot 7. Johnson flew out to Kotsay in left center for the second time tonight. Kearns flew out to Kotsay in right center. LoDuca flew out to left to end the inning. Hudson has now sat down 19 straight.

Top 7. Rivera still pitching. Francoeur grounded out to Guzman. McCann and Diaz both flew out to Kearns in right.

Bot 6. Guzman grounded out to Teixeira. 3 unassisted if your keeping score at home. Milledge grounded out to Hudson. Zimmerman grounds out to Jones at third. Hudson now has retired 16 straight Nats.

Top 6. Saul Rivera in for Perez get 3 quick outs. Escobar grounded out to short. Jones struck out swinging and Teixeira hit a high pop at the mound that Zimmerman caught for the final out. Injury note, Left fielder Elijah Dukes left the game prior to the start of the inning with tightness in his right hamstring. He is replaced by Lenny Harris.

Bot 5. Dukes grounds out to 3rd. Belliard grounded out to short. Mackowiak pinch-hit for Perez and grounded out to 2nd. Perez finished for the night, threw 5 strong innings giving up 4 hits, 1 earned run on the HR by Chipper Jones, walked one and struck out 2. He threw 70 pitches and 43 of them for strikes. Hudson on the other hand, has now retired 13 straight Nats.

Top 5. Error by Guzman on a routine grounder by Diaz. Kotsay F-7. Hudson laid down a nice sacrifice bunt to get Diaz to 2nd. Johnson grounded out to Johnson at first to end the inning.

Bot 4. The racing Presidents picked up where they left off last season. George Washington won running away after Thomas Jefferson and Abe Lincoln fell over each other. Perpetual loser Teddy Roosevelt tried to cheat and cut across the field, but it didn't matter, Washington broke the tape for the victory.

Hudson seems to be getting stronger as the game moves along. Johnson flew out to deep center on a nice running play by Mark Kotsay. Kearns grounded back to Hudson and LoDuca grounded out to short to end the inning.

Top 4. Escobar 4-3 on the groundout. Chipper Jones hits the first HR in Nationals Park. A shot over the left center field wall on a 2-0 count. Braves cut the lead in half. Teixeira 6-3 ground out. Francoeur dribbler up the 3rd base line hits the bag for an infield single. McCann F-8 to end the inning.

Bot 3. Hudson settling down. Guzman flew out to center. Milledge grounded out to Teixeira at first and Zimmerman was thrown out by SS Yunel Escobar on a close play at first. Zimm stumbled a bit getting up the line and that probably cost him the infield single.

Top 3. Mark Kotsay high pop out to Kearns in short right. Tim Hudson lined out to Kearns in right. Top of the order Johnson 1B to center. Perez picked off Johnson. Officially it goes down as a 1-3-6 in the scorebook. Solid defense by the Nats early on.

Bot 2: Easy inning for Hudson. Dukes flew out to center. Belliard grounded out to second and Perez was caught looking.

Top 2: After a ground out by Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann roped a double off the top of the wall in right. The ball kicked right to Austin Kearns who threw to cutoff man Ronnie Belliard. Billiard fired a perfect strike to Christian Guzman at second to nail McCann trying to stretch a single to a double. Perez got Matt Diaz to ground out to Belliard at second end the inning.

Bot 1: Guzman single for the first hit in Nationals Park history. He advanced to 3rd after Hudson's pickoff attempt got past Mark Teixeira.

After back-to-back strikeouts, Nick Johnson doubled down the right field line for the first extra base hit an RBI in stadium history.

Austin Kearns followed that with a single to right to score Johnson. Nats lead 2-0

8:29 end of top 1st. Perez 2 k's. Looked solid.

8:22 Perez strikes out Johnson swinging on a 2-2 count for the first out in the new ballpark

8:19 Mayor Fenty says "Play Ball"

8:21 First pitch from Odalis Perez to Braves 2B Kelly Johnson is foul ball back behind home plate. Game time temp 49 degrees

8:16 We've somehow fallen behind schedule. Acta and Braves coach Brian Snitker going over the ground rules.

8:18 Nationals take the field to a round of cheers

8:13pm: President George W Bush throws a strike on the outside corner. 10's of thousands of flash bulbs from cameras catch the ceremonial first pitch.

8:08pm: Denise Graves sings National Anthem

8:02pm: Manager Manny Acta introduced to very big cheers.

8:03pm: 2 minutes ahead of schedule and the starting line-up in being introduced. Nats players are coming centerfield and have to run around the dirt infield to home plate. Ryan Zimmerman gets big ovation. Biggest of the night is Nick Johnson being announced. Warm feeling from the crowd.

7:58pm: Nats bench being introduced. Dmitri Young gets huge ovation. Chad Cordero get his usual "chief". Tallest man in baseball history, 6'11'' Jon Rauch introduced. Matt Chico came out early, went back to the dugout and was just introduced properly. A little nervous for the youngster???

7:55pm: 2 giant flags unfurled and 121st fighter Squadron, DC Air National Guard, 4 F-16 flyover

7:57pm: Nats coaches being introduced.

The festivities have begun and right on schedule. 7:48 and MASN's own and Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton is getting things underway by introducing the Atlanta Braves. Small chorus of boo's.

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I woke up this morning and felt like a 12 year old getting ready for my first little league game. Words can't describe the feeling of getting ready for the first game of the season.

If you are a baseball junky, like me, there is no better time of the year than opening (day)night. Playing in front of the hometown sold out crowd, national television, under the lights, the President throwing out the first pitch. Does it get any better than this?

The answer is an emphatic no! A brand new, state-of-the-art ballpark, a pristine field, the nation's capital, celebrities and bigwigs. I need to take a breath. The best part of this you ask? I actually get paid to come to the park and relay my thoughts and experiences with you. I'm in heaven!

As we get ready for the first pitch, about 8:15pm, against NL East foe Atlanta, here are a few nuggets to pass along.

Manager Manny Acta has his line-up ready and here it is...

2008 Washington Nationals Opening Night Lineup
SS Christian Guzman
CF Lastings Milledge
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Nick Johnson
RF Austin Kearns
C Paul LoDuca
LF Elijah Dukes
2B Ronnie Belliard
P Odalis Perez

LINEUP NOTES
-Perez, who pitched for the Braves from 1998-2001, is 1-3 with a 5.21 era in 8 starts against his former team

-Note that Felipe Lopez and Dmitri Young will be coming off the bench

-The only certainty about the Atlanta Braves, Tim Hudson will take the mound. Hudson is 5-1 with a 1.09 era in 8 career starts against the Nationals/Expos and 1-0, 3.68 era in 4 opening day starts. As soon as their starting line-up is posted, I'll send that along.

PRESIDENTIAL FIRST PITCH
The Ceremonial 1st pitch by President George W Bush will take place at 8:09:30. Let see how on time everything goes.

XTRA XTRA
Don't forget to tune into MASN at 7pm for a special hour long Nats Xtra pregame show with Johnny Holliday, Ray Knight and Debbi Taylor. They will have Nationals GM Jim Bowden and more live guests to preview the season and talk about the new stadium as well as all of the pregame festivities.

Here is the starting line-up for the Atlanta Braves
2B Kelly Johnson
SS Yunel Escobar
3B Chipper Jones
1B Mark Teixeira
RF Jeff Francoeur
C Brian McCann
LF Matt Diaz
CF Mark Kotsay
P Tim Hudson

COOL MANNY
During Manny Acta's pregame press conference he looked very relaxed and ready for the 2008 season to get underway. "We're ready, glad spring training is over and I think it worked perfect for us that this is our third day in the new stadium. We're ready to battle."

It sure doesn't sound like he has any worries except for catching the ceremonial first pitch from the President of the United States. According the Acta, the pressure is all on Mr. Bush, "If he can't reach me, it's not on me." This drew laughs from the room full of media.

Acta on having Odalis Perez as the opening night starter, "It's huge for him, Odalis is the proper guy to do this, he's been in the spotlight before, he'll be able to handle this better than our younger guys."

Acta on Nick Johnson finally healthy and starting tonight, "This is going to be very gratifying not only for him, but for all of us. It was tough for us seeing Nick not as healthy as he was back in September.

NICK NERVOUS?
I asked Nick Johnson if he is nervous about tonight since he hasn't played in a year and a half, "Absolutely, I'm flying pretty high. Once everything, all the fun before the game starts, it's a baseball game.

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
Once I arrived at the ballpark this afternoon, 3pm for an 8:15 start, I didn't think there would be a long wait to get in. I knew security would be tight due to the President being in attendance, but something funny occurred as about 15 media member were waiting to get screened by security. We stood in line and were informed it was going to be a bit of a wait. It seems the dog that sniffs luggage for bombs and whatever else they are looking for, got sick and we had to wait for another to be brought over. At first we thought it was a joke until we saw the pile of doggie vomit. I hope the dog didn't eat anything from one of the concession stands. Just kidding of course.

WRESTLING WITH NERVES
Usually everyone gets a little nervous on opening day, but in the clubhouse around 5pm, 3 Nationals were relaxing watching WWE wrestling. I guess people deal with stress in different ways.

CELEBRITY SPOTTINGS
Just a few people I ran across while making my way around the ballpark. Some people you would expect to see like Peter Gammons and Tim Kurkjian of ESPN. Power couple Maury Povitch and Connie Chung. But the oddest person I saw and his name escapes me, was the Geico Caveman wearing a Nationals jacket. Bizarre to say the least.

Update: Another celeb sighting, James Carville waiting in line at a concession stand and going unnoticed by the crowd around him.

MASNsports.com's Nationals editor-at-large, Pete McElroy has arrived at Nationals Park for tonight's opener and gives us a his perspective of the festivities and game action.