Best of the Decade: Zimmerman's walk-off welcomes Nats to new home

As the Nationals celebrate 10 seasons in Washington, D.C., we reflect on some of the best moments since the franchise moved to the nation's capital. Each Wednesday for the next 10 weeks, check out Nationals Pastime for a remembrance of one of the watershed moments in Nationals history.

It was a sight seen before by Nationals fans, but not in this environment, not on this field. Ryan Zimmerman rounded first base, fist raised high in the air, after launching a walk-off homer in the inaugural game played at Nationals Park.

Baseball returned to the nation's capital three years earlier, but was played in a venue better suited for championship football, venerable RFK Stadium. When the Expos became the Nationals in 2005, it had been 34 years since a regular season Major League Baseball game had been played at RFK. The Nationals labored through a few seasons in the outdated stadium. But on March 30, 2008, they were finally able to officially move into their new digs on the Southwest waterfront, facing the Braves in a specially negotiated single-game series that opened Major League Baseball's 2008 campaign in the United States (the A's and Red Sox had played two games in Tokyo a few days earlier).

After some public bickering, the site just off the banks of the Anacostia River was selected to be the future longtime home of Washington's newest team. Designed and erected in just two years, $611 million Nationals Park was primed to re-introduce baseball to the country, just blocks from the U.S. Capitol, which was visible from the new ballpark's upper deck in left field.

A sellout crowd of 39,389 watched President George W. Bush throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Nick Johnson blooped a double over the head of Braves first baseman Mark Teixeira, scoring Christian Guzman in the first for a 1-0 lead. Austin Kearns followed with a single to score Johnson.

The Braves fought back, first on a solo homer by Chipper Jones in the fourth, cutting the Nats' lead in half. A passed ball by catcher Paul Lo Duca allowed the tying run to cross in the top of the ninth. The Atlanta bullpen was very much in charge, retiring 24 straight Nationals before Zimmerman stepped to the plate with two outs in the ninth.

On a 1-0 count, Zimmerman, the Nats' first draft pick after moving to D.C., mashed a slider from Braves reliever Peter Moylan over the wall in left field for his fourth walk-off homer in his career. The Nationals couldn't have asked for a more appropriate way to open their new ballpark, especially in front of a national television audience.

"Zim seems to be the guy when the spotlight is on him," Lo Duca told reporters. "Something good happens. You can't teach that. Not only is he a good athlete, he's a good player. He plays the game the right way. That's something you can't explain.

"Some guys have it - Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan. The elite athletes have a way of coming through when need it's the most. Zim is definitely one of those guys."

Zimmerman has since gone on to become "Mr. Walk-off", ending 10 games during his career with homers. But it's a guarantee that his solo shot in that special one-game series with the Braves will be always remain near the top.

"We've waited for so long for a place that can be our own," Zimmerman said to reporters that night. "You can't really write up a script better than that. It turned out perfect."

* Miss any of the memorable moments we're highlighting from Nationals history? Here's the list to date:

No. 10: 10-game winning streaks in 2005, 2014
No. 9: Mr. Walk-Off started it all on Father's Day 2006
No. 8: Nationals return to the postseason in 2014