Less than 24 hours to Opening Day!

It's almost here. The end of our six-month long waiting period. So much has happened in that time. Frank is gone, back to working for MLB, Manny is here. Alphonso is a Cub. Guillen and Vidro are Mariners. Lots of new faces in the clubhouse. On T.V. Tom Paciorek is gone, Don Sutton is in. Ray Knight, Johnny Holliday, and Debbi Taylor are new to the MASN crew. All the Nationals games will be available to television audiences, for the first time (at last!)

Sure, we've followed all of the spring training games, read informed blogs and newspaper stories, but now we get to really learn the answer to the question so eloquently asked by Paul Newman in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid": "Who are those guys?"

Tomorrow, the hot dogs and beer are going to taste better than ever. It's John Patterson vs. Dontrell Willis, probably a low-scoring game. The sea of red caps with the white pretzel "W" on them will be everywhere. If the game isn't a sell-out, it should be - just look at that great weather forecast! (see Accuweather above). Sure, it's a Monday, sure it's the first business day of the month, but so what? Sometimes, you just have to take a day off, a personal day, leave, a sick day, a vacation day, whatever. My dad took my older brother out of school for Opening Day for the Washington Senators. It's a tradition. It's good for the soul.

All politics aside, the President of the United States should throw out the first pitch. He won't be there this year, and that's a shame. It is one of the few baseball traditions that we have here in Washington, D.C., something that other MLB cities can't match for sheer star power. Oh, sure, there's a part of me that is almost just as glad, as a Presidential (or even Vice-Presidential, like last year) visit can wreck havoc on fans trying to get into the stadium on time. But the sharpshooters on the stadium roof do lend a nice, menacing touch to the day's festivities.

I've taken the day off from work, and I'll be there early, hoping to join Miss Chatter with her tailgate party. I'll be phone-blogging like a fiend, I'm sure. I hope I can get some cell-phone photos on here.

I hope that I can meet other Nats bloggers and fans. If you have the time, come visit me in section 223, row 6. I'll be wearing my Nationals Hawaiian shirt and a red cap.