To Nationals, new season looks sunny

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Manny Acta has a simple message for all those who have predicted doom and gloom for his 2007 Washington Nationals.

"Don't tell me we can't turn this around," the rookie manager said. "Don't tell me we can't win."

That's the kind of optimistic outlook Acta has been imparting on his players and on anyone who has encountered him for the last seven weeks while he prepared this club for Opening Day. Few outside observers are taking him seriously. Every major national media outlet has predicted Washington will finish last in the National League East, and many have gone beyond that to say the Nationals will lose 100, 110, even 120 games.

Every player inside the RFK Stadium clubhouse has heard it. They have been inundated with talk about being historically bad and being far and away the worst team in the major leagues this season.

And they don't care. Like their young manager, they choose to believe otherwise.

"We look around and we see all these people predicting 48 and 100-something losses, and it's just like: Come on, we're not going to be that bad," left fielder Ryan Church said. "I don't know how people can judge us off paper. If you look around this room, I wish people could see that we do have some good ingredients here to have a good team."

The Nationals, their supporters and their detractors all will start to learn today just what kind of team they have. Washington plays host to the Florida Marlins at 1:05 p.m. in the first Opening Day at RFK Stadium since 1971, so an offseason of speculation and prediction finally will give way to actual, hard evidence on the diamond.

Apparently, the locals aren't terribly captivated to find out for themselves. As of yesterday afternoon, about 11,000 tickets remained for 46,000-seat RFK, and though team president Stan Kasten was holding out hope for a large walkup crowd on what is expected to be a gorgeous day, the game will not be a sellout.

"We understand all the negativity that has been created around this team," Acta said. "It's not disappointing to us. I came over here the last two years [as third base coach of the New York Mets], and whoever shows up here, they're behind these guys, incredible, whether it's 5,000 or 30,000."

It's yet another example of the Nationals refusing to let public perception skewer their own feelings about themselves. And it begins with Acta, who spoke on the day he was hired of "shocking the world" and hasn't let up since.