Scenes from the Washington Nationals home opener

When Major League Baseball officials asked that the new franchise be named the "Senators" _ the ballclub's nickname when it left in 1971 _ Mayor Anthony A. Williams said no, at least not until those same MLB officials helped his city get two seats in the U.S. Senate.

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Public address announcer Charlie Brotman was looking dapper in his dark suit and red, white and blue Washington Nationals tie as he prepared the scripts for his first home opener in 34 years.

The 77-year-old Brotman became the PA announcer for the original Senators in 1956 and returned yearly to announce the home opener even after he left the team. He was so passionate about baseball's return that he wrestled an anti-stadium protester from the podium during a news conference last fall.

"Happy days are here again!" Brotman said as he took his place behind the microphone.

A new full-time announcer has been hired by the Nationals, but Brotman was asked to come back for the first home game.

"Someone asked me, 'Are you going to have tears in your eyes?' Absolutely not!" Brotman said. "This is one of the happiest, most joyous moments of my life. It's not that this is the end of something. I've had my 15 minutes of fame. Now it's time for the next generation."

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Whoa! All those men and women on the field dressed in fatigues! That's blanket security, for sure!

Well, not really. They were members of the 113th Fighter Wing, D.C. Air National Guard, and they weren't connected to the intense security surrounding the presence of President Bush, who tossed out the ceremonial first pitch. The 113th's job was to unveil a huge flag across the field during pregame ceremonies, and they took advantage of their special access to get some autographs from Nationals players during batting practice.

"This is cool," said guardsman Adam Smith of Laurel, Md., a lifelong area resident who had pined for the return of baseball. "The whole atmosphere is something you can't put into words."

The security was tight, including metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs, and lines were still 20 deep outside the gates when the first pitch was thrown at 7:06 p.m.

Nationals relief pitcher Joey Eischen said he threw a baseball up to a sniper on the stadium's roof.

"He leaned over the rail and caught it," Eischen said.

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Moving to a new city requires some adjustments, and the Nationals haven't had much time to find homes _ or learn their way around.

It's not just that the club relocated from Montreal to Washington. It's also that the Nationals opened the season with nine straight road games. No one has had much of a chance to find permanent housing.

"I'm an interim GM in an interim hotel," Jim Bowden said.

Even hitting coach Tom McCraw, a member of the old Senators, had trouble getting to his hotel when the team arrived from Atlanta on Wednesday night. He got lost and drove around for three hours.

"I thought I'd see some of Washington at night," McCraw said with a laugh.

Manager Frank Robinson isn't ready to get behind the wheel just yet.

"I have a car in the parking lot, and it's not going to move until I know my way around here," Robinson said. "This city frightens me driving."