Playing in a city whose baseball team, the Senators, once lived by the motto, ''First in war, first in peace, last in the American League," the Nationals are in first place in the National League East, despite a rare ninth-inning collapse yesterday in a 5-2 loss to the New York Mets before a holiday crowd of 44,331 in RFK Stadium, the largest crowd to see the Nats this season.
A team that still lacks full-time ownership and remains in essence a ward of MLB, with Bowden its caretaker general manager, has flourished since it was allowed to cease a nomad's existence. Instead of splitting ''home" games between Montreal and San Juan, it has set down roots in a town that had no team to call its own since 1971, when the Senators, then managed by Red Sox immortal Ted Williams, moved to Texas and became the Rangers.
''You know, sometimes you have a magical year," said Bowden, who traces his roots to Weston, Mass., and Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and was mourning the death yesterday of his 96-year-old aunt who lived in Millbury, Mass., Mildred Smith Bowden (''a great lady"), who died on the same date as two notable Washingtonians, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
''This is America's team being born. This is phenomenal. I knew it was going to be special on Opening Day, when a guy hits a ground ball to second, pushing a guy to third base, and the fans stood up and gave him a standing ovation. Because they get it. This is a highly intellectual crowd. Probably the most intelligent fans in the world are right here in Washington.
''Washington, D.C. Man, does that sound good. Baseball's back in the capital city."
With the Nationals, losers of 95 games in 2004, already having won 50 games and owning the best home record in baseball (29-11), Bowden's hyperventilation is understandable. Nine months ago, he was out of the game. Last weekend, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com noted, Bowden was attending a T-ball game on the White House lawn, and President Bush was introducing him as ''my good friend Jimmy Bowden."
