INQUIRER Sports

WASHINGTON -- Ryan Zimmerman hit a solo walk-off home run Sunday as the Washington Nationals celebrated the opening of their new Nationals Park with a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Zimmerman lined a 1-2 pitch from Braves righthander Peter Moylan into the first row of the Red Porch section in left-center field.

The ball was caught by a fan wearing a glove and a Nationals jacket -- the first homer ever for the home team at the new state-of-the-art park that drew rave reviews on its debut.

The game marked the first Major League Baseball game of 2008 on US soil, after the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics officially launched the season with a two-game series in Japan earlier in the week.

US President George W. Bush threw the ceremonial first pitch to Nationals manager Manny Acta, and US troops carried two 100-foot American flags in the pre-game ceremonies, which also included a flyover by four F-16s from the Washington DC National Guard's 121st Fighter Squadron.

Opera vocalist Denyce Graves sang the national anthem and "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch.

Zimmerman provided the Nationals' only walk-off homer last season -- a grand slam off Jorge Julio that lifted Washington over the Florida Marlins on May 12.

The Braves had tied it at 2-2 in the ninth after Mark Teixeira doubled off the wall in right center. Pinch runner Martin Prado later scored on a passed ball by Nationals catcher Paul Lo Duca.

Jon Rauch, who got Jeff Francoeur to bounce to second to end the inning, was awarded the win.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was among the luminaries in attendance.

"When I use the word cathedral, I only do that when a park deserves it," Selig said. "This is a fabulous cathedral. There's no detail that they have forgotten, which is really remarkable. ... Really, they've done a great job.

"The park is beautiful. I haven't seen anything from top to bottom that I don't like," he said.

The US Capitol is on view over the left-field wall at the new stadium, while two large cranes are a reminder of the neighborhood redevelopment project connected with the park.

"We're back where we belong," Selig said. “For lack of a better term, we're back in baseball land.”

"I like to joke that some days are not exactly fun being the commissioner of baseball," said Selig, who has been most visible in Washington lately testifying before Congress about steroids in the game.

"But then, there are days like this that are rewarding, satisfying, and it makes you proud," he said. "My sincerest congratulations to everybody. I'm enjoying myself immensely."