Ryan Zimmerman, The Examiner
2007-09-14 07:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Our team starts the final homestand of the season tonight at RFK Stadium with a series against Atlanta before we finish with New York and Philadelphia. It should be an interesting 10 days since it’s also the last time we’ll play there. Speaking as a hitter, it will be nice to move into the new stadium next year and have a friendlier hitting environment. I’d be lying if I said I’d rather spend another year in RFK. But at the same time I’ve had a lot of great moments here during my short career. Those are the things I’ll remember most.

I grew up in Virginia Beach, but until I played my first game here in 2005 I had never set foot in the place. It’s almost 50 years old and was never meant to be a perfect baseball facility. Our weight room is smaller than a lot of stadiums around the league — sometimes smaller even than the visiting weight rooms at the newer parks — and our training facilities aren’t as big, either. But I also don’t want to make it sound horrible. A lot of people worked hard to give us a decent place to come to work every day and as players we were fine with that. The best part of RFK is how loud it can get. When you have a big crowd here and our team does something special this is a fun place to be. The bowl shape doesn’t let any noise escape and when the stands start to bounce you have to smile. The atmosphere here can be incredible.

But we’re all really looking forward to next season with all new locker rooms, training facilities and state-of-the-art equipment. As a player, nothing is more important than a good training room. To play 162 games in 180 days, anything that makes you feel better before you take the field is a big deal. I think the organization did a great job asking the players what we needed. I didn’t have many specific requests. Maybe the biggest thing was we all wanted a bigger dugout where we could sit and still watch the game. At RFK you have to stand up behind the fence to see the field. It’s been fun playing here for the last three years. But next April we’re going to be like spoiled little kids.

As told to The Examiner’s Brian McNally.

Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is one of baseball’s rising stars and, at 22, the face of the franchise. Now he’ll share his thoughts with The Examiner’s readers each week throughout the baseball season.