I'm actually not finished yet (still need to caption them), but for those of you who can't wait a moment, here's way too many photos from today's first-ever baseball game at Nationals Park. (There's also five new bigbigbig panoramas, too.) The pretty brisk day started off cloudy, got sunny as the game got underway, and ended up with a bit of rain here or there by the end, but on the surface it seemed to go well (not like wildfires suddenly erupted in right field or anything). I'll link to the media coverage later, but enjoy the photos in the meantime. Tomorrow I'll be doing a full Exterior Gallery update.

UPDATE: Captions are added, so enjoy the photos. The Post says: "After years of political debate and turmoil that almost caused Major League Baseball to pull out of Washington, the city has a stadium that seems just about ready for prime time. Sitting behind home plate, there was little to see that didn't look finished."

Here's MLB.com's take on the day (and another on the food): "George Washington University scrimmaged St. Joseph's on Saturday afternoon, and while the stadium may not have been finished, it was good enough for the fans and Nationals president Stan Kasten." AP has a story being run all over the country as well. The local networks have had some stories, but they aren't posted on the web.

* A church on Capitol Hill complains to WJLA about the new on-street parking restrictions, saying that they shouldn't have them because they're a "40-minute walk" from the ballpark, which is quite a bit of hyperbole for 400 D Street, SE. I live two blocks closer to the ballpark than the church, and I'm pretty sure those two blocks don't double the time of the trip (and the 20 minutes it takes me from my house is definitely at "amble" speed).

* WAMU looks at the environmental impacts of the ballpark.

* WJLA talks about Ben's Chili Bowl at the ballpark, and NBC4 talks about the complete lineup of food at the ballpark that some of us reported weeks ago . If you want more, um, intense coverage of the events at Ben's yesterday (and equally intense coverage of basically everything having to do with the Nationals), visits Nats320, where no Nats tidbit ever is overlooked. He makes me look like a once-a-month dabbler.

* I always predicted that the ballpark would drive every media organization in the country to do a story, and it's now starting: here's Fast Company's quick overview of Nationals Park, from a more business-oriented perspective.

* Scripps wonders what sort of reception President Bush will get when he throws out the first pitch next Sunday.

And now it's time to get ready for the first-ever baseball game at Nationals Park, GW vs. St. Joseph's. The 2,000 fans who got tickets are going to be restricted to moving around on the main concourse and in the lower bowl only.