ASTROS FOLD TO NATS IN WS: 1ST D.C. TEAM WIN IN 95 YEARS

By Rick Maese

Washington Post

Fox Sports
When the fight was finished and the Nationals had wrapped up their first World Series title some 1,400 miles away in Houston, the District screamed. And cried. And bellowed into a rainy night.

The tide has turned in Washington, and a city of sports fans used to suffering and heartbreak is suddenly celebrating yet another championship — the third in two years. When the last out in Houston was recorded and the Nats had somehow stormed back to win the best-of-seven roller-coaster series over the Astros, D.C. — ahem, the District of Champions — began celebrating like it was still a novel and wholly unexpected experience.

“Now you see it,” said Manny Argueta, a D.C. sports fan with tears still glistening on his cheeks. “Tomorrow, the next week, the next year — you can’t tell us nothing. We here. We won something. We are winners.”

The party stretched into the wee hours of Thursday morning. Fireworks were heard in Adams Morgan. A streaker was spotted on the streets of Capitol Hill. An overserved fan shimmied up a streetlight pole outside the stadium.

Late-night revelers across the region burst into spontaneous Nats chants. 

The celebration promised to last several more days, as Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced the team’s championship parade would be held Saturday at 2 p.m., starting at 15th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, proceeding east along Constitution and ending with a rally at 3rd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Players were already forecasting a celebration that would rival the one put on by the Stanley Cup-winning Capitals 16 months ago. 

Fans, though, didn’t wait.

They all watched as Washington overcame a two-run deficit with a pair of seventh-inning homers that electrified an anxious fan base. In bars and diners, living rooms and hospital rooms, taxi cabs and late-night buses, the nation’s capital shook as Wednesday night turned into Thursday morning, and the Nats, who’ve packed so much into their 14 years playing in the District, pulled out a 6-2, come-from-behind win.

They poured out of the stadium and into the night. Some shed their clothes and others their good judgment. While the Nats players sprayed champagne and cheap beer in a Houston clubhouse, some fans followed suit on Half Street in Washington, where drinks spilled onto the ground and marijuana smoke hovered above. Fans cheered, cars honked and the city’s latest sports-themed party was just getting started.

Before last night, the only DC team to ever win an MLB a World Series were the  1924 Washington Senators.That year, Calvin Coolidge became the first president to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House. J. Edgar Hoover was appointed the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And the first-ever Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in New York City.

In the 1924 World Series, the Senators dropped a pivotal Game 5 to the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants) as the Giants defeated Washington’s ace and future first-ballot Hall of Famer Walter Johnson.

It was a devastating 6-2 loss against the Giants, a team that had won the World Series two years earlier. Sound familiar?

But Washington didn’t give up. It rebounded and willed its way to a gritty 2-1 Game 6 win.

In Game 7, the Senators were down 3-1 in the 8th inning before Bucky Harris, the manager for Washington and future Hall of Famer, tied the game up 3-3 on a lucky ground ball that took a “bad hop” on future Hall of Famer Fred Lindstrom.

Johnson stepped onto the mound in relief and pitched four scoreless innings as Washington scored in the bottom of the 12th inning to win the longest (in terms of innings) Game 7 in World Series history.