Washington Coverup: How Empty Will Nationals Park Be?

So much for the new era of openness and transparency in Washington.

The Nationals won't say how many season tickets they have sold, and they won't say who is throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in their season opener Monday.

Team president Stan Kasten did acknowledge though, that the opener is not sold out (of course, he wants people to know tickets are available).

What is also clear is the Nats have wasted their honeymoon in D.C. Washington had hungered for a team for years, and the franchise formerly known as the Expos had a four-year window to win over the community for good: one at RFK Stadium when the team was new, two in anticipation of a new stadium and one more in the first year at Nationals Park.

But in those four seasons, the Nationals fell from 81-81 to 59-102, finishing last three times. The idea should have been to build a contender by the time the new stadium opened, as the Indians did for Jacobs Field in 1994. And if former general manager Jim Bowden was trying to copy that model, he failed badly.

So the season-ticket base has fallen from about 22,000 to ... well, we don't know.

Kasten declined to give the number because other teams like the Braves are doing the same thing.

"Coming off 102 losses, there is going to be a drop-off [in season-ticket sales]," Kasten said. "Second year in a new ballpark, there is going to be a drop-off. And what is happening in our economy, what our customers are living with and fighting -- we don't know what to make of it all. I'm going to hold off [on making the announcement] for now. I just don't have a number for you today."

Sounds like it's probably a bad number. Maybe that's why Kasten has encouraged Phillies fans to come down I-95 for the series.

Things are so bad, that President Obama might not want to show.

"I heard two things recently, but they were contradictory," Kasten said. "And I read some things that may not be true. I'll know tomorrow. Really, I will."

The Nationals will have a backup plan if President Obama doesn't attend the game. Kasten declined to say who that backup person will be.

Oh, those Nats. Full of surprises.

Of course, a win would be the biggest surprise.