We're through three innings here at Nationals Park, Mets lead 1-0 on Carlos Beltran's leadoff double followed by two groundouts in the top of the second. Some observations...

-- Good crowd on hand, perhaps in the vicinity of 30,000, but you probably can't tell that on TV. That's because once again the President's Club behind the plate is maybe one-third full and the outfield bleachers are less than half-full. The rest of the park, aside from a few sections in the upper deck, is packed. Yet again something the Nats are going to need to take a long look at this winter when deciding how to price seats.

-- Plenty of those in attendance, as expected, are Mets fans, which leads to some unusual scenes. Like when Carlos Delgado grounded out to score Beltran from third, almost everyone here cheered. The Mets fans cheered because they scored a run, the Nats fans cheered because they recorded an out.

-- Not much of a fan reaction for either Brian Schneider or Ryan Church. Kind of surprising, given the fact they spent the last three seasons here and you'd think fans would feel strongly one way or another about them.

-- In actual baseball news, Tim Redding has basically looked sharp. He's only allowed two hits -- the Beltran double and then an inexcusable double to Johan Santana in the third. Otherwise, the gutsy right-hander has been effective.

-- Santana has already allowed four hits (two singles by Cristian Guzman, one a piece by Wily Mo Pena and Wil Nieves) but hasn't faced any serious danger yet.

-- Ryan Zimmerman hit the ball hard to the warning track in his first at-bat but grounded out meekly in the third despite getting ahead in the count 3-1. Zimmerman took the next pitch for a strike and then grounded out.

-- Nick Johnson (0-for-2, groundout, strikeout) looks kind of lost up there, I have to say. Nick is now 0 for his last 10 and has seen his average fall from .275 to .215.