VIERA, Fla. - Take a look around the Washington Nationals' spring training site and there are plenty of hints that this has been a team in transition.

A groundskeeper wears an Expos cap while driving past practice fields. Game-worn Montreal jerseys are available in the souvenir shop, marked down from $125 to $50. Seats in the stands at Space Coast Stadium and the lockers in the home and visiting clubhouses are teal, the color of the Florida Marlins, a previous resident.

Nonetheless, the Nationals are finally setting down roots.

"Everybody wants a home," said Brad Wilkerson, who tied for the team lead last year with 32 home runs. "We bring a lot of energy to the ballpark, and it's going to give us an advantage. Now that that's all behind us, we can bring more and more energy."

Starting today with the spring training opener against the visiting New York Mets - the first chance for baseball fans in the nation's capital to root, root, root for the home team since the Senators left for Texas after the 1971 season.

"There's a lot of expectations now, because it's the Washington Nationals now, it's not the Montreal Expos," said outfielder Jose Guillen, who came over from the Anaheim Angels in the offseason. "I'm excited. I'm happy. I'm looking forward to getting into that rhythm of games. Until now, it's just been practice, practice, practice."

And for the players who were with the Expos in recent years, it's been a matter of patience, patience, patience.

First, there was the threat of contraction. Then came two seasons with some "home" games in Puerto Rico. Next came the protracted process of getting the District of Columbia Council to clear the way for the Expos to move to Washington, a deal that wasn't sealed until late December.

And there is still the impending sale of the team, currently owned by major league baseball's other 29 franchises.

But hope always springs eternal at spring training, and with some new faces and - most importantly - a semblance of normalcy setting in, an improvement on last season's 67-95 record is widely expected around these parts.

"I see the enthusiasm throughout this organization - the veteran players and the youngsters - because they understand now the situation is much better than it was," manager Frank Robinson said. "They have endured.

"They certainly have been kind of teased the last few years about how the club is going to be sold, no it's not, yes it is, no it's not. They're really happy about this situation finally being resolved. And I think you'll see the result on the field."

Working with a relatively low payroll budget of $50 million, general manager Jim Bowden added third baseman Vinny Castilla and shortstop Cristian Guzman through free agency and traded for Guillen.

Just two players in Robinson's planned lineup for today's game manned the same positions on opening day last season.

"We added some veteran leadership in the clubhouse and some pop in the middle of the lineup," Wilkerson said. "Now the important thing is to stay healthy."