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Charlie Slowes has been with the Nationals since the Montreal Expos moved to D.C. after the 2004 season. A popular play-by-play voice of the team ever since, Slowes is known for his tell-it-like-it-is style and his trademark slogan, "Bang, zoom. A curly 'W' is in the books."

MLB.com caught up with Slowes recently to talk about his 20 years with the Nationals, touching on subjects ranging from memories of the first regular-season game against the Phillies to the bright future that features outfielders James Wood and Dylan Crews.

MLB.com: You have been with the Nationals for 20 years. Can you believe it?

Slowes: No. It's unbelievable. People have asked me, ¡°How long have you been with the Nationals?¡± I told them, ¡°This will be my 21st year.¡± The fans can¡¯t believe the Nationals have been around that long. Time flies by. My kids were 10 and 7 when I started with the Nationals. Now, they are grown men.

MLB.com: Do you remember the day you were told you were the radio voice of the Nationals?

Slowes: I can tell you where I was sitting. It was in the front room of my house. [Then-executive vice president Kevin Uhlich] asked me if I could do [play-by-play on] a game a week from Saturday. My answer was, ¡°I could. Can you?¡± The first Spring Training game was Nats/Orioles at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. He was the only person I talked to during the entire process.

MLB.com: When it comes to the Nationals, you are the first person baseball fans think of. Why is that the case?

Slowes: A lot of it had to do with the first year. A lot of people could not get the Nationals on television. MASN was not cleared with all the cable systems. Radio was the way people were getting the games. ¡­ I think there was an immediate identity with baseball on the radio right away. And then, on top of that, the first year of the team was very exciting. The 2005 season was different from every other year, I would say, until the Nationals reached the postseason and won the World Series [in 2019]. I don¡¯t think anything up until then compared to 2005. The 2005 season was like a celebration of baseball -- the entire season, every day. Win or lose.

Frank Robinson used to tell this story: People would meet him. He would say, ¡°We lost a tough one last night.¡± The reaction to him was, ¡°That¡¯s all right, Frank. We are just happy to have you.¡± Frank would tell that story over and over.

MLB.com: In your 20 years with the Nationals, you never lost that luster in the booth. Why?

Slowes: I love baseball. I love the time before games -- the empty ballpark when you are there early. It¡¯s something I grew up with. It¡¯s what I wanted to do. It¡¯s like living a dream.

MLB.com: You talk about 2005. What about the first game at Nationals Park in 2008?

Slowes: That was really exciting. Brand new beautiful ballpark. [ESPN] arranged it to be a one-game series with the Braves. The game was moved to open on a Sunday night, and then they went on the road. It wasn¡¯t originally scheduled that way. They did that to put the game on national TV. Then you had the great ending with Ryan Zimmerman hitting the walk-off home run off Peter Moylan. Right now, I¡¯m staring at a picture with the ball coming off Zimmerman¡¯s bat.

MLB.com: Of all the games you witnessed, what is your favorite?

Slowes: Oh, my goodness. The Jayson Werth walk-off home run in Game 4 of the 2012 National League Division Series against the Cardinals. That dramatic moment. The 13-pitch at-bat. It was unbelievable. It was the greatest emotional swing in 24 hours to then not winning that series and then the shock of the season ending like that. A lot of people thought the 2012 team was really the best until 2019. I remember [in ¡®12] walking past Michael Morse and he said to me, ¡°If we would have won this game, we would have run the table.¡± That¡¯s how everyone felt. They had that 6-0 lead and didn¡¯t win Game 5.

MLB.com: How often do you think about Game 7 of the 2019 World Series?

Slowes: When I¡¯m in my home office, I think about it a lot. There are a lot of things on the wall that remind me of that game -- pictures holding the trophy, lineup cards, World Series ring. During the season, a lot of people put their World Series ring in a safety-deposit box and rarely take it out. But I have it with me. People come into the booth and visit. How often do people come to meet you to see a World Series ring? It¡¯s a big deal to them. To me, that¡¯s what it¡¯s for.

MLB.com: You have dealt with hundreds of Nationals players. Who is your all-time favorite?

Slowes: Ryan Zimmerman has to be there. Gio Gonz¨¢lez, one of the most popular players ever for the Nationals. You feel he deserved better the way a lot of things ended up for him. He was always that pitcher in that decisive game that didn¡¯t turn his way. He always stood up. He never shied away from having to speak about some of those things. Was there anyone who didn¡¯t like Gio?

Guys from the early years: I liked Brian Schneider and Nick Johnson. Alfonso Soriano was so much fun in 2006 and may have had the greatest single season in Nationals history as an offensive player. Every day, he had a smile on his face with a team that wasn¡¯t very good. He would come out and say, ¡°Today, we win.¡± Jayson Werth was a totally different personality, but the guy was a winner. Ian Desmond, a class act. Max Scherzer was fun to watch when it came to competing on the mound. It¡¯s hard to top that. He fired everybody up.

MLB.com: Who is your favorite Nationals manager?

Slowes: I would say Dave Martinez because I knew him as a player. He is the longest-tenured manager in their history. I love Jim Riggleman, too. He was old school, talking baseball with him. You could probably learn more talking to Frank Robinson about baseball in 10 minutes than you could in 12 hours from somebody else. I learned something from every manager.

MLB.com: It looks like the Nationals are on the rise with their prospects. Who are you looking forward to seeing in 2025?

Slowes: Everybody wants some of the young players to step up and take it to the next level. Dylan Crews and James Wood are going to play a whole year. When does Brady House get here? We saw a lot of the young pitchers last year. Jake Irvin looks like he has a chance to be a top-level pitcher. We saw DJ Herz get a chance. He pitched really well at times. The same thing with Mitchell Parker. There are a lot of pieces in place. Then you have added a few veteran players. We¡¯ll see if they play well and add to the mix during the year.