WASHINGTON (AP) – With drills and tractors going, scaffolding overhead and dirt underfoot, RFK Stadium felt very much like any old construction site Monday.

Until 8:12 a.m., that is, as the first 35-foot-long, 44-inch-wide rectangle of Bermuda and rye grass was draped along what will be the third-base line when the Washington Nationals bring major league baseball back to the city in a month.

The Montreal Expos’ move to the Washington wasn’t completed until late last year, and work to get RFK Stadium ready for baseball began Jan. 10. But it has been a frigid winter in the nation’s capital, and on Monday temperatures were still unseasonably chilly, not expected to reach beyond the 40s.

“It’s not going to be an easy task,” said Justin Spillman, a turf consultant overseeing the project. “It is attainable, though. On April 3, we’ll be fine.”

That’s when the Nationals host the New York Mets in an exhibition game and dress rehearsal at RFK, the former home of the NFL’s Redskins. The first regular-season baseball game in Washington since the Senators left town in 1971 will be April 14, against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“Hopefully, the paint will be dry by then,” D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission CEO Allen Lew said with a smile. “We’re pleased to say we’re on schedule to get things done for the opening games.”

And there’s plenty to do, from putting up foul poles to replacing advertising signs to building a new home clubhouse nearly from scratch. And there’s zero indication that a team called the “Nationals” is about to move in – no signs, no logos, no team colors.

Right now, there’s also a hole about 18 feet in diameter smack in the center of the infield. That’s where the retractable pitcher’s mound will go, moved up and down by three motors so it can be hidden for fellow tenant D.C. United’s Major League Soccer games.

The home-sharing presents a challenge, because turf will have to be added over the infield dirt for soccer, then removed for baseball.

Spillman and Lew said 72 hours would be ideal for making the switch, but it can be done in half the time. That’s a good thing, because D.C. United will host New England on April 23, and the Nationals have home games on April 21 and 25.

“A week would be great, and 36 hours is pushing it, but it’s accomplishable. You’re going to be working through the night,” said Spillman, who works for a company run by Chicago White Sox head groundskeeper Roger Bossard.

“As soon as a soccer game’s over, they’re pretty much going to trash the sod. It’ll go in a Dumpster.”

Soccer players might worry that the temporary grass on the infield will be unstable, perhaps leading to injuries.

“It’s tough on our end, too,” Brad Wilkerson, who plays first base and outfield for the Nationals, said last month. “You get used to the same types of hops.”

But Spillman insisted that the switching between the sports won’t be a problem.

About 110,000 square feet of sod are being trucked in from a farm in Georgia, getting arranged on the field in the next three to five days. Grass from Delmar, Md., was supposed to be used, but last week’s snowstorm made that grass too brown and led to an extra $160,000 being spent on fresh sod.

The first piece of turf was set down to zero fanfare – no applause, no ceremonial ribbon-cutting, no blare of trumpets. There wasn’t even a representative of the Nationals present.

Perhaps that’s because this is just a stopgap. The Nationals plan to use the stadium for three seasons before heading to a planned $535 million ballpark to be built along the Anacostia River waterfront.

AP-ES-03-14-05 1822EST