Clem's Baseball home

The
Washington Nationals:
Annual History *



hand point * This interactive Web page presents detailed year-by-year historical data that were formerly displayed altogether on the Washington Nationals page. That page now only shows detailed data for the current year, as well as historical annual summary data. Click on the years listed below to get the respective annual data.


2009: Desperately seeking success

The Nats played most of their April games on the road, going 5-16 for the month. New arrival Adam Dunn provided lots of slugging firepower, and Ryan Zimmerman had a 30-game hitting streak that ended on May 13. The weak spot throughout 2009 was the pitching staff, especially the bullpen. At the All-Star break, the Nats were only 26-61 (.299), and manager Manny Acta was replaced by Jim Riggleman. The team had an eight-game winning streak as well as an eight-game losing streak in August and September. Boosted by rookies Ian Desmond and Justin Maxwell, the Nats swept both the Mets and the Braves to end the season, becoming the first MLB team ever to lose their first seven games and then win the final seven games in a season.

Usual starting positions, 2009
CF: Willie Harris .235
Nyjer Morgan *
LF: Josh Willingham * .260
Adam Dunn *
RF: Elijah Dukes .250
Austin Kearns
SS: Cristian Guzman .284 2B: Anderson Hernandez * .251
Alberto Gonzalez *
3B: Ryan Zimmerman .292
1B: Adam Dunn * .267
Nick Johnson
Batting average for position players, ERA for pitchers.
Manager: Manny Acta / Jim Riggleman
C: Josh Bard * .230
Wil Nieves
* (asterisk): new player;  
Nationals' head-to-head matchups, 2009
OpponentWinsLosses
ARI51
ATL810
BAL24
BOS12
CHC25
CHW00
CIN43
CLE00
COL06
DET00
HOU33
KC00
LAA00
LAD23
FLA612
MIL35
MIN00
NYM810
NYY21
OAK00
PHI315
PIT35
SD24
SEA00
SF24
STL16
TB03
TEX00
TOR21
Total59103

Nationals, 2009: month-by-month summary
Month Wins Losses NL East place
(at end)
Number of
home games
Total
attendance
Average
attendance
April 2009 5 16 5th 9 178,230 19,803
# May 2009 9 20 5th 15 324,970 21,665
June 2009 9 17 5th 15 368,179 26,299
July 2009 9 18 5th 14 364,128 26,009
Aug. 2009 14 15 5th 13 266,379 20,491
Sept.* 2009 13 17 5th 15 316,394 21,093
2009 59 103 5th 81 1,818,280 22,531

SOURCE: My unofficial daily tabulations from MLB Gameday stats, Washington Post, and other newspapers.
* Asterisks indicate the data include March (for April) or October (for September).
# May data include the rain-suspended May 5 home game, which was finished on July 9 in Houston.


Nats winning percentages

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