Historical Moments:
2005: Baseball finally returned to Washington, DC 34 years after the Senators left for Texas, as the wayward Montreal Expos still without an owner moved to the Nation's capital.
Immediately after unveiling their logo Nationals apparel became one of the
hottest sellers as baseball starved fans on the Potomac swiped it up, as plans
for a new ballpark that is scheduled to open in 2008 were announced, while MLB
sought bidders for permanent ownership in Washington. The Nationals would start
the season on the road playing their first nine games and compiling a 5-4 record
including an April 6th game in which Brad Wilkerson delivered a cycle in the
Nationals first ever win against the Philadelphia Phillies. On April 14th baseball
finally returned to Nation's Capital as President George W. Bush keeping
with an old Presidential tradition threw out the first pitch as the Nationals beat
the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 at RFK Stadium, the old home of the Senators.
The Nationals would go on to compile a respectable 13-11 record at the end of the
first month. The Nationals would remain hot over the next two months and led
the National League Eastern Division by five and half games over the Atlanta Braves
entering the 4th of July with a record of 51-30. However, hosting the New
York Mets for a four game series the Nationals began to sputter as the Mets took
three-of-four games as the Nats went into the second half losing five-of-seven
at RFK Stadium to division opponents. After the break the Nationals struggles
continued as their grip on first place quickly slipped away, as by the time they
entered a three game series with the Braves in Atlanta the lead was gone. The
Nats would be swept in the series and would never see first place again. The
Nationals continued to struggle in August as they ended losing a total 24-of 32-games
over a five week period ending on August 11th. The Nationals would stop
the sinking with a three game sweep of the Colorado Rockies to keep them in the
Wild Card Race as all five National League East teams had .500 or better records
and were in thick of the playoff chase heading into September. However, the
Nats would quickly fall off in the race as they began to slip further in the NL
East Standings as a three game sweep at the hands of the Mets dropped them to
.500, and into last place where they would post an 81-81 record. Among the individual
highlights for the first year Nationals were Chad Cordero who won the National
League Fireman Award with 47 saves, while Livan Hernandez led the team
with a 15-10 record. At the plate homers were scarce in cavernous RFK Stadium as
Jose Guillen led the team with 24 homers and 76 RBI.
2006: As the Nationals entered year two plans were still be finalized for the new stadium,
while an owner was finally found as the group led by Washington area real estate
millionaire Ted Lerner won the bidding at $450 Million. Lerner would take
over in July naming longtime Atlanta Braves exec Stan Kasten as the team's President.
On the field the Nationals made news by acquiring Alfonso Soriano in a
trade with the Texas Rangers. The trade seemed extra risky with Soriano becoming
a free agent at the end of the season, as he expressed displeasure with being
moved from Second Base to Left Field by Manager Frank Robinson. After threatening
to refuse to play Soriano agreed to move to the outfield and had the finest
season of his career, becoming just the fourth player in baseball history to have
a 40-40 season with 46 homers and 41 stolen bases. However, Soriano's success
did not translate into wins, as the Nationals struggled from the very beginning
of the season as they won just two of their first 11 games on the way to a
horrible 8-17 April. The Nationals would not recover from their poor start and
would spend almost the entire season rotting in Last Place in the National League
East, as they ended the year with a record of 71-91. As the season ended Manager
Frank Robinson was let go ending a storied 50-year Hall of Fame career in
baseball. Meanwhile the Nationals who made a halfhearted attempt to trade Alfonso
Soriano at the trade deadline, watched helplessly as he signed a eight year
contract worth $136 million with the Chicago Cubs.
2007: In year three the Nationals secure with a new owner and a new stadium under construction
began the process of settling into the Washington DC market as they had
a new manager in Manny Acta as they started to focus on the future, as they hired
former Atlanta Braves President Stan Kasten to run the team's baseball operations.
Heading into their final season at RFK Stadium, not much was expected of
the Nats, as they got off to a terrible 9-25 start. However, as the year went
on the Nationals played much better as they won 13 of their next 20 games, and
proved to be pesky to some of the top teams in their division. None more pesky
then the New York Mets, whom the Nationals beat five times in the final two weeks
of the regular season to knock them out of first place and out of the playoffs,
as they played .500 ball after the All-Star Break, finishing in fourth place
with a record of 73-89.
2008: On March 30th the future began for the Nationals, as they opened their brand new
stadium, Nationals Park with a Nationally Televised Sunday Night game against the
Atlanta Braves. In holding to tradition President George W. Bush once again
threw out the first pitch, but the last pitch is the one that would bring Nats
fans to their feet, as Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-out two-run walk off home run to
give the Nats a thrilling 3-2 win. However, there would not be much more to cheer
in the earl part of the season, as the Nats quickly found themselves in last
place, posting a 9-17 record in April, after winning their first two games that
were played in March. Things would not get much better from there as the Nationals
took it on the chin through out the season, including an awful July in
which they won just five games, as they topped 100 losses, posting a terrible record
of 59-102.
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