Washington Nationals Countdown to Spring Training: 7 Days

The off-season is almost over. Less than three weeks until Washington Nationals pitchers and catchers report to Viera. To celebrate this fact, we here at DistrictOnDeck will commence a countdown of sorts pointing out interesting facts about numbers.

18 Days
17 Days
16 Days
15 Days
14 Days
13 Days
12 Days
11 Days
10 Days
9 Days
8 Days

Down to the final week. You can almost feel the sun shining down on the freshly cut grass. Oh, who am I kidding. You really can’t. It’s still cold.

Jul 19, 2012; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals third baseman Mark DeRosa (7) is congratulated by manager Davey Johnson after scoring a run against the New York Mets during the sixth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The all-time franchise leader in home runs in seasons where they played at least 50 per cent of games as a left fielder is Tim Raines. That is surprising as the left field spot is often a power spot in the batting order, but neither longevity or power was something that has been seen from the position. Raines had 96. He was followed by Moises Alou (84) and Henry Rodriguez (63). They are followed by two Nationals players, Alfonso Soriano (46) and Josh Willingham (40). The rest of the top seven are Mack Jones (39) and Ivan Calderon (22). In terms of current Nationals, Tyler Moore had 10 last year.

The best hitting performance coming from the number seven spot in the order was by Gary Carter. On April 20, 1977 Carter went 3/4 with 3 HR and 4 RBI in a 8-6 loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sean Berry is next with a 3/3, 1 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBI game on August 25, 1995 against the San Francisco Giants. From a Nationals perspective, two players have at least 10 total bases from the No. 7 spot in the line up and both did it against the Toronto Blue Jays. Marlon Anderson on June 29, 2006 (3/3, 2 HR, 1 2B, 3 RBI) and Tyler Moore on June 13, 2012 (3/4, 2 HR, 1 2B, 6 RBI).

One last pitching note to show how dominant Pedro Martinez was in is 1997 Cy Young season. He went seven innings in 16 consecutive starts from June 3-September 20. He went 9-7 in those starts, with 10 complete games, three shut outs and a 1.76 ERA. He also had 172 strikeouts in 132.2 innings.

Notable players to wear 7 with the Expos/Nationals: Hubie Brooks, F.P. Santangelo, Brad Wilkerson, Wiki Gonzalez, Felipe Lopez, Nook Logan, Roger Bernadina, Emilio Bonifacio, Josh Bard, Ivan Rodriguez, Mark DeRosa