Washington Nationals: Ranking The Past Opening Day Lineups
By Ricky Keeler
2008 – 11.2
The 2008 Washington Nationals were one of two teams that finished with only 59 wins in franchise history. The other we will get into later on our countdown. In Manny Acta’s second season as manager, the Nats only had three players on the team that finished with a WAR above two.
Those three players were shortstop Cristian Guzman (4.6), third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (2.7), and left fielder Elijah Dukes (2.3). Zimmerman ended up being tied for the team lead in home runs (14), Dukes led the team in on-base percentage (.386), and Guzman led the team with a .316 batting average.
As for the negatives, the Opening Day lineup had three players finish with a negative WAR. Those were catcher Paul Lo Duca (-0.9), left fielder Lastings Milledge (-0.2), and right fielder Austin Kearns (-1.2). Lo Duca and Kearns each played in fewer than 100 games while Milledge finished the year with 14 home runs.
The starter that night against the Braves was Odalis Perez, who went 7-12 with a 4.34 ERA in 30 starts that year (1.4 WAR). It took Perez till May 12th to get his first win that year, but he had a good Opening night against the Braves in the inaugural game at Nats Park (five innings, one run, four hits, two strikeouts, one walk).
Of course, everyone remembers that night for the walk-off heroics by Zimmerman. After a passed ball allowed the Braves to tie the game in the top of the ninth, Zimmerman’s solo home run in the bottom of the inning against Peter Moylan sealed the team’s first Opening Day win.
While there weren’t many happy moments that season for the fan base, at least they always have Opening Day to fall back on.