2009 Washington Nationals season

The Washington Nationals' 2009 season was the fifth season for the American baseball franchise of Major League Baseball in the District of Columbia, and the 41st since the original team was started in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It involved the Nationals attempting to win the National League East Division after a disappointing 59–102 season the year before.

2009 Washington Nationals
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record59–103 (.364)
Divisional place5th
Other information
Owner(s)Lerner Enterprises
General manager(s)Jim Bowden, Mike Rizzo
Manager(s)Manny Acta, Jim Riggleman
Local televisionMASN
WDCW (CW 50)
Bob Carpenter, Ray Knight, Rob Dibble
Local radioWWWT
Charlie Slowes, Dave Jageler
< Previous season     Next season >

On July 12, manager Manny Acta was fired and replaced with bench coach Jim Riggleman, though only as an interim manager. Under Acta, the Nationals compiled an MLB worst 26–61 record in 2009 through the All-Star break and a 158–252 record in Acta's three seasons with the Nationals. Riggleman would be named full-time manager in November 2009.

The Nationals finished the year with a 59–103 record, worse than the year before by one loss. For the second straight season, they finished with the worst record in Major League Baseball.

Nationals' third baseman Ryan Zimmerman won a Gold Glove Award as the best defensive third baseman in the National League and a Silver Slugger Award as the best offensive third baseman in the league.

Offseason

On November 3, 2008, the Nationals traded minor-leaguer Ryan Buchter to the Chicago Cubs for minor-leaguer Matt Avery.[1] On November 10, 2008, they traded Emilio Bonifacio and minor-leaguers Jake Smolinski and P. J. Dean to the Florida Marlins for Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham.[2]

Changed uniforms

For the 2009 season, the Nationals altered their uniforms. The interlocking "DC" was removed from the star-spangled circle and moved to the left sleeve of both the home and away uniforms. It also has removed from the alternate red jersey and replaced with the "curly W" from the team's cap. A new navy alternate jersey with the interlocked "DC" on the left chest in a "stars and stripes" flag pattern, which has also been emulated on the alternate navy cap, which was worn several times in 2009. Finally, in a tribute to the former baseball teams in the District of Columbia, a script writing of the city name replaced the block lettering, emulating the Senators' script of the 1950s and 1960s – though as those teams used "Senators" on both their home and away uniforms, this marks the first time the "curly W" has actually appeared as part of the word "Washington" on an MLB jersey.

The uniforms gained notoriety when on April 17 in a game against the Florida Marlins, the jerseys of Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn read "Natinals" on the front of the jersey instead of "Nationals" for the first three innings of the game.[3] The Nationals did not catch the error as they only checked the back of the shirts, not the front, but were able to assign to Dunn and Zimmerman the correct jerseys later in the game.[4] The company who manufactured the jerseys, Majestic Athletic, apologized for the error.

Advertising and marketing

The Nationals′ marketing and advertising theme for the 2009 season was "Natstown," capturing the idea that all Nationals fans at the ballpark, in the community, and in their everyday lives were participating in a single community centered around the team. The marketing campaign urged fans to "Get Your Red On," a reference to wearing the team's colors to show one′s team spirit.[5]

Mascot

In March 2009, the Nationals introduced a new version of Screech, their bald eagle mascot who wears the home cap and jersey of the team. The original Screech who "hatched" at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 2005 during the third home game in Nationals history and had appeared at the team's home games during its first four seasons in Washington, was chubby, but the new Screech was slim. The Nationals explained that they had redesigned Screech because he had "grown up" and become a "teenager."[6]

Spring training

The Nationals held their 2009 spring training in Viera, Florida, with home games played at Space Coast Stadium.

Regular season

Season standings
NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Phillies 9369 0.574 — 45–36 48–33
Florida Marlins 8775 0.537 6 43–38 44–37
Atlanta Braves 8676 0.531 7 40–41 46–35
New York Mets 7092 0.432 23 41–40 29–52
Washington Nationals 59103 0.364 34 33–48 26–55

Record vs. opponents
2009 National League Records

Source:
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL WSH AL
Arizona–3–44-21–57-115–35–47-112–55–21–56–111-75-132–41–55–10
Atlanta4–3–4–23–64–48-103-34–33–313–510-83–43–33–44–210-87–8
Chicago2-42–4–10-52–44–311–63–510-73-31–510-44–54-26-105–26–9
Cincinnati5-16-35-10–0-73-312-41-58-72-42-513-51-63-38-83-46-9
Colorado11-74-44-27-0–2-42-54-146-03-42-46-310-88-106-16-011-4
Florida3-510-83-43-34-2–4–33-33-411-79-92-44-23-43-312-610-8
Houston4–53-36-114-125-23-4–4–35-101-56-210-56-12-46-93-36-9
Los Angeles11-73-45-35-114-43-33-4–3–35-14-34-310-811-72-53-29-9
Milwaukee5-23-37-107-80-64-310-53-3–3-34-39-52-44-59-95-35-10
New York2-55-133-34-24-37-115-11-53-3–6-124-32-55-34-510-85–10
Philadelphia5-18-105-15-24-29-92-63-43-412-6–4-25-23-44-115-36-12
Pittsburgh1-64-34-105-133-64-25-103-45-93-42-4–3-42-45-105-38–7
San Diego7-113-35-46-18-102-41-68-104-25-22-54-3–10-81-64-25–10
San Francisco13-54–32–43–310-84–34–27-115-43–54–34–28-10–4–34–29–6
St. Louis4-22-410-68-81-63-39-65-29-95-41-410-56-13-4–6–19–6
Washington5-18-102-54-30-66-123-32-33-58-103-153-52-42-41-6–7–11

Opening Day lineup
Opening Day Starters
NamePosition
Lastings MilledgeCenter fielder
Cristian GuzmánShortstop
Ryan ZimmermanThird baseman
Adam DunnLeft fielder
Nick JohnsonFirst baseman
Austin KearnsRight fielder
Ronnie BelliardSecond baseman
Jesús FloresCatcher
John LannanStarting pitcher

Notable transactions

Draft

The 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place from June 9 to June 11. With their first pick – the first pick overall – the Nationals selected pitcher Stephen Strasburg. Other notable players the Nationals selected were pitcher Drew Storen (10th overall, a first-round supplemental pick they received for failing to sign Aaron Crow in 2008), second baseman Jeff Kobernus (second round, 50th overall), shortstop Michael A. Taylor (sixth round, 172nd overall), pitcher Taylor Jordan (ninth round, 262nd overall), pitcher Nate Karns (12th round, 352nd overall), and pitcher Marcus Stroman (18th round, 532nd overall).[14] Stroman opted not to sign with the team.

Roster
2009 Washington Nationals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

 Manager

Coaches

Attendance

Finishing with the worst record in Major League Baseball for the second consecutive year, the Nationals drew only 1,817,226 fans at Nationals Park in 2009, placing them 13th in attendance among the 16 National League teams for the second year in a row. It was the lowest attendance total in their short history in Washington.[15] Their highest attendance at a home game was on April 5, when they drew 41,290 for a game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Opening Day, while their lowest was 10,999 for a game against the Houston Astros on September 20. Their average home attendance was 22,716 per game, their lowest since arriving in Washington in 2005, but slightly higher than their average the following season.[16]

Game log
Legend
 Nationals win
 Nationals loss
 Postponement
BoldNationals team member
2009 Game Log

Player stats

Batting

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Pos Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG SB
C Josh Bard 59 185 15 45 13 0 2 22 .243 0
P Joe Beimel 39 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
2B Ronnie Belliard 71 147 18 34 5 1 3 14 .231 2
P Jason Bergmann 29 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
OF Roger Bernadina 3 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 .250 0
P Daniel Cabrera 9 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
MI Alex Cintrón 21 26 1 2 0 0 0 0 .077 0
P Jesús Colomé 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
P Ross Detwiler 8 13 1 1 0 0 0 1 .077 0
RF Elijah Dukes 67 230 22 57 15 1 7 42 .248 2
UT Adam Dunn 113 392 58 110 23 0 30 85 .281 0
C Jesús Flores 26 90 13 28 3 2 4 15 .311 0
MI Alberto González 66 187 19 50 12 2 1 23 .267 1
SS Cristian Guzmán 95 398 59 127 20 6 5 40 .319 3
P Joel Hanrahan 32 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
CF Willie Harris 91 196 30 45 13 3 4 19 .230 9
2B Anderson Hernández 77 231 25 58 9 2 1 23 .251 5
P Mike Hinckley 14 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
1B Nick Johnson 98 353 47 104 16 2 6 44 .295 2
RF Austin Kearns 80 174 20 34 6 2 3 17 .195 1
P Logan Kensing 16 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
P John Lannan 22 42 1 7 1 0 0 0 .167 0
P Wil Ledezma 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
P Mike MacDougal 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
P Shairon Martis 13 24 4 5 1 0 0 2 .208 0
CF Justin Maxwell 13 24 1 3 1 0 0 1 .125 3
CF Lastings Milledge 7 24 1 4 0 0 0 1 .167 1
P Garrett Mock 18 9 1 1 0 0 0 0 .111 0
C Wil Nieves 47 147 13 36 6 0 0 16 .245 0
P Scott Olsen 11 15 1 2 0 0 0 1 .133 0
OF Corey Patterson 5 15 0 2 0 0 0 0 .133 0
P Saúl Rivera 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
P Steven Shell 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
P Craig Stammen 14 25 1 5 2 0 0 3 .200 0
P Julián Tavárez 38 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
P Ron Villone 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
P Kip Wells 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
LF Josh Willingham 90 280 53 85 24 0 18 46 .304 3
P Jordan Zimmermann 15 27 1 4 0 0 0 2 .148 0
3B Ryan Zimmerman 110 439 85 134 26 1 24 76 .305 1
Totals 162 5493 710 1416 271 38 156 685 .258 73

Pitching

Table is sortable.

Note: Pos = Position; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Pos Player W L ERA G GS SV IP R ER BB K
RP Joe Beimel 0 3 3.81 28 0 1 26.0 11 11 9 14
RP Jason Bergmann 0 1 6.91 14 0 0 14.1 12 11 7 8
Daniel Cabrera 0 5 5.85 9 8 0 40.0 39 26 35 16
Jesús Colomé 0 0 8.00 9 0 0 9.0 8 8 3 8
Ross Detwiler 0 3 5.23 6 6 0 32.2 20 19 14 23
Joel Hanrahan 0 3 6.35 29 0 5 28.1 20 20 12 32
Mike Hinckley 0 0 4.66 14 0 0 9.2 5 5 11 3
Logan Kensing 0 1 18.00 6 0 0 5.0 10 10 4 2
SP John Lannan 3 5 3.51 13 13 0 77.0 36 30 31 38
Wilfredo Ledezma 0 0 9.53 5 0 0 5.2 7 6 4 8
SP Shairon Martis 5 1 4.76 13 13 0 75.2 42 40 34 29
CL Mike MacDougal 0 0 1.29 8 0 0 7.0 4 1 4 6
SP Garrett Mock 0 2 6.92 13 0 0 13.0 10 10 8 6
Scott Olsen 1 4 7.24 8 8 0 41.0 36 33 18 29
Saúl Rivera 0 3 8.49 10 0 0 11.2 11 11 5 8
Steven Shell 0 0 5.40 4 0 0 5.0 3 3 2 5
SP Craig Stammen 0 2 5.86 5 5 0 27.2 20 18 9 13
RP Julián Tavárez 2 4 4.26 29 0 1 25.1 16 12 16 24
Ron Villone 3 4 1.83 23 0 0 19.2 5 4 10 10
Kip Wells 0 2 6.26 19 0 2 23.0 16 16 15 16
SP Jordan Zimmermann 2 3 5.37 10 10 0 57.0 34 34 16 60
Totals 59 103 5.00 162 162 33 1424.1 874 791 629 911

Team leaders

Qualifying players only.

Batting
Stat Player Total
Avg.Ryan Zimmerman.292
HRAdam Dunn38
RBIRyan Zimmerman106
RRyan Zimmerman110
HRyan Zimmerman178
SBNyjer Morgan24

Pitching
Stat Player Total
WJohn Lannan
Liván Hernández		9
LJohn Lannan13
ERAJohn Lannan3.88
SOJordan Zimmermann92
SVMike MacDougal20
IPJohn Lannan206.1

Awards and honors

All-Stars

Annual awards

Minor League System

The future for the Nationals seemed to show promise in 2009 with their Gulf Coast League affiliate qualifying for the playoffs. The significance of this to the 2009 Major League team was that it demonstrated that the team was attempting to improve on its performance and had the prospects to do so.

ClassTeamLeagueManagerRecordFinish
AAASyracuse ChiefsInternational LeagueTim Foli76–68 .5282nd North Division
AAHarrisburg SenatorsEastern LeagueJohn Stearns70–72 .4935th Southern Division
High APotomac NationalsCarolina LeagueTrent Jewett79–58 .5772nd Northern Division
Low AHagerstown SunsSouth Atlantic LeagueMatthew LeCroy56–78 .4188th Northern Division
Short Season AVermont Lake MonstersNew York–Penn LeagueJeff Garber34–41 .4533rd Stedler Division
RookieGulf Coast League NationalsGulf Coast LeagueBob Henley36–19 .6552nd East Division, Won Wild Card, Lost GCL Finals 2–0 to Gulf Coast League Marlins
RookieDSL NationalsDominican Summer LeagueJuan Benhardt29–42 .40810th Boca Chica Division

Notes
  1. The two games on June 4 were played as a single-admission doubleheader with attendance counted only for the two games combined.

References
  1. "Find Franchise Trade History between Washington Nationals & Chicago Cubs - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  2. "Find Franchise Trade History between Washington Nationals & Miami Marlins - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  3. "Company apologizes for 'Natinals' jersey error". ESPN.com. April 22, 2009.
  4. "Meet your new MLB team: The Washington Natinals". Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved July 16, 2009.
  5. "Anonymous, "Washington Nationals invite Nationals fans to visit NatsTown and get your red on," Washington Nationals press release, February 5, 2009, 11:47 AM EST".
  6. Steinberg, Dan, "About Screech's Unveiling", washingtonpost.com, March 2, 2009
  7. "Find Franchise Trade History between Washington Nationals & San Diego Padres - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  8. "Find Franchise Trade History between Washington Nationals & Seattle Mariners - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  9. "Find Franchise Trade History between Washington Nationals & Pittsburgh Pirates - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  10. "Find Franchise Trade History between Washington Nationals & Colorado Rockies - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  11. "Find Franchise Trade History between Washington Nationals & Chicago White Sox - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  12. "Find Franchise Trade History between Washington Nationals & New York Mets - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  13. "Find Franchise Trade History between Washington Nationals & Los Angeles Dodgers - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  14. "2009 Washington Nationals Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  15. "2009 Washington Nationals Schedule - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  16. "Washington Nationals Attendance Records (1969 - 2018) by Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com.
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