2008 in review

2008 for me was an infuriating year watching Nationals baseball. We had lots of downsides, including a 59-102 record. Everyone says injuries can't determine a season, but the injuries were the cause of the season. Here's what we could had if there were no injuries:

• Paul LoDuca with a solid batting average.
  
• Nick Johnson, great fielding and a .416 on-base percentage.
• Dmitri Young, Good backup for Johnson.
• Ryan Zimmerman, 30 home runs and a Gold Glove.
• Austin Kearns, not missing much here.
• Wily Mo Pena, if a starter, 20-35 HR.
• Elijah Dukes, If he had 600 at-bats, he would've been on pace for 28 home runs, 30 steals.
• Chad Cordero, 30 saves and a ERA<>
• Shawn Hill, 13+ wins and a ERA less than 3.80.

Those are only the major injuries. Also Chris Marrero broke his leg early in the season. I'll go by each month of 2008, see what they accomplished, and what the highlights were.

January

The Nats didn't do anything, except for a point-less singing of Johnny Estrada.

February

They didn't do anything major in February.

March

For me, March was the best month of the year. Forget a 11-18 preseason, and remember the first 2 games of Nationals Park. The first game was an exhibition against the O's, and the Nats won, 3-0. The next night was officially the first regular season game at Nat's park. It was fun seeing Johnson live for the first time ( I started being a Nats fan at the beginning of the 2007 season, when Johnson was still injured.) In the 9th inning, I was watching the game with a friend . Zimmerman was up, and two pitches into the at-bat I say," He's going to hit a walk-off homer." My friend said it was going to extras. Zimmerman did hit the homer, and even though I predicted it, I could not believe it. Believe it or not, the Nationals were 1-0.

April

The Nats went 2-0 to start April, and I thought the Nats were headed to the world series. I was wrong when the Nats went on to have a nine-game losing streak. My friend is a huge Cub fan so we went to see a Cub-Nats game at Nats park. It was the 9th inning and Wil Nieves was up. He hits his first major league homer as a walk-off against Bob( hittable) Howry. So, to today, when we see Nieves up and it says "1HR" I say: "Hmmm..... who do you think that homer was against?". It was still a really bad month, the Nats went 9-16.

May

May wasn't that bad for the Nats, going 13-16, but a lot of players were in slumps. The Nats took three out of four from Pittsburgh, which included Ryan Zimmerman ending his streak of 205 consecutive games played in.On the 8th the Nats had to put Paul LoDuca and Johnny Estrada on the DL. Those two were really some pointless signings, especially Estrada. The Nats were playing the Mets when everyone in the Nats dugout started chanting: "Kearnsy! Kearnsy! Kearnsy!"
Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa got furious at this and after the game said the Nationals were "Cheering like a bunch of softball girls". Nick Johnson got injured for the second time that year and this time would not return. Throughout the month of may, Jesus Flores proved to be a great catcher. He was good at handling the pitching staff, hitting for power, but most of all hitting with runners in scoring position. Flores hit a league-leading .391 with runners in scoring position.

June

The Nationals started out 0-3 in June, and than played a game against the Cardinals I went to, where the Nats were winning 7-0 in the fourth inning. Than the Cards came back to tie it, 8-8. In the top of the 10th, The Cardinals took the lead, 9-8. Elijah Dukes who had been terrible up until then hit a walk off home run. From that day on Dukes started to really hit, leading all outfielders in batting average in June with .330. I also went to an O's-Nats game at Nats park with some Oriole fans, and it was one of the most exciting games I've ever seen. Jason Bergmann and Jeremy Guthrie each had outstanding performances, going into extra innings it was 1-1. In the top of the 12th the O's took a 2-1 lead. Amazing closer George Sherrill took the mound when my friend said: " The Nats don't have a chance against Sherrill.". With two outs Dmitri walked and Belliard was up. The first two pitches were strikes and O's fans started chanting: " Lets go home! Lets go home!" I guess Belliard heard that so he hit a walk-off home run. Other than that June was long and tiring for the Nats, going 9-18.

July

The worst month of the season period. In the first game Collin Ballestar pitched very well in his major league debut, but after that was one big disaster. They went 5-19 that month and that's all I'm going to say about how they played. Cristian Guzman made it in to the all-star game even though I thought Jon Rauch deserved it more.

August

The Nationals got rid of Paul LoDuca and Felipe Lopez. LoDuca couldn't hit or throw out runners and Felipe Lopez is the biggest jerk I've ever seen. Not long after the Nats traded Jon Rauch for Emilio Bonifacio. I thought it was a huge mistake giving up a closer with a ERA of 2.98 for a no-hit second basemen. I easily changed my mind when the Nats went 7-1 to start August. Everyone was hitting, Bonifacio and Alberto Gonzalez especially. I was really happy, and just when I think there might be room for a .500 record, there's a 12 game losing streak. Just when I'm about to give up on the Nats, they go 8-2 the rest of August. Altogether they went 14-15.

September

The Nats struggled in September, going 7-17, having their ups and downs. Ryan Zimmerman had a great September, hitting for a great average and finding his power stroke again. The Nats tried out four rookies: Shiron Martis, Levale Speigner, Mick Hinkley, and Luke Montz. Martis had some brilliant starts and some pathetic ones that make him have a ERA over 5.00. Speigner stunk last year and stunk in limited play here to, going 0-1 with a ERA of 11.25. Montz didn't do to well either, going 3-21 with one home run. Hinkley did the best of all, throwing 13 and two thirds scoreless innings pitched.

October

The Nationals didn't do much in October, the only moves they did make was some of their coaching staff. Jim Rigglemen is the Nats new bench coach, Marquis Grissom is their new first base coach, Pat Listach new third base coach, Rick Eckstein new hitting coach, Randy Knorr new bullpen coach.

November

The Nats made one move in November, they traded Emilio Bonifacio, P.J. Dean, and Jake Smolinski to the Fish for Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham.

December

In December, the Nationals expressed their interest in signing Mark Texeiria. At one point it loked as if the Nats,O's, and Red Sox were the only ones going to get him. Than, out of nowhere, the Yankees sign him to a 8 year deal. Also the Nationals invited Jorge Sosa and Corey Patterson to spring training.
Obviously not a very good year. The biggest key to 2009 for the Nats is staying healthy.