The
Washington Nationals:
Annual History *

2006: Soriano raises hopes, then reality sinks in

The acquisition of free agent Alfonso Soriano from the Texas Rangers raised hopes that the Nationals might do even better in 2006, but they lost nine of their first ten home games. They did much better from late May until the middle of June, including their first interleague series against the Orioles and the Yankees. The Nats prevailed in both series, with two dramatic comeback wins against the Yanks, including Ryan Zimmerman's first career walk-off home run. In late July they achieved consecutive sweeps at home against the Cubs and Giants, but could not hold the momentum. They managed a winning record in September, but the loss of the final three games to the Mets provided a fitting end to a disappointing season.

Usual starting positions, 2006

CF: Marlon Byrd .223 Ryan Church

LF: Alfonso Soriano * .277

RF: Jose Guillen .216 Austin Kearns *

SS: Royce Clayton * .269 Felipe Lopez

2B: Jose Vidro .289

3B: Ryan Zimmerman * .287

PITCHING ROTATION Ramon Ortiz 5.57 Tony Armas 5.03 Livan Hernandez 5.34 Michael O'Connor 4.80 Pedro Astacio 5.98 Chad Cordero (closer) 3.19

1B: Nick Johnson .290

Batting average for position players, ERA for pitchers. Manager: Frank Robinson

C: Brian Schneider .256

* (asterisk): new player

Nationals' head-to-head matchups, 2006

Opponent	Wins	Losses
ARI	5	1
ATL	8	10
BAL	3	3
BOS	0	3
CHC	4	2
CHW	0	0
CIN	1	5
CLE	0	0
COL	0	8
DET	0	0
HOU	4	4
KC	0	0
LAA	0	0
LAD	2	4
FLA	7	11
MIL	5	1
MIN	0	0
NYM	6	12
NYY	2	1
OAK	0	0
PHI	10	9
PIT	3	3
SD	1	5
SEA	0	0
SF	5	1
STL	3	4
TB	2	1
TEX	0	0
TOR	0	3
Total	71	91

2006 memorable moments

• Apr. 21 -- Three home runs by Alfonso Soriano help beat the Braves, 7-3.
• May 3 -- The Nationals franchise is sold (for $450m) to the Lerner family.
• May 13 -- Braves win 8-5 on Jeff Francouer's bottom of the 9th grand slam.
• June 17 -- Nats erase 7-run deficit and beat Yanks at home, 11-9.
• June 18 -- Nats beat Yanks 3-2 on Zimmerman's 2-run bottom of the 9th HR.
• July 3 -- Zimmerman HR; Nats beat DevilRays 6-2. (I was there!)
• July 6 -- Marlins beat Nats in D.C., 18-9.
• Aug. 15 -- Pedro Astacio pitches complete 2-hit game; Nats 5, Braves 0.
• Sept. 27 -- Phillies win 8-7 in 14 innings after Nats score in 9th, 10th & 14th.
• Sept. 30 -- Mets 13, Nats 0; Julio Franco (age 48!) homers. (I was there!)
• Oct. 1 -- Frank Robinson bids farewell to appreciative fans at RFK.

"@" = away game

Nationals, 2006: month-by-month summary

Month	Wins	Losses	NL East place (at end)	Number of home games	Total attendance	Average attendance
April 2006	8	17	4th	8	202,430	25,304
May 2006	14	15	4th	15	390,393	26,026
June 2006	11	16	5th	12	357,325	29,777
July 2006	14	11	5th	15	412,751	27,517
Aug. 2006	9	18	5th	13	352,350	27,104
Sept.* 2006	15	14	5th	18	436,829	24,268
2006 TOTAL	71	91	5th	81	2,152,078	26,569
SOURCE: My unofficial daily tabulations from MLB Gameday stats, Washington Post, and other newspapers. * Asterisks indicate the data include March (for April) or October (for September).