{"id":9831,"date":"2015-04-29T17:14:34","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T21:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=9831"},"modified":"2015-12-11T12:14:36","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T17:14:36","slug":"greatest-and-worst-ever-nats-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=9831","title":{"rendered":"Greatest (and worst) ever Nats games & Events; updated for 2014 events and April 2015 Atlanta game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"I<\/a>

I think i would have preferred shaving cream. Photo TV screenshot via natsenquirer.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Editor note: thanks for all the suggestions; this post has evolved and edited as I’ve gotten them in comments.<\/p>\n

So, given the unbelievable comeback win<\/a> this week against Atlanta, I dug up an old topic for us to argue about.\u00a0 The “Greatest” and “Worst” ever games in Nats history.\u00a0 I had an old draft of this from the off-season, and this week’s Atlanta game coupled with the franchise’s first ever no-hitter being thrown in the last game of the 2014 regular season, as well as some new truly gut-wrenching playoff losses, I thought it was a nice time to re-post this list.<\/p>\n

(side argument; was last night’s game a “great” game given the comeback or an “awful” game, given the arguments we all just made in the last post?)<\/p>\n

This list started with a throw-away post I did a couple years ago titled “the greatest Nats games<\/a> I’ve witnessed,” but the comments section turned into a great list of the larger “greatest ever” suggestions.\u00a0 I’m counting on our crew to remind me of games that should make the best and worst lists.<\/p>\n

Here’s my updated Greatest Nats Game List<\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 Subjectively ordered from best on downwards.\u00a0 Feel free to argue.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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  1. October 11th, 2012<\/span>: NLDS Game 4<\/span><\/span>: Jayson Werth<\/strong> walk-off homer<\/a> in an epic battle against Lance Lynn<\/strong>, hitting the 13th pitch of the at-bat (!!) on a line-drive into the seats.\u00a0 Ironic that what I think is the most special game in Nats franchise history occurred the day before what I consider to be the worst game in franchise history.\u00a0 (note; thanks to my former coworker Eric Hay for correcting me on my pitch count memory here in the comments).<\/li>\n
  2. April 14th, 2005: First home game as a franchise: April 14 2005<\/a> (even though half the crowd was stuck outside waiting to go through metal detectors for the first two innings thanks to George W. Bush<\/strong>‘s publicized appearance to throw out the first pitch).<\/li>\n
  3. March 30th, 2008: Nats Park Opener 2008<\/a>. I was in Las Vegas for a bachelor party that weekend and took a 4am flight out of Vegas to get back to Washington in time to catch the game.\u00a0 It was cold, it looked like the bullpen had blown it … and then Ryan Zimmerman<\/strong> hit the latest in a long string of walk-off homers to win it in the bottom of the 9th.\u00a0 Fantastic.<\/li>\n
  4. September 29th, 2014: Jordan Zimmermann<\/strong>‘s season-closing no-hitter 2014<\/a>, with the amazing game-ending catch by Steven Souza<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  5. June 18th, 2006: Fathers Day versus the Yankees 2006<\/a>.\u00a0 An attendance record that stood for this franchise until the 2012 playoffs, a walk-off win over the powerful visiting Yankees and a bright spot during an otherwise dismal season.<\/li>\n
  6. June 8th, 2010: Stephen Strasburg<\/strong>‘s 14-k debut: still the franchise record for strikeouts in a game and just about the most electric debut this team has ever seen.\u00a0 A college-aged kid made the Pittsburgh Pirates look like a little league team.\u00a0 The Nats manipulated Strasburg’s service time to avoid the “super-2” status; it was worth the wait.<\/li>\n
  7. October 7th, 2012: NLDS Game 1: 2-run rally<\/a> in the 8th on Tyler Moore<\/strong>‘s flair to beat the Cardinals in St. Louis in the first ever playoff game for the team.\u00a0 In theory it should have completely set up the Nats to cruise through the series.\u00a0 Didn’t quite happen that way (see worst games ever)<\/li>\n
  8. October 6th, 2014: Beating Madison Bumgarner<\/strong> in the 2014 NLDS<\/a>; our only 2014 post-season win and the only time Bumgarner lost that post-season.<\/li>\n
  9. September 4th, 2006: Ramon Ortiz<\/strong>‘ near no-hitter in 2006<\/a>, a game where he took a no-hitter into the 9th, hit his first (and only) career home run, but wasn’t able to even get a complete game after Albert Pujols<\/strong> crushed a ball 450 feet to dead-center at RFK the batter after he lost the no-no.\u00a0 Still a fun night.<\/li>\n
  10. April 28th, 2012: Bryce Harper<\/strong>‘s debut in LA<\/a> , featuring his tomahawk double straight over Kemp’s head for his first hit and watching him run around the bases like the excited teen-ager he actually was.\u00a0 Should Harper have been up with the team from the get-go?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Not sure how we beat my #1 game until we see some dramatic walk-off post-season series winner.<\/p>\n

    Honorable Mentions<\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n