The Nationals somehow defeated the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night despite trotting out what might have been the worst starting lineup of all time. With Ryan Zimmerman, Adam LaRoche and Michael Morse all sitting, the Nationals' lineup looked like this.
- Ian Desmond
- Rick Ankiel
- Jayson Werth
- Matt Stairs
- Wilson Ramos
- Laynce Nix
- Danny Espinosa
- Jerry Hairston Jr.
- Livan Hernandez
Just how bad is that lineup? On average, that lineup produced a batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage of .244/.302/.407 last season. A Baseball Reference search suggested this makes that lineup most similar to the following players.
Kevin Kouzmanoff, Oakland Athletics (.247/.283/.396)
Jeff Francoeur, Kansas City Royals (.249/.300/.383)
Bengie Molina, Texas Rangers (.249/.297/.326)
In a way, the Phillies lost to a team of nine Kevin Kouzmanoffs, or nine Jeff Francouers, or nine Bengie Molinas. No matter how well Philadelphia does this season, they'll always have to own up to what happened on April 12, 2011.
(Thanks to Jon Bois of SBNation.com for the help)