On March 30, 2008, Cristian Guzman had the first hit at Nationals’ Park, a lead-off single to right in the first inning off Atlanta’s Tim Hudson. Before he could enjoy the moment, however, Hudson picked him off.
Still, Guzman went on to become the Nationals’ only 2008 all-star, hitting a career-best .316 for a team that lost 102 games. And he had several other achievements of note that season.
In an 11-game stretch from June 7 to June 18, Guzman tied an obscure record for the wild-card-era set by Tony Gwynn in 1999: Both players went 11 consecutive games without striking out or drawing a walk. In other words, they put the ball in play every time they were up.
For Hall-of-Famer Gwynn, this hardly might have been worth noting. He struck out just 14 times in 446 plate appearances at age 39 and walked 29 times. Guzman didn’t draw many walks, either — just 23 all season in 612 plate appearances, but he struck out 57 times, still the fifth lowest rate in the league per at bats, if not near Gwynn’s level. His matching of this Gwynn record wasn’t noted in the media for either man at the time.
In any case, Miguel Tejada matched the Gwynn/Guzman mark of 11 games with no walk or strikeouts in 2009 before Ichiro Suzuki extended the record to 12 games in 2012. But as of 2025, in this era of three true outcomes, Ichiro’s record stills stands, with Gwynn, Guzman and Tejada tied for second.
During an August 2008 hot streak, Guzman on the 28th hit for the cycle, which earned him a share of the N.L. Player-of-the-Week award (with pitcher Bronson Arroyo). He hit .552 (16-for-39) with six multi-hit games. The Nats won all six games that week. Yet on August 31, the day the award was announced, Guzman was given a day off. So much for playing a hot hand. He received an engraved Tourneau Swiss watch for his selection.
Guzman was signed as a free agent in November 2004 prior to the Nationals’ inaugural season. The switch-hitting shortstop had been an All-Star for the Twins in 2001. Yet after the 2004 season, the Twins were in financial straits. The team declined the mutual option on his contract. Under MLB ownership, the new Nats were allowed to sign him to a four-year deal for $4.2 million a year to be the shortstop in 2005.
Sadly, he had his worst season at bat. At one point in late July, he was hitting .180. He remained below the Mendoza Line as late as September 8. It took a strong finish to get up to .219 for the year.
Nobody was aware at the time that Guzman was having trouble with his vision. Off-season laser surgery on his eyes seemed to clear up the problem. He was having a solid spring before a sore shoulder put him on the injured list. Two months later, he underwent surgery on it and missed the entire season.
Injuries were nothing new for Guzman. A pulled hamstring put him out of action in May of his rookie year, 1999. After the 2001 All-Star break, a rotator-cuff injury caused him to miss 33 games.
Recovered from the shoulder surgery, he was back as the Nats’ starting shortstop in 2007. On June 24, he was hitting .329, close to the league lead, when he tore ligaments in his thumb making a slap tag for an out on a steal attempt. He didn’t realize the seriousness of the injury at the time and didn’t leave the game, or perhaps didn’t want to admit it. He had to have surgery of his left hand the next day and missed all but the last day of the 2007 season. He finished at .328 in 46 games.
Clearly, he was feeling better on August 28, 2008, the night of his cycle at home against the Dodgers and rookie starter Clayton Kershaw. Batting second, Guzman homered to deep left-center in the first. The Nats scored five in the first, so Guzman came up again the in second. He lined a single to left-center but was thrown out trying to stretch it. His double in the sixth and triple in the eighth came off relievers.
This was second cycle by a Nationals’ player (Brad Wilkerson had the first one in 2005). Coincidentally, the expansion Senators had just one player hit for the cycle: outfielder Jim King in 1964. When he did it, he too was thrown out trying to stretch his single into a double.
The Nats won 55 of their 128 games (55-73) in 2008 when Guzman was in the lineup and were 4-29 when he wasn’t. His WAR by Baseball Reference was a robust 4.6, tops on the team. They won seven in a row during his Player-of-the-Week streak, although they ended the season losing seven in a row, despite Guzman going 10 for 28.
Guzman hit .284 in 2009 as the regular shortstop, but started just 117 games at age 31 as the Nationals began to see the much younger and power hitting Ian Desmond as the future, Desmond started 20 games at short late in the season.
However, he did set a franchise record in 2009, getting two or more hits and RBIs in seven consecutive games, a mark noted on the back of his 2010 Topps card.
It was clear the next spring that Desmond would take over at short and Guzman would move to second. He started 63 games there, just 16 at short and three in right field. He hit a respectable .282 before he was traded to Texas at the deadline for pitchers Tanner Roark and another minor leaguer. That turned out to be an excellent deal for Washington. As Roark became a solid starter for the Nats, Guzman’s MLB career ended with the 2010 season.
With the Twins, Guzman led the league in triples three times. His 20 in 2000 made him one of just six players with 20 or more triples since Hall-of-Famer Kiki Cuyler hit a live-ball-era record of 26 in 1925. The five other than Guzman are George Brett (20 in 1979), Willie Wilson (21 in 1985), Lance Johnson (21 in 1996) Curtis Granderson (23 in 2007) and Jimmy Rollins (20 in 2007). The careers of those guys are likely to be better remembered than Guzman’s.
Based on his 2008 season, the Nationals re-signed Guzman at close to double his salary: $8 million a year. So at least he gained some financial security, if not fame, for intermittent success. The 2008 102-loss-team didn’t offer Nats’ fans much to cheer about, but certainly Guzman’s at-bats were worth watching.
Washington baseball history 