The effort is pitiful. The bullpen (with a 5.66 ERA) is pitiful. The fundamentals are pitiful. The only thing that has met and even possibly exceeded our expectations is the starting pitching, which sports a 3.35 ERA through 30 games, and yes, that even included new Yankee, A.J. Cole's stinker against the Braves.
The Nationals can almost field a full team of players on the DL at this point. Not only can they almost field a team, but the team they could field would probably beat the team that the Nationals are currently trotting out there every night. I get that we're working without Adam Eaton, Anthony Rendon and Daniel Murphy on a nightly basis. I realize that Matt Grace, Koda Glover, Joaquin Benoit (who was supposed to pitch in Glover's place) and we assume Shawn Kelley all being on the DL weakens our bullpen. Throw Brian Goodwin and Victor Robles on top of those seven and you're left wondering how you're even supposed to beat the Marlins right now.
That doesn't mean you're allowed to play terrible baseball though. You're all still Major Leaguers and you're expected to play like it. Wilmer Difo, with runners on second and third with one out, why are you throwing home on a lightly hit line drive to third? We were conceding the run. All we asked for was an out. Luckily, the Giants didn't score again that inning, but that's bad baseball. Matt Adams, do you hate gifted RBI's? Was Chris Stratton's 91 MPH heater too much for you? When the Giants make two consecutive awful errors to put runners on second and third with one out in a one run game, you have to cash in. Simply put, it's why the Nationals lost the game. Sure, the two run home run in the bottom of the 6th put the game away, but is there a momentum shift if either Matt Adams or Matt Wieters are able to drive in those two runs in the top of the 6th? We'll never know. The Nationals literally told the Giants "no thank you" to two free runs. It's unacceptable.
The Nationals had losing streaks of three games or more six times in 2016, with their longest losing streak at seven games. In 2017, the Nationals had losing streaks of three games or more four times, with their longest streak at four games, which happened twice. This season, the Nationals have already had losing streaks of three games or more three times, with their longest losing streak at five games. Dusty Baker is laughing somewhere, as he should be. That's not me saying I wish Dusty were back. That's just giving Dusty credit where credit is due. It's tough to get these guys not to press and to play good baseball when they're losing games and when there are so many injuries, but Dusty was able to do it. So far, Dave Martinez is not. That could change, we'll see in the coming months.
Everybody can keep saying it's only April 24th. That's fine. Matt Williams agrees. There's always tomorrow. Tomorrow will keep coming until September 30th when the Nationals could be headed home for good. No need for any sense of urgency. Let's just tread water for the next month or so. That sounds like a lot of fun for everybody. We can be 19-25 around May 19 with the Dodgers headed to town. Why not dig a bigger hole and see if we can dig out? That way we have to finish the season on a 71-47 run to put us at 90 wins. Maybe we make the playoffs. Maybe we don't. That's a fantastic plan though because 71-47 runs happen all the time in baseball. Just keep treading boys. Can't wait to see Moises Sierra back out there in the 5 hole tonight.
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