The Mets

Well, the Nationals failed their mission. I asked them to win 2 of 3 from the Braves (which they accomplished) and split with the Rockies. They proceeded to lose 3 of 4 to the Rockies to wrap up a terrible 3-7 homestand. Simply put, the last time I wrote I said don't panic, but you can officially panic. The Mets improved to 12-2 this weekend, putting the 7-9 Nationals 6 games behind the Mets as they head to New York to begin a 3 game series against the Mets. Get swept and you can start thinking about a Wild Card spot as the best case scenario because the N.L. East will be out of reach. It's going to be tough enough to overcome a 6 game deficit, but to fall 9 games behind a good team at any point in the season, well you can chalk it up.

As of last Monday, the Nationals were hitting fairly well, but not pitching well. Now, they're pitching fairly well (minus the bullpen - sound familiar?), but they aren't hitting. They especially aren't hitting with runners in scoring position ("RISP"). Dating back to the Mets series staring April 5th, the Nats are 8 for 47 with RISP.  On April 5th, against the Mets, the Nationals went 1 for 8 with RISP and lost 8-2, Saturday the 7th, they went 2 for 8 and lost 3-2, finally on Sunday the 8th again against the Mets, they went 4 for 17 and lost 6-5. Thursday, they went 0 for 1 and lost 5-1, Friday they went 1 for 5 and lost 2-1 and today, they went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position ("RISP"). So, to recap, in 6 of their 7 losses since April 5th, the Nats are hitting .170 with RISP. How are you going to win any games like that?

As if that weren't a big enough problem, the Nationals bullpen is 0-4 with a 4.73 ERA so far this season. Not only are they not very good right now, but they're also overworked. Ryan Madson, Matt Grace, Sean Doolittle and Sammy Solis have each appeared in 8 of the 16 games this season, putting them all on pace to appear in 81 games this season. That would set career highs for each pitcher, two of which have a history of elbow issues. One of the toughest things for a rookie manager to do is to learn how to manage a bullpen. Dave Martinez is clearly no exception. We can only hope he will figure it out before one of those four blows their elbow out. Jeremy Hellickson will reportedly start tomorrow night in New York, which will move A.J. Cole to the bullpen. The Nationals haven't carried a long reliever the past couple of seasons, but it appears that will change. A corresponding move hasn't been announced yet, but Trevor Gott seems like he could be the one on his way out, not necessarily based on performance, but because he still has minor league options remaining. If it is Gott, I wouldn't expect him to be down in AAA for long. He pitched well in 4 of his 5 appearances and could be a fresh arm that the Nationals shuttle between Syracuse and D.C. all season, a lot like they did with Matt Grace the past couple of years.

The Nationals have to take 2 of 3 from the Mets this week. Losing 2 of 3 means you stay in panic mode. If you get swept, you can forget about a division title. Let's hope Anthony Rendon is back in the lineup. Let's hope Ryan Zimmerman is moved down the lineup - I don't care what Martinez, Rizzo or Zimmerman say, that Spring Training experiment was a total disaster. Let's hope the starters pitch deep into games. Let's hope the bullpen does its job. Let's hope we hit better with RISP.  Let's hope we play error free and fundamentally sound baseball for the first time this year. Let's sweep the Mets in New York and show them that we're not going to get buried in April.

Well, here's to hoping.