In came the rain and out went the Nationals hot streak. The Nationals were riding a 13-2 stretch coming into last weekend's series against the Dodgers and they proceeded to get swept. Not only did they get swept, but they lost to a 17-26 Dodgers team that just went 1-6 in a 7 game stretch against the Reds and the Marlins. This wasn't about the Dodgers getting hot, this was about the Nationals playing extremely poorly.
The Nationals went 14 for 94 this weekend against Dodgers pitching. That's good for a .149 batting average. That's against a Clayton Kershaw-less Dodgers club. A team that got 2 pitches out of their starting pitcher in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday night. The Nationals as a team are now hitting .234 on the year. Bryce Harper is hitting .224 (that's just .07 points higher than Ryan Zimmerman, who was absolutely putrid to begin the year), Anthony Rendon is hitting .247 and Trea Turner is hitting .267, which now that Kendrick is down, leads the team. I'll let that settle in. A guy hitting .267 leads the team in batting average.
The bullpen hasn't been able to get anybody out, showing shades of 2017. Aside from Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Madson (who is now on the disabled list) and Sean Doolittle, there's really nobody that you can trust out there. Wander Suero had been solid until he gave up a couple of runs yesterday, but he's still not the kind of guy you can put in high leverage situations. Carlos Torres has been almost as awful as A.J. Cole. Shawn Kelley seems to be finished, Trevor Gott has been more hittable as of late and the love affair for Sammy Solis continues to boggle my mind. Solis has been alright, but nothing more and nothing less. His inability to work a clean inning is concerning. He's a solid left-handed specialist, but righties are hitting .267 off him.
When you have Max Scherzer leave a game with a 4-2 lead after 7 innings of work, you expect to win. But with this bullpen, they managed to lose on Saturday. The Nationals starting pitchers have a 2.96 ERA on the year. The Nationals are 24-21. That's because the team is hitting .234 and the bullpen has a cumulative 4.72 ERA. 6-7 guys are doing their job, the other 18-19 need to start doing theirs. We all know the story, the Nationals have 11 players on the disabled list. The Nationals are missing 2 middle of the lineup hitters, their starting catcher and their leadoff hitter. The Nationals are without 4 of their bullpen arms. Nobody feels bad for the Nationals. Not one person. These are the cards the Nationals were dealt this season. You can either man up and battle through it until these guys start coming off the disabled list, or you can fold. A week ago, Matt Wieters was in the starting lineup, Howie Kendrick was healthy and Ryan Madson didn't have a muscle strain. This week, we're working with a AAA lineup again and hoping to tread water until mid-June or so.
The Nationals next 9 games are against the Padres, Marlins and Orioles. Those 3 teams are a combined 51-89 on the season, which is good for a .364 winning percentage. If this were a healthy Nationals team, this would be their time to make a move. You'd aim for a 7-2 stretch or better, while picking up a couple more games on the Braves. Instead, we have to be realistic and hope that our starting pitching can continue to carry the team and maybe that's good enough for a 6-3 stretch, but 5-4 seems more realistic. Juan Soto makes his first start tonight. Let's hope Soto can kickstart a struggling offense and get Rendon and Bryce on a little bit of a roll.
