That loud thud you heard Sunday in D.C. was the Washington Nationals being swept at home by the last-place Miami Marlins. The losing streak has now reached eight, and the Nats have been blown out and lost one-run games, outscored (an 11-9 slugfest with Miami), and shut down (blanked by the Mets’ David Peterson, now less).
The Nationals blew late leads against the Mets while seeing a late rally in New York come up short. But while it’s one thing to come up short against the beast of the NL East, it’s another to be swept by the cellar-dwelling Marlins.
Almost halfway through the season where the team was expected to make the leap from pretender to contender, the Nationals are on pace to win fewer games than they have won the last two seasons.
Normally when there’s a step back like this someone gets fired (witness the Orioles terminating Brandon Hyde after their 15-28 start), and sometimes that means the removal of a coach.
Seventy-one games into the season, the Nats have had issues hitting the second time through the lineup and have seen their base runners get caught stealing 23 times (third most in the majors), while the pitching staff owns the fourth-worst ERA in the majors.
But no moves have been made at this time.
“It’s never on coaching. Never on coaching. Coaches work their a**** off every single day. We’re not going to finger-point here and say it’s coaches. It’s never on the coaches. They work hard,” Manager Davey Martinez said after Saturday’s loss.
Adding: “The message is clear. All the work is done prior. Sometimes, they got to go out there, and they got to play the game. It’s always been about the players. Always. I played this game a long time. Never once have I blamed a coach for anything.”
There does appear to be another Band-Aid/building block on its way to South Capitol Street, with prime prospect Brady House reportedly being called up for Monday’s game against Colorado.
The Rockies? Only putting together the worst season since 1899.
If the Nats can’t secure at least a split, the shadow of another losing season will grow over a club whose whole remains less than the sum of its parts.
Digesting the Division: The NL East-leading New York Mets (45-27) after sweeping the Nationals, got swept by Tampa Bay while also learning that offseason acquisition Frankie Montas
(two years for $34 million) is continuing to struggle in his rehab assignment (13.17 ERA over five starts in the minors). It’s a good thing the rest of rotation has been more than holding its own by posting best ERA in the majors.
Philadelphia (42-29) swept Toronto, while getting another solid outing from Zack Wheeler in the series finale: the veteran improves to 7-2 on the season, while his ERA ranks 18th in the majors and his 110 strikeouts are the eighth most in MLB.
Atlanta (31-39) won consecutive series to retake third place, but wasted a 15-strikeout gem by pitcher Clayton Holmes in Sunday’s game with Colorado (the Braves would lose 10-1 to the worst team in the big leagues). Washington (30-41) is dangerously close to slipping into the cellar as they drop to 1-5 this year against last-place Miami (29-41), who have been in fifth place since late April.
Break up the Birds: When the Orioles (30-40) fired Brandon Hyde and then lost two more games to the Nationals last month, who thought they would find a way to have a better record than the Nats 27 games later?
But that’s exactly what has happened as the O’s swept the Los Angeles Angels this past weekend: after starting 15-28 under Hyde, they’re 15-12 under interim manager Tony Mansolino. Will they be able to maintain that momentum against the top two teams in the AL East (New York Yankees and Tampa Bay) this week?
Diamonds Direct Diamond King: CJ Abrams hit .400 while scoring a team-high six runs, doing his best to provide offense to a lineup that’s run aground in June (MLB-low 31 runs so far this month).
Last Week’s Heroes: James Wood batted .375 while his four RBI tied Nathaniel Lowe for the team lead. MacKenzie Gore struck out 11 over 12 innings to stay atop the MLB leaderboard with 119, while rookie reliever Zach Brzykcy posted 2.1 scoreless frames over three games.
Last Week’s Humbled: Mitchell Parker allowed six earned runs over 3.1 innings in his lone start while Jose A. Ferrer coughed up five runs over 2.1 frames of relief. Brady House can’t get to D.C. quickly enough, as the third base tandem of Jose Tena and Ahmed Rosario batted a combined 6-24 last week.
Game to Watch: The Nats begin a series in Los Angeles Friday against the defending World Series champion Dodgers. MacKenzie Gore (3-6, 2.89 ERA) starts the series opener and while he’s coming off a strong set of starts facing the defending champs, this will be a little different from pitching against the last place Marlins.
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