Let’s just really hope this is the low point in the Nationals’ season. It has to be. The Nats just played four home games against the Phillies. A good series would have kept them right in the wild card race. A great series would have moved them into second place ahead of Philly. The Nats got four good-to-excellent starts from the pitchers. They outscored the Phillies 21 to 15 in innings 1-8. But in the four 9th innings they were outscored 15 to 1. As a result they won the first game 4-1 and lost the last three 14-9, 5-4, and 10-5 after leading or being tied in the 9th in all three. Three brutal losses.
In the Monday game Foster Griffin pitched his best game of the season, improving to an 8-2 record and a 3.15 ERA. “Every starting pitcher, you’re gonna have 30 to 35 starts — there’s only gonna be four to five where you’ve got everything. I would say tonight was one of those nights,” Griffin told The Athletic. The Nationals won 4-1. Great start to the series.
In the Tuesday game a three-run homer in the eighth by Jorbit Vivas gave the Nationals an 8-6 lead. Their best reliever, Brad Lord, came in for the ninth. Lord had given up just two runs in his last 19 innings. Tuesday was not one of those nights Griffin talked about for Lord. He gave up a two-out, two-run game-tying homer to Brandon Marsh, followed by singles to Bryce Harper and Derek Hill, and then a game-winning homer to Bryson Stott. The damage was not over, and the final score was 14-9. A brutal loss, but you could say “Even guys like Lord have a bad night once in a while. No one’s perfect every time.”
The Wednesday game saw the Nats take a 4-3 lead into the 9th inning. Then Derek Hill hit a two-out, two-run homer off Richard Lovelady. The Nationals couldn’t answer in their half of the 9th. Game over, 5-4 loss.
Things had to turn around Thursday night, right? Agonizing 9th inning losses can’t keep happening, can they? The 5-0 Nationals lead in the sixth inning looked pretty positive, didn’t it? The Phillies chipped away at it and went into the 9th inning tied 5-5. Bryce Harper wouldn’t hand the Nationals a third consecutive gut-punch loss, would he? He would and he did with a two-run homer off Gus Varland. Followed by a three run homer by Hill just to make sure there would be no comeback. 10-5 loss.
The Nationals are 41-41. They continue to lead the league in runs scored. The Phillies series painfully demonstrated that when you also lead the league in blown saves, by a lot, scoring all those runs doesn’t guarantee any wins. Twenty-eight blown saves in 82 games means in a third of this season’s games the Nationals had a lead and a reliever gave it up. For comparison the Athletics are second with 18 blown saves. The average team has about 12. Not surprisingly the Nats’ bullpen ERA is second-worst at 5.05.
The trade deadline is August 3. The Nationals are in the difficult position of having a surprisingly good team, and a surprisingly excited fanbase, but not a record that supports trading good prospects for pitchers just to try for a wild card spot. Or to trade players contributing to the team’s success who could bring in prospects for this still- rebuilding team, like trading Foster Griffin who is on a reasonable one-year contract.
However, trading for an established reliever with a few years left on his contract who would minimize the number of soul-crushing losses makes sense. It would show the team and the fans that an obvious problem on the roster will be addressed. The season is half over. One way or another, better pitching is the key to a successful second half.
All photos courtesy Coalmine Photography.
