Despite Daniel Murphy and Jayson Werth both hitting home runs and Tanner Roark going on the mound, the Nationals fell to the San Diego Padres on Friday night. Roark had not given up a home run in 32 consecutive innings but chose Friday to make up some ground on his total for the season. Matt Kemp hammered two home runs off of the Nats’ starter, who lasted only five innings. In contrast, his counterpart Luis Perdomo lasted a career-high seven innings.
The game seemed more of an exception than the rule, especially since Roark has been one of the Nationals most consistent starters all year. Coming out of the All-Star break the Nats are 3-4 and playing the worst team they will see in that stretch until they play the Diamondbacks in early August.
After the game, Dusty Baker talked about the lack of clutch hitting we have seen from Washington’s lineup this year, saying he is tired of waiting and is looking to make some changes. Short of shaking up the entire lineup, it’s hard to say exactly what he means by that, but it can’t be denied that this club’s weakness this year has stemmed from a lack of hitting with runners in scoring position.
Friday night’s outing against the padres was a perfect example. The home team clubbed two home runs in the outing, yet their only other RBI came on a single from Wilson Ramos. The 2016 Nats are essentially the poster boys for solo home runs. I’m convinced that they are the only team with the ability to make their fans resent home runs.
Even in the eighth inning, when Murphy’s solo shot should have felt like it was going to spark a rally by getting the Nats within two, it never really felt that way.
For Dusty it may be as simple as rearranging the batting order (he’s had some success doing that already this year) or it may be that larger changes are needed. It’s not even that the team can’t come up with runs. Since the All-Star break they have put up 3+ runs five times including games where they scored five, six and eight runs.
The trouble comes when you look at how much they are losing games by. In most cases they are reachable numbers, including a one run loss in a marathon game with the Pirates last Sunday.
The good news is that offense is infinitely more fixable down the stretch than pitching is, and with players like Murphy, Werth and Bryce Harper aboard it’s hard to believe Dusty will fail to find a way around the current struggle. But now is the time to start turning around the trend and start upping the numbers in the RISP column.
Tags: Nationals, Nats, Washington Nationals
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