The evidence suggested something else; a tepid finish featuring more injuries, a lack of timely hitting and a piecemeal pitching staff. And the Nationals would end the month bidding a fond farewell to contention.
There’s still little reason to believe Washington could somehow vault itself into a pennant race this summer. There’s also little reason to believe the Nationals (21-30) will fold. Not after a 7-3 homestand, capped by a 10-4 win over Los Angeles on Sunday.
“We have to play well at home if we’re thinking about having any kind of a season,” Nats manager Frank Robinson said. “It’s good to start to put it together.”
There is a caveat, however, one issued by nearly everyone in the clubhouse as they begin a nine-game road trip.
“It won’t mean anything if we don’t go on the road and keep it going,” center fielder Marlon Byrd said.
Here’s how much things changed in the past month for Washington: the topic at the start of the month was RFK Stadium’s dimensions and how it robbed the Nationals of homers. It’s a dead issue — for now — considering the Nats homered four times Sunday, two by Nick Johnson as he emerged from a slump, and hit 12 during the homestand. Of course, seven of those homers came in two games combined.
“[Alfonso] Soriano has shown that this park is very hittable,” Byrd said. “We’re going up swinging just like him.”
“I don’t think anyone swings the bat like he does,” third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said. “[But] we know we can play here. It’s a big field, but it fits our team when we’re more aggressive.”
And Washington scored eight or more runs in four games on the homestand; in the first 41 games, the Nationals had reached that figure six times.
They did it against good teams: Los Angeles entered with nine wins in its last 10 games and had averaged 8.7 runs in its previous six games; Houston was 24-20 before the Nationals’ series.
Yet Washington outscored these two teams, and Baltimore, 53-37. The Nats also have now won their last four series at RFK, where they’re 10-13.
Pitcher Ramon Ortiz won two games on the homestand, including yesterday, to improve to 3-4. A consistent Ortiz would be a major help to the rotation. But it’s more than just Ortiz going strong.
“The way we were losing [before] was the problem,” Byrd said. “We weren’t playing fundamentally sound games and that’s what we’re doing now.”
