Luck in one-run games is gone under Johnson
The momentum from 12 wins in 13 games last month has stalled quickly for the Nationals. Since Davey Johnson took over as manager June 27 in Anaheim, Calif., Washington has won just eight of 20 games, including a series loss this week to the Houston Astros, who remain baseball’s worst team.
If the Nats are going to make a push for a winning season, they need to rebound this weekend back in Southern California, where they face the Los Angeles Dodgers. Otherwise, general manager Mike Rizzo may feel more inclined to make a trade that hurts his team in the short-term but helps it in future seasons. Washington is 48-50 — the first time it has dropped two games below .500 since June 19.
“It’s how many you get over .500 that counts,” Johnson said. “We’re a young club coming up and trying to establish ourselves as somebody to be reckoned with. But I haven’t been holding up my end since I’ve been here. I’m under .500. Not real proud of that.”
Former manager Jim Riggleman quit suddenly after a dramatic 1-0 win on June 23, and interim skipper John McLaren led the Nats to two wins in three games in Chicago before stepping aside.
No one, it seems, can stop the boomerang nature of this club. From June 1 until July 6 — 10 games into Johnson’s tenure — Washington was 13-3 in one-run ballgames under three different managers.
The starting pitching was generally excellent, the bullpen rarely faltered and the offense was just able to squeak across enough runs. That changed before the All-Star break, and the Nats have lost six one-run games in a row.
And it’s not the first time this season they’ve been on the wrong end of that kind of streak. Washington lost six straight one-run games in May and nine of 10 overall. That came in a stretch of just 18 games. It righted the ship June 1 — and has now gone back in the wrong direction again.
There’s no easy solution. The bullpen had a meltdown Sunday in Atlanta, starter Jordan Zimmermann had an uncharacteristic off night Tuesday in Houston and the offense was awful in Wednesday’s extra-inning 3-2 loss to the Astros. After Jayson Werth tied that game at 2-2 in the sixth inning, the Nats’ next 19 batters produced a walk and a double. Even then they left Werth stranded on second base with one out in the 11th.
John Lannan (3.62 ERA), Tom Gorzelanny (4.07 ERA) and Jason Marquis (3.92 ERA) start this weekend against the Dodgers for Washington, which returns home for a nine-game homestand next Tuesday. The Nats haven’t played at Nationals Park since July 10.
