The Nationals never envisioned they'd open the season with six straight losses. Now that it's happened, though, they are focused solely on snapping out of this funk before things really get ugly.
"We can all go and say we've only played six games," second baseman Willie Harris said after Sunday's 8-5 loss to the Braves. "But after a while, we'll be at 15 games. What do we say then? Oh, we've only played 15 games? I mean, somewhere we've got to turn it around ourselves." Washington's players have taken some solace in the fact they weren't overwhelmed by either the Marlins or the Braves the last four games. If anything, they've been losing because they're not doing the little things right.
Signs are being missed. Balls are being dropped. Outs are being given away.
"We're not playing good baseball right now," said catcher Josh Bard, who committed two passed balls on Sunday. "Each guy has got to take some accountability upon themselves, myself included. We've got to start shoring stuff up, because this isn't going to get it done."
BRAVES 8, NATIONALS 5: Washington's sixth consecutive loss resembled several of the ones that preceded it. Starter Scott Olsen lasted only five innings. The offense stranded 11 men on base. And there were several sloppy plays in the field. Still, the Nationals had chances to win but couldn't pull out their first win of the season.
