"I hate to, and I won’t, make excuses for anybody, but sometimes you’ve got to tip your hat to the opposition. I’m not trying to rationalize too much, but we’ve run into a lot of well-pitched ballgames against us." -- Jim Riggleman, after yesterday's 1-0 loss to the Royals.

Here are the starting pitchers for the last five series (15 games) against the Nationals, with their ERAs at the start of that game:

Brian Bannister:  5.70

Anthony Lerew:  4.76

Bruce Chen: 4.15

Freddie Garcia:  4.94

Jake Peavy:  5.62

Gavin Floyd:  5.64

Jeremy Bonderman:  4.21

Justin Verlander:  3.56

Max Scherzer:  6.30

David Huff:  5.82

Fausto Carmona:  3.23

Jake Westbrook:  4.62

Zack Duke:  5.30

Brad Lincoln:  (MLB debut)

Jeff Karstens:  4.81

 

Other than Verlander, and maybe Carmona, do you see any other all-stars in there?  These are the guys shutting the Washington Nationals offense down right now.

 

Over the period, the Nats have hit .238/.286/.394 and averaged 3.2 runs per game.  Not surprisingly, they are 6-9 during that stretch (remember the sweep of the Pirates?  How bad are they???).

 

Looking at their last nine games it's even worse.  The Nats are 2-7 in that period, hitting .203/.248/.314 as a team, averaging 2.2 runs per game.

 

Just about everyone's been affected, but when the numbers are laid out individually they are pretty glaring.  Maybe it's just coincidental, but here are the Nats hitters' averages since June 8, the day Stephen Strasburg debuted:

 

Nyjer Morgan:  .207/.273/.207

Cristian Guzman:  .269/.296/.385

Ryan Zimmerman:  .222/.283/.352

Adam Dunn:  .304/.350/.732

Josh Willingham:  .245/.327/.510

Ivan Rodriguez:  .279/.295/.349

Roger Bernadina:  .333/.385/.500

Ian Desmond:  .149/.184/.255

Adam Kennedy:  .176/.300/.176

Willie Harris:  .000/.000/.000 in 18 plate appearances

Michael Morse:  .450/.500/.900 in 22 plate appearance

 

Maybe it's time for the manager to stop tipping his hat to the opposition and try to mix some things up with his own players.

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Ben Goessling over at MASN.com has some thoughts on line-up construction today, but a quote by Ryan Zimmerman really caught my interest. 

"At the end of the year, our numbers will probably be the same as they always are."

I wonder if Zimmerman knows Guzman's career on-base percentage is .308?  Or if Pudge has compiled a .306 OBP since 2004.  Or if Willie Harris is a .240 lifetime hitter?

Not sure that is something to aspire to.

"He decided to bunt. That kind of took everybody by surprise. So that being the case, he just didn't bunt it where he wanted to bunt the ball." -- Jim Riggleman, on Livan's bases loaded bunt attempt, Aug. 31, 2009.

BOX SCORE AND GAME RECAP

THE RESULT: The Washington Nationals were held to eight hits and one run by journeyman starter Tim Stauffer, and lost to the San Diego Padres 3-1, before 19,867 at Petco Park.

The Nats had some chances against Stauffer, but htey left eight men on base and hit into two double plays, including a costly 1-2-3 double play that started when Nats starter Livan Hernandez thought it would be a good idea to bunt with the bases loaded.

The bunt went straight back to the pitcher, who underhanded to the catcher to start the rally-killing DP.

The middle of the Nats' order, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham, combined to go 1-for-12 with five strikeouts. Leadoff man Willie Harris also went 0-for-3, lowering his average to .223 for the season. He is 3-for-17 (.176) with just one run since taking over the leadoff spot Aug. 27.

Hernandez (L, 7-9, 5.26) might have made a mistake hitting, but he was golden on the mound. He pitched an eight-inning complete game, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and one walk, striking out five.

THE TAKEAWAY: The Nats must have left their bats in Chicago. Since scoring 15 runs Aug. 25, the Nats have averaged just 2.8 runs per game, including the last two where they scored just one run in each game.

It's probably no coincidence the team-wide slump comes after their catalyst, Nyjer Morgan, went down for the season with a broken bone in his lefthand.

Harris' troubles were detailed above. Zimmerman is three for his last 18, Dunn's troubles go back two weeks and is 6-for34 (.176) over that span, and Willingham is seven for his last 45, a .156 clip.

THE GOOD: Swingin' Pete Orr. Meet your semi-regular second baseman for the next four weeks! He went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and is hitting .533 since his call-up.

THE BAD: Wil Nieves. He had a rough night. In the seventh he was thrown out trying to stretch a single to the right field corner into a double, and in the ninth, bounced into a 4-6-3 double play after Bard led the inning off with a single.

THE UGLY: Gotta be the bunt play with the bases loaded with one out in the fourth. I appreciate Livo thinking he doesn't want to bounce out into a double play, but he's better off striking out there than even attempting a bunt in that situation. So many things have to happen perfectly to pull it off, and as a result, the Nats make still more outs on the basepaths.

NEXT GAME: Game two of the three game series is tonight at 10:05 EDT in San Diego. J.D. Martin (3-3, 4.85) takes on Clayton Richard (7-4, 4.79).

NOTES: Justin Maxwell was recalled before the game. He will share some time with Harris in centerfield. He hit .244/.344/.396 with 13 home runs, 42 RBI and 35 stolen bases in 448 plate appearances with Triple-A Syracuse this season.