The Nats hit the reset button on their 2009 season when they fired manager Manny Acta last week — only to find themselves right back where they started.
It’s not a total surprise, of course. Not all teams respond immediately to a new voice. But under interim manager Jim Riggleman, the Nats were 0-4 entering Monday night’s game against the New York Mets. And that’s not exactly what the front office was hoping for when it let Acta go.
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But the players remain unchanged so the inherent problems are here to stay unless the roster is drastically revamped at the July 31st trade deadline.
Bad defense again cost the Nats in a couple of close losses to the Cubs over the weekend. The bullpen struggled in the series opener.
But most worrisome was an 11-3 blowout loss on Sunday. Because while Acta couldn’t find a way to coax more from this unwieldy roster, the Nats were almost never out of ballgames under his watch. Washington had 61 losses entering the second half. The Nats were beaten by two runs or less in 30 of those games. Another 10 times the margin was three runs. Only five times this season have they lost by seven runs or more — the worst an 11-1 pasting by the Orioles on June 26.
But this team can’t afford to fall further off the cliff as the second half continues because there is no margin for error. Another string of nine losses in 10 games — a streak Washington is in the midst of right now and has endured two previous times this season — will put it squarely on pace to challenge the 1962 New York Mets’ record for futility. For all the public-relations hits this franchise has taken over the past year — much of it deserved — the national attention and derision that would come as they closed in on 120 losses in late September would be the worst of all.
