If you wanted to see futility there was certainly enough of that to go around. The Nats split their four game series with the last place Mets, and during that time they gave the Mets their 7th win in 27 home games and allowed Mets pitcher Zack Wheeler to get his first home win in over a year. Speaking of pitching, most of the Nats starting pitching had a rough week. The quintet of Scherzer, Gio, Roark, Rodriguez, and newcomer Austin Voth combined for one win, four losses, 24.1 innings, and a 8.14 ERA. To be fair, Scherzer got the lone win and his 11th hit of the season (tied for first among pitchers), Gio lost a 2-0 decision, Roark hit the first triple by a Nats pitcher since 2007, and 13 of the 22 runs given up were from Rodriguez and Voth, but there needs to be more consistency within the rotation if the Nats intend to make up ground on their new NL East overlords to the north. The Nats hitters had their own problems, as the Nats saw the return of Matt Wieters this week only to have him reaffirm that the catcher position will be a perpetual black hole this year as he was 2 for 18 with a .150 OBP. Not be outdone was Trea Turner, who had to face a little bit of regression to the mean this week as he he was only 3 for 26 with an OBP of .178 and an OPS of .331. Those are not the numbers of a lead off hitter, but Turner's OBP each of the last four weeks was over .300, and two of those weeks it was over .400. Let's just hope this is the universe playing cooler to Trea Turner and he can get back on track after the All-Star break. It was not all bad news, though, as Nats fans who are fond of relief pitching, dominant starts from pitchers returning from the DL, OPS, and Daniel Murphy were treated this week.
The Nats bullpen has been much maligned since the beginning of June, but this week saw a reversal of fortune. The Nats bullpen threw 20.2 innings and only gave up 2 earned runs while incurring no losses. Special nods go out to Ryan Madson, who in his three appearances gave up only one hit, one walk, and got the Nats' only save this week, and to Shawn Kelley who had his third straight week of shut out relief. Kelley has only allowed 3 earned runs in his last 18 innings, and his ERA has dropped from 4.4 in the beginning of June to 2.54. The Nats also had a pitching bright spot in Jeremy Hellickson. Hellickson redeemed himself from his 4 inning nightmare last week to give up only 1 run in 2 games and get two of the Nats 3 wins this week. Have a Maibock in hopes that Hellickson can lock down his starting position as Strasburg continues to rehab. The Nats hitting also had their bright spots as three Nats had an OPS over 1.0 this week. Anthony Rendon (1.07 OPS), Adam Eaton (1.04 OPS), and Daniel Murphy (1.29 OPS) combined for 11 RBI, 4 doubles, and three home runs (all from Rendon), and honorable mentions go to Matt Adams whose SLG% was a .521 this week with 2 home runs. Daniel Murphy also gets kudos for going 8 for 15 this week, and getting his 2 RBI's in a bases loaded pinch hitting situation against the Mets. Now, let's see if he can do that against teams that didn't foolishly let him go in free agency.
Finally, this week saw the return of the legend of Bryce Harper as he won the Home Run Derby in dramatic fashion. Whatever this does for the Nationals season going forward, it has to show the Lerners that they need to start doing inventory on their assets to see how much they can offer Harper at the end of the year. He is the straw that stirs the drink for the Nationals, and despite some of his numbers being down this year, he will be able to buoy the Nationals in times of need as he showed on Monday night. It also showed that he wants to be here if given the opportunity, he will play his heart out for this city, and The Home Run Derby also showed that they cannot just let Harper walk without proposing a competitive offer if they want to save face with the fan base. Harper wore his heart on his sleeve for the first time in a while, and he showed a glimpse of what he could give this city if he is locked up for the long term. For now, though, lets just hope this inspires the Nats to close the 5.5 game gap with the Phillies once the season gets going on Friday. Three games with the Braves this weekend and then it is off to Milwaukee to face the Brewers for a four game stretch.
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