Washington Nationals Not Enjoying their Western Road Trip

It probably was over a week ago that the Washington Nationals were nipping at the heels of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. It appeared that the Nats were ready to take over first place but then they would stumble a little. What has happened since then is not very good for the Nationals. Unfortunately for them it isn’t something that is very complicated to figure out. What went wrong? They went on a NL West road trip.

Ironically enough it was when the Braves were on a west coast swing that the Nats were able to close some ground a couple of weeks ago. Apparently playing the NL West is not a profitable journey for the NL East. Unfortunately for the Nationals the Braves are playing a little better during the Nats western swell and they have fallen to 3.5 games out of first going into Tuesday’s game with the San Francisco Giants.

There are two major issues for the Nationals right now. They are offense and pitching. Neither seems to agree to do a job to help the other on any given day. The supposed lights out starting pitching isn’t there except for Jordan Zimmerman who is nearly unhittable this year overall. Offensively they have had some key injuries and one key slump by Adam Laroche. This all has combined to create an atmosphere where they are not winning series which is the key to a winning record. Davey Johnson has his work cut out for him if this team is going to finish the first half strong.

David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google₊.