Steve Mitchell, USA TODAY SPORTS
The Washington Nationals have been a disappointment in the month of April. Washington beat the Atlanta Braves 13-4 on Wednesday night to improve their record to 9-13, well below where many experts thought they would be at this point in the season.
Washington was the sexy pick to win the World Series in the preseason. The Nationals figured to have a solid offense, with Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman leading the way. But the offense has underachieved through April, although they have shown signs of life offensively late in the month, scoring 26 runs in their last two games.
The Nationals also figured to have one of the best rotations in baseball in 2015. With Doug Fister, Gio Gonzalez, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmermann, Washington looked to have a dominant quintet to take the hill every five days. But the pitching hasn’t lived up to expectations, either. Zimmerman lowered his ERA to 4.88 with a solid outing on Wednesday. Gonzalez has an ERA of 5.01 and Strasberg is at 4.88.
Fister and Scherzer have been better than their teammates. Fister has an ERA of 3.28 and Scherzer is at a miniscule 1.26.
Scherzer injured his thumb while batting in a game last week and missed his scheduled start against Atlanta on Tuesday. But the good news for Washington is that Scherzer will apparently make his start on Friday against the NL Eastern Division leaders, the New York Mets.
Fister and Scherzer have held up their end of the deal. Now, they need their team to start hitting and for the other pitchers in the rotation to live up to their expectations.
Tim Letcher is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
