Nats Try to Salvage Season against Royals

On Monday, the Nationals took a big step in the right direction. First, by breaking a 6 game losing streak. Second, by scoring enough runs... 2... to land a starter a win whose name isn't Stephen Strasburg. The last time the Nats got a win that wasn't started by Strasburg was 10 days ago from Livan Hernandez.

To take it a bit further: The last Washington Nationals starter to get a win that isn't named Strasburg or Hernandez was on May 31st. 20 games ago. That was Luis Atilano. Unfortunately, this has become the problem with starting pitchers over the last month or so. The Nats simply can't score enough runs to win, even when their starters give them a quality outing.

Well, Monday night the 2 runs were enough to take out the abysmal Royals. Although the Royals are 17-19 in their last 36. I don't think we even want to discuss what the Nats record is over that time frame. (The answer is 12-24... yea... ouch.)

The Nats look for a sweep of this series to get their derailed season back on track. Not on track for the wild card, or the division, but for respectability. They'll have to do so on Tuesday on the remarkable 5-4 record of Luis Atilano and hits unsavory 4.77 ERA. The Nats will face Royals RHP Anthony Lerew for the win. Lerew has only 15 games of MLB experience since 2005, and it will be only his 2nd start on the year. If there is a day for the Nats bats to wake up, it must be Tuesday against this greenhorn starter.

The Nats have a 4:35 pm start from Strasburg on Wednesday, and hopefully that can end this series with a 3 game winning streak to take the trip to Baltimore for a 3 game series against the MLB worse Orioles (19-50). Last year on this date, the Nationals were 21-47, so yes, the Orioles are on pace to be worse than the Nats were last year. Take THAT Peter Angelos... Oh, what's that? You're making money on the Nationals success this year? Damn.