Nationals First Inning Struggles Continue
Well it was all set up for the Nationals to take over first place from the Atlanta Braves last night. The Braves went onto to lose their fifth game in a row, as they loss to the San Francisco Giants 3-1. Tanner Roark, fresh off his best start in his career, on the mound against the sub .500 Philadelphia Phillies and then the bottom of the first inning came and went and saw the Nationals down 3-0 before Manager Matt Williams could blink.
If this was a once in a while occurrence of the Nationals getting down early maybe it could be over looked and Nationals fans could head into Sunday’s rubber game with their head held high looking forward to the rest of the season but it isn’t. In fact for the second game in a row the Nationals were down 3-0 before their own clean-up hitter could even see a pitch.
The most disturbing part of the Nationals two games in a row being down 3-0 is it is more than just two freak occurrences it has now become a trend.
The Nationals are currently leading the league in runs allowed in the first inning of games with 31. Yes 31 as in the Nationals have only played 30 games on this young season leaving them with an earned run average of 9.30 in the first inning and then an outstanding 3.19 ERA in the innings after.
This trend has National’s pitchers and coaches perplexed as to what to do. The coaches have even tried to change up how many warm up pitches the starting pitcher throws before the game but it has been to no avail. The Nationals have given up at least three runs in the opening inning eight times resulting in six losses, which includes Saturday nights beat down at the hands of the Phillies.
While yes it is exhilarating to see the Nats come back time and time in games but there comes a point when they do not get that Jayson Werth knock up the middle to tie it up in the ninth or the Denard Span sac fly to end the game. At some point the Nationals need to turn this first inning trend into their favor because it is not just the pitching staff that struggles early in the game, it is the lineup that has only 56 runs in the first three innings this season.
The Nationals hitter’s trend showed up once again as their first base hit did not come until the fourth inning in which Adam LaRoche hobbled his way to a double to give them their first hit off veteran AJ Burnett.
While they so far are coming back in games with ease it seems this beginning of the game problem could come back to haunt them in the dog days of July and August where just like last year the wheels could fall off and leave them watching the playoffs from home again.
But maybe, just maybe today will be different with Gio Gonzalez on the mound and Cole Hamels scratched from his start due to the flu. The Nationals will need all the help they can get with these first inning blues and with today being May 4 I will leave Nationals faithful with the wise words of Yoda, “May the force be with you”, because to break this early inning spell the Nationals are going to need it.
