Nats frustrated by weekend woes with men on base

NEW YORK - The Nationals, in the big picture, have not been particularly bad at hitting with runners in scoring position this season. They rank fifth in the National League in that category, ahead of fellow contenders like the Cubs, Giants, Dodgers and Mets.

But it does seem like when they go cold in those situations, they go ice cold. And it doesn't get any colder than the last two nights at Citi Field, when the Nationals went a combined 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position, losing a pair of winnable games against the Mets.

"Same thing," manager Dusty Baker said. "Same thing we've been saying all year. We need some hits, simple as that. Need some two-out RBIs, and we need some hits. That's the simple fact that we've been saying most of the year. And I still believe we're going to get them."

How, though, do the Nationals get them, especially when things aren't going well?

"You have to not think about hitting the ball out of the ballpark, and think about up the middle and getting hits," Baker said. "Keeping the ball out of the air. You want it in the air if you have a sacrifice fly situation, or if you have a double-play situation. But other than that, you want to keep the ball out of the air."

That indeed has been the Nationals' problem when they struggle in this department. Their groundball-to-flyball ratio with runners in scoring position is 1.44, which ranks fourth-worst in the NL.

"That's baseball," said catcher Wilson Ramos, who has been among the team's best clutch hitters this season but went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position the last two nights. "Everyone's trying to drive in runs when they see runners in scoring position. They're trying to score the runs any way possible. My approach personally is I'm not trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark. I'm trying to get a good pitch to find a hole and drive them in. That's what's been my approach the whole year: Just find a hole. There's a lot of holes on the field. Hopefully one finds it."

The Nationals' on-and-off struggles when it comes to clutch hitting are just as frustrating to players as they are to fans.

"Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't," shortstop Danny Espinosa said. "There's no rhyme or reason or why. Guys can have good at-bats and things just don't go our way, or tough pitches, or whatever it is. But I think we'll be alright. Two games where we didn't really do what we wanted to offensively, but we'll get back at 'em tomorrow."