Nats keep producing, but they miss their injured regulars

It has at times been easy to overlook, because the group collectively continues to produce, but the Nationals do miss their injured position players.

How could any lineup not miss Jayson Werth, Trea Turner and Michael A. Taylor, who progressively have gone on the disabled list over the last six weeks?

"Do you want all your guys healthy? I think, of course," first baseman Ryan Zimmerman said after Tuesday night's 8-0 drubbing at the hands of the Brewers. "You look at the teams at the end of the year that make it to the playoffs, or are in contention for the playoffs, they don't miss a lot of time with their regulars. And if they do, they have guys that kind of replace them and you don't lose much. I think the depth of our team is one of our keys. (But) everyone would love to have their guys in there every game."

To their credit, the Nationals haven't seen their offensive production drop that much during this recent stretch of injuries. From opening day through June 3 (when Werth fractured his left foot and suffered a bone bruise fouling off a pitch) the Nats hit a collective .279 with a .347 on-base percentage, scoring an average of 5.6 runs per game.

Since Werth went on the DL - with Turner (fractured wrist) following on June 30 and Taylor (strained oblique) following on July 7 - the Nationals have hit a collective .274 with a .337 on-base percentage, scoring an average of 5.4 runs per game.

So, not a dramatic drop in production at all.

That said, there have been more troubling offensive performances in the last month than there were earlier in the season. After Tuesday's loss, the Nationals have now been shut out three times in their last 12 games. They weren't shut out once in the season's first 86 games.

"We still could've gotten shut out with those guys tonight," said Zimmerman, who has slumped himself after a torrid first half of the season. "You never know."

Sure, but nobody would debate whether the Nationals would have had a better chance of avoiding a shutout if they had Turner and Werth batting first and second Tuesday night than Brian Goodwin and Stephen Drew.

The injuries also have had a negative domino effect on the Nationals bench. With Goodwin, Drew, Wilmer Difo and Adam Lind forced to start more games than previously, the remaining bats for Baker to summon off his bench now include rookies Andrew Stevenson, Adrian Sanchez and Pedro Severino.

(We haven't even mentioned Adam Eaton's torn ACL, of course, though the Nationals knew by May 1 they'd be without their original leadoff man the remainder of the season, and Taylor stepped in and delivered in impressive fashion.)

The good news is that the club fully expects its lineup to be 100 percent healthy (or close to it) in the relatively near future. Turner took grounders at shortstop yesterday, though he hasn't yet been cleared to throw or bat. Taylor was jogging around the warning track and may be cleared to start swinging in the next couple of days. Werth is still waiting for his foot to heal enough that he can resume running, but he's been able to hit and throw in the meantime.

The Nationals don't believe they'll be fielding makeshift lineups much longer. They just need to continue to weather the storm until they are whole again.

"When we get back Trea, it's gonna be good for us," Bryce Harper said. "When we get back J-Dub, of course that'll be huge for us, as well. But as a team right now, we're swinging the bat really well. There are some days you just don't win. It's part of the game. You try to go out there and do the best you can and get some runs up there on the board. Had a great road trip, and came home today and got beat."