No relief in sight for Nats bullpen

After a day off in Miami to regroup, the Nationals prepare to take on the Marlins with just 23 games remaining in the season. While the Nats were resting, the Mets were extending their commanding lead in the National League East to 7 1/2 games after beating the Braves 7-2.

What has made these last five losses - two to the Cardinals, three to the Mets - tough to swallow is that the Nationals held the lead heading into the seventh in four of the five games and were tied in the other. However, over those five excruciating defeats, the Nationals bullpen coughed up 22 runs from the seventh inning on. That's not the formula for making a playoff push and certainly not for having success in October.

"Our bullpen is one of our strengths, generally," manager Matt Williams said after Wednesday's 5-3 loss to New York. "It hasn't been over those five (losses). On the flip side of that, the four previous, they did a pretty good job. So it's tough. I feel for those guys getting out there and giving up runs because they're not intending to, that's for sure."

Over this stretch, former closer Drew Storen has been the focus of the bullpen's struggles. Storen has allowed runs in four of six appearances since Sept. 1. He's walked five, including three in the horrid six-run seventh inning on Tuesday, and surrendered a crucial homer to Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes on Wednesday. All four of the runners Storen has inherited have scored.

"He's going to bounce back," Stephen Strasburg said optimistically. "It happens to everybody. Everybody goes through these types of stretches. He's an extremely hard worker and he's going to figure it out and he's going to get back to the Drew that we see all the time."

The question now remains whether Williams will continue giving Storen chances in high-leverage situations down the stretch. Although, at this point, Williams options in the bullpen are a crapshoot. Casey Janssen has been dreadful, taking two of those losses and giving up eight runs over his last three innings (24.00 ERA).

Felipe Rivero has opened eyes in his rookie season and seems to have a bright future, but called upon to face three batters in crucial late inning situations the past two games, the left-hander walked all three. And then all three scored.

Even the veteran Jonathan Papelbon gave up the go-ahead homer to Kirk Nieuwenhuis in the eighth in Tuesday's loss and then allowed a valuable run in the ninth to pad the Mets' lead to 5-3, helping them easily finish off the sweep.

Rookie Joe Ross is likely to join the bullpen mix during this weekend's series in Miami. Williams indicated that Ross will be available mostly for one inning stints. Williams doesn't intend to bring Ross on with runners on base, but rather to start a frame.

Obviously, if the Nationals have any shot of making a run at the Mets before the season wraps up with a final series in New York, they must fix the bullpen immediately.