A slow road back for Jayson Werth so far

Trailing 2-1 with one out in the seventh and two runners on, Nationals manager Matt Williams sent Jayson Werth to the on-deck circle to wave a bat around last night. But Williams had no intention of using Werth, who was given the night off, to hit in the critical spot. The idea was to keep Marlins right-hander Nick Masset on the mound.

So after rookie Michael A. Taylor, Werth's replacement in left field, grounded out, Williams called the 35-year old back to the dugout as lefty Clint Robinson made his way to the batter's box to pinch-hit.

The strategy seemingly worked until Marlins All-Star second baseman Dee Gordon foiled it with a dazzling diving stop on a ball Robinson ripped that surely would have brought the game's tying run home.

As far as Werth, Williams indicated after the game that it was his intention to do everything possible to give the 13-year-veteran some rest last night. Werth underwent right shoulder surgery in January, which forced him to miss most of spring training and open the regular season on the 15-day disabled list.

"We wanted to make sure we were mindful of Jayson," Williams said. "He was emergency available."

The Nationals activated Werth on April 13 and started right away. But the slow recovery process from the shoulder procedure has spilled over into his transition back to the field.

From 2012-2014, Werth batted .303. However, through the first 19 games this season, he's only managed to hit .176 (13-for-74).

"Early on, he wasn't seeing the ball real well," Williams said. "You never get enough at-bats in a rehab assignment anyway. So you kind of anticipate some early struggles with timing and rhythm and seeing the ball. I think it's coming, though. (Monday night) was a good example of it, when he can shoot that ball back up the middle with two strikes. He got on a ball to the pull side and hit that ball hard to left field. So it's coming."

Werth has yet to display any real power. After connecting on 41 homers over the past two years, Werth hasn't gone yard so far in 2015.

"If you're not seeing the baseball the way you want to see it, then the breaking ball looks bigger and better, the fastball jumps on you," Williams said. "But once that rhythm calms down and he's able to get comfortable in that regard, then it'll come, too. He'll be able to catch those hanging breaking balls and put them over the fence. Or the ahead-in-the-count fastball, he'll be able to turn on that, too.

"It will come, but it takes time. We look at him in his spring trainings, they start really slow and he's just kind of getting out of spring training mode, as we speak. He's on pace to get to where he wants to get to."

After playing most of his career in right field, Werth is re-acclimating himself with his new territory in left field. Coming into this season, Werth had made 111 starts in left field, but none since 2009 with the Phillies.

It's been adventure at times. With Taylor playing center in Werth's first season series at Fenway, the two experienced communication issues, which allowed a routine fly ball to fall and eventually led to runs.

Friday night in New York, the Nats trailed by just one in the bottom of the eighth until Mets third baseman Daniel Murphy lined a bullet to left field. Werth initially over-anticipated and stepped up to make the catch. Trying to backtrack, he slipped as the ball went sailing over his head, putting the game out of reach as three Mets runs crossed the plate.

And in the first game of this homestand, Werth was charged with his first error of the season when he failed to catch a screaming line drive off the bat of Marlins star Giancarlo Stanton. The gaffe lead to an unearned run for the Marlins.

"It left the bat with some pretty good pace and was hooking and knuckling at him. It's never easy, especially when (Stanton) hits it," Williams said in defense of Werth. "But, yeah, of course, it'll be an adjustment. The fact he didn't get a lot of spring training is partly to say that adjustment is still ongoing, because he didn't get a whole lot of games out there."