Deja vu for Nats bullpen in 5-4 loss

In a week where baseball is honoring the life of Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, it seems only appropriate to borrow one the icon's legendary expressions to describe the Nationals' latest loss. "It's like déjà vu all over again" nails exactly what happened this evening as the Nats bullpen once again blew a lead late, resulting in a sweep to the Orioles with a 5-4 defeat.

After falling behind 3-0, the Nationals battled back with two runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh, taking a 4-3 lead to the eighth.

Nationals manager Matt Williams turned to right-hander Blake Treinen to preserve the advantage. But the lead was gone almost in the blink of an eye as Steve Pearce began the frame with a single to right. Matt Wieters then followed with a titanic two-run moonshot, which travelled 445 feet to straightaway center.

"I was just trying to sink the ball down and away, get a ground ball," Treinen said. "And I left it right up over the middle. It just wasn't an executed pitch. If it's down, he probably rolls over it or shoots it to (Ian Desmond) or (Yunel Escobar). It had good sink. It was just up and over the middle."

Williams agreed: "If it's down a little bit, it may be a double-play ball," he said. "So it's a question of inches at times, as the old cliche points out."

"He's had issue with the left-handed hitter for much of the season," Williams continued. "It's a good fastball, it's upper 90s fastball, but it's up in the middle and he put a good swing on it. Generally, he's been much better against the right-handed hitters."

Generally, not one reliever has been consistently good for the Nationals in the eighth inning all season. It's been a glaring problem ever since general manager Mike Rizzo traded away right-handed safety blanket Tyler Clippard last January.

Rizzo tried filling the void by inking former Blue Jays closer Casey Janssen after he dealt Clippard. Janssen, coming off the worst stretch of his career, injured his shoulder in spring training, delaying his season debut until late May. He never found a groove and by September turned into one of the main culprits for numerous late blown leads.

With his devastating high 90's sinker, Treinen was considered as a possibility for the eighth coming out of spring training, but that never panned out.

And then at the trade deadline, Rizzo attempted to cure the problems by bumping Drew Storen back to the eighth after acquiring veteran closer Jonathan Papelbon. Storen's season fell apart as the right-hander compiled a 6.75 ERA in 20 appearances. Meanwhile, Papelbon only has been in nine save chances, completing seven of them.

After another brutal loss, Williams was asked if the bullpen has been the main reason for the team's downfall in the second half.

"I wouldn't believe that that would be fair, to point at one thing and say, 'That's the reason,'" Williams said. "I've got confidence in the guys that come in. They're ready to pitch. They're eager to pitch. They want the ball every single day. Part of my job is to show confidence in them and give them the ball and be supportive of them when they go out there. It didn't work out today. But we have to do that again tomorrow."

It was one of five times Williams uttered the word "tomorrow" over his roughly four-minute autopsy of the disastrous sweep.

"It's disappointing that we didn't win these games," Williams said in his opening statement. "But we have more to play. We have one tomorrow. Had a lead and couldn't hold it today and that's baseball. It happens."

The Nats do have more games to play, including one tomorrow against the Phillies. The question is how many of them will actually be meaningful.